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Avian Influenza Daily Digest
December 2, 2008 15:15 GMT
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60-Day HPAI H5N1 Outbreak Map
2008 WHO Confirmed Human Cases HPAI H5N1
AI Daily Digest Archive
Article Summaries ...
Quid Novi
India: Bird flu spreads to new areas
Turkey: 5 Hospitalized due to Suspected AI in Ortaklar Village
China: 800 Chickens reported dead in Anshun
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Côte d?Ivoire: Concerned about avian flu, poultry farmers diversify with rabbits
12/1/08 Farm Radio Weekly--Afian Michel knows first hand that all livestock are vulnerable to disease. First, the Ivorian farmer saw swine fever sweep through his country a decade ago. Now he?s concerned about avian flu. On his land outside of Cola village, Mr. Michel continues to focus on poultry. But recently, he made room for some rabbits. He says farmers are never safe from animal diseases, so they must diversify to remain profitable.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Invisible line 'protects Australia from bird flu'
12/2/08 ABC News--Australia's best defence against an outbreak of avian influenza is an invisible line passing through the Indonesian archipelago between Bali and Lombok that birds are reluctant to cross, a team of zoologists says.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Myanmar: As winter nears, officials urge farmers to stay alert for bird flu
12/2/08 Myanmar Times--Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department has warned commercial and small-scale poultry farmers throughout the country to be on high alert for bird flu during the cool season, from November to February.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Informal sector helping Indonesia cope in global downturn
12/2/08 Jakarta Post--Syafrudin, 35, stacked cages of chickens onto a waiting mini van outside his employer's house at Kemandoran in South Jakarta on Monday with help from two other workers.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Official Warns Citizens Against Purchasing Unlicensed Poultry and Dairy Products
12/1/08 ARGUS--Given the onset of winter, the Director of Environmental Safety in the city of Karaj is warning citizens against using or purchasing dairy products, egg products, and poultry from unlicensed sources. Citizens are asked to report any food safety violations to veterinary organizations or government officials. According to the Director, these measures are being taken in order to prevent the potential spread of avian influenza in the province.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Bangladesh: Call for preventive measures to check bird flue stressed
12/1/08 Financial Express--Speakers at a workshop here Friday underscored the need for taking preventive measures against infection of avian influenza (bird flue) to protect the country's poultry farms from ruination.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
India: 40,000 poultry culled in Assam after bird flu outbreak
12/1/08 Times of India-- Authorities in Assam have culled some 40,000 poultry of an estimated 60,000 birds ordered to be killed after an outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus in the region, officials Monday said.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
FAO: One World, One Health edging onto a global agenda
12/1/08 FAO AIDE News Update 56--International community to draw on lessons from bird flu fight--[full text pdf]--A fresh input of US$ 350 million to the international fight against highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) made the news when it was announced in Sharm El-Sheikh towards the end of October. Less coverage was given to endorsement of an ambitious new strategy to look at HPAI and other existing and emerging infectious diseases at the points where the animal, human and ecosystem domains meet. The Sharm El-Sheikh meeting, the sixth in a series of high-level inter-ministerial conferences on avian and pandemic influenza, took place from 24 to 26 October and was attended by 530 participants from over 120 countries and 26 regional and international organizations.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Science and Technology
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology to Conduct NanoViricides Animal Studies against Bird Flu
12/1/08 Yahoo Business--announced today that they have executed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP). This joint R&D effort will enable AFIP scientists to test the effectiveness of several NanoViricides, Inc. anti-viral nanomedicines against deadly bird flu viruses (H5N1) at their facilities.
Science and Technology
Pandemic Preparedness
Gaming the next pandemic
12/1/08 C|Net--As anybody who's watched the movie Outbreak knows, when it comes to raging epidemics, the military will get involved at some point, the question is: in what way?
Pandemic Preparedness
Public AI Blogs
India: State Department Faces Resistance from Political Party in Conducting Poultry Surveillance in Darjeeling
12/1/08 ARGUS--The West Bengal state animal resources department (ARD) has been unable to conduct poultry surveillance in Darjeeling district due to demonstrations held by a regional political party. The central government had recently instructed the West Bengal state government to closely observe the poultry in the state to prevent an outbreak of avian influenza on reports of the disease spread in neighboring Bangladesh. The state ARD minister said that the department has requested assistance from the central government to maintain poultry surveillance in the state.
Public AI Blog Discussions
Full Text of Articles follow ...
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Côte d?Ivoire: Concerned about avian flu, poultry farmers diversify with rabbits
12/1/08 Farm Radio Weekly--Afian Michel knows first hand that all livestock are vulnerable to disease. First, the Ivorian farmer saw swine fever sweep through his country a decade ago. Now he?s concerned about avian flu. On his land outside of Cola village, Mr. Michel continues to focus on poultry. But recently, he made room for some rabbits. He says farmers are never safe from animal diseases, so they must diversify to remain profitable.
Mr. Michel is one of many Ivorian poultry farmers diversifying their livestock holdings with rabbits. The move follows the arrival of H5N1, a highly-pathogenic strain of avian influenza, or bird flu, in Africa.
Bird flu was first detected in sub-Saharan African in early 2006, when infected birds were found in Nigeria. Since then, the virus has been detected in several West African countries. Côte d?Ivoire reported outbreaks of H5N1 in wildlife and domestic poultry in April 2006. Following widespread culls aimed at eradicating the disease, the Ivorian government reported the outbreaks resolved in March 2007. The latest outbreak of bird flu in Africa was reported in Togo this September.
Prior to the arrival of avian flu, Bamba Tiéfi Paul?s kept only 40 rabbits on his farm, near a residential area of Cola. Now, rabbit cages spread out over a large area. Inside the cages, some 1,000 rabbits are organized according to weight, age, and sex. Hundreds of male rabbits are ready to be sold in the nearby market.
The demand for rabbit meat in Côte d?Ivoire has grown in parallel to the increase in rabbit farming. Rabbit meat is valued for its tenderness, nutritional value, and low fat content. Supermarkets and restaurants are major consumers. Rabbit meat is also an important source of nutrition for farming families.
Another advantage of rabbits is that they do not require a great deal of space. Unlike chicken cages, you can stack rabbit cages one on top of another. Déhon Margueritte keeps rabbits in her home. She began with about a dozen female rabbits in 2003, and says it was easy to learn how to care for them. One female can produce up to 40 offspring per year, and so her rabbit stock grew. Mrs. Margueritte now earns 450,000 CFA (about 870 American dollars or 680 Euros) each month. She affirms that rabbits keep food on her table.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Invisible line 'protects Australia from bird flu'
12/2/08 ABC News--Australia's best defence against an outbreak of avian influenza is an invisible line passing through the Indonesian archipelago between Bali and Lombok that birds are reluctant to cross, a team of zoologists says.
In the latest Ecology and Society journal, the Australian researchers say the so-called Wallace Line, which forms a distinct boundary between the Asiatic and Australian faunal realms, has to date protected Australia from the most recent bird flu outbreak.
The finding is part of an analysis the team undertook to determine the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza epizootics, in particular the deadly H5N1, entering Australia through bird migration in the north.
However the five authors say the relative isolation of Australia cannot be assumed to be a complete barrier against the arrival of the deadly H5N1 strain that has claimed 245 human lives worldwide.
The team highlights West Papua, which lies on the Australian side of the Wallace Line, where H5N1 was found to be responsible for the deaths of 93 chickens in three villages in July 2006 as a possible pathway for the disease to reach Australia.
Mutation fears
According to the World Health Organization, there have been 245 recorded human deaths from the H5N1 form of bird flu. More than 150 million birds have either died or been destroyed across Asia since the current outbreak began in mid-2003.
Currently the disease is only transmitted between poultry and humans who come in close contact with the diseased fowl.
However, health authorities fear the virus could mutate into a form that is transmissible between humans and lead to a global pandemic.
"To date Australia is the only inhabited continent not to have recorded high pathogenicity avian influenza since 1997, and H5N1 has never been recorded," lead author Professor Hamish McCallum, of the University of Tasmania, and colleagues say.
And the prevalence of avian influenza in wild birds is much lower in Australia than elsewhere. Since 2004, only 1% of more than 16,000 wild birds have tested positive for the disease.
Part of the reason the authors say is the "remarkably little avian migration" across the Wallace Line.
"The Wallace Line is a trenchant biogeographical border between the Australo-Papuan region and the rest of the world," says co-author Dr Leo Joseph, director of the CSIRO's Australian National Wildlife Collection.
"Most Australo-Papuan bird life reflects the long-standing isolation of the region. The big exception to this is the millions of shorebirds that come from Siberia every summer.
"But there is no evidence that waterfowl, which are the primary reservoir of avian influenza, move across the Wallace Line."
Migratory waterbirds, in particular many ducks and geese, have been implicated in spreading the virus.
Possible pathway
The authors highlight the Trans Fly region, centred on the southern floodplains of New Guinea's Fly River, as a possible disease pathway because of the large number of waterbirds that move between this area and northern Australia.
However the Trans Fly region is almost 100 kilometres from the most recent outbreak of H5N1 in West Papua.
The authors add that "even if highly pathogenic avian influenza were to arrive in Northern Australia in migrating waterbirds, population density of humans, and thus domestic poultry is very low in this region".
But they point out that some species of waterbirds are known to be highly dispersive within Australia and could form links between the northern wetlands and southern wetlands close to major poultry production areas.
"Another potential concern is that avian influenza .. has been found in white ibis, which have increased dramatically in the last few years, particularly in association with humans," they say.
Joseph says follow-up research to fill gaps in knowledge that will improve the accuracy of risk mapping is already under way.
Co-author Dr David Roshier, of Charles Sturt University, is leading a team using satellite tracking to view the movements of up to 20 wandering whistling duck in Papua New Guinea.
Researchers are also undertaking population genetic studies to determine current and historical connections between bird populations, and using isotope ratios of elements in bird tissues such as feathers to track bird movements, Joseph says.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Myanmar: As winter nears, officials urge farmers to stay alert for bird flu
12/2/08 Myanmar Times--Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department has warned commercial and small-scale poultry farmers throughout the country to be on high alert for bird flu during the cool season, from November to February.
Dr Aung Gyi, the deputy director general of the department under the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, said that during cool season Myanmar is on the flight path of many wild migratory birds, which can be infected with avian influenza and can pass the disease on to domestic poultry.
?All poultry farmers must take better care of their birds than in previous cool seasons. Outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza can occur in any area of the country,? he said.
?Poultry farmers need to be alert for signs of illness in all birds, especially chickens and ducks,? said Dr Aung Gyi. ?Farmers should immediately inform the nearest office of our department if they see any evidence of infection. If so, the disease can be controlled quickly, before it spreads.?
?The more quickly we get the information, the faster we can respond and prevent a bigger problem,? he added.
Dr Aung Gyi said the department, in cooperation with other ministries, was surveying all poultry farms along migratory routes to determine the potential extent of contact between wild birds and domesticated poultry.
?We are also conducting regular checks and inspections at poultry farms, chicken breeding factories and poultry markets throughout the country,? he said.
He said the department is able to check for the virus in the field using rapid test kits. Positive results can be sent to the department?s main lab in Yangon for confirmation.
?The lab in Yangon has recently been upgraded to international standard with help from the Asia Development Bank and UN Food and Agriculture Organisation,? Dr Aung Gyi said. ?Other labs around the country, especially those in border areas, will also be upgraded.?
?All animal farmers should be aware of the financial repercussions of bird flu because if an outbreak occurs, not only the poultry but also the buildings holding the birds, the feed and other farming materials will have to be destroyed and burnt,? he said.
In Myanmar, 600,000 birds and eggs were destroyed in 2006, and 3000 birds were slaughtered in 2007 as the result of bird flu outbreaks.
The World Organisation for Animal Health declared Myanmar a bird-flu-free country last April because there had been no continuous outbreaks since November 2007.
The recent upgrade of the Yangon lab was done with help from international agencies. The animal quarantine lab, located in the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries compound in Insein township, has been upgraded to bio-safety level 2 in a building renovated and equipped with assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organisation for Animal Health. Scientists can now test suspect bird diseases in place, instead of sending virus samples to Japan or Thailand, and respond more quickly to an outbreak.
?Due to the enhancement to bio-safety level 2, the H5N1 bird-flu virus can be tested in Myanmar, and if the disease breaks out, we can start control procedures immediately,? said Prof Dr Kyaw Sunn, of the government?s Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department (Research and Disease Control). The work was completed in October.
The lab is equipped with negative air pressure and filters to ensure that the disease does not spread.
?We also installed some BSL level 3 equipment in this lab. Now we can test samples here because we have assembled a gene sequencer already, so that we can analyse the bird flu virus?s history and changes? said Dr Kyaw Sunn.
The Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries has already built BSL 2 enhanced labs in Mandalay, Pathein and Taunggyi, as well as four quarantine labs in Myitkyina, Muse, Lashio and Tachilake. The ministry is also transferring the Mandalay regional lab to Sinkai next year and arranging to build other facilities in every state to help prevent and control bird flu.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Informal sector helping Indonesia cope in global downturn
12/2/08 Jakarta Post--Syafrudin, 35, stacked cages of chickens onto a waiting mini van outside his employer's house at Kemandoran in South Jakarta on Monday with help from two other workers.
For those in the poultry businesses -- with warnings about avian flu scarce and demand for chicken rocketing ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays -- the threat of the global financial crisis seems as far off as the countries that provoked it.
"The business is good. It means we will receive more payment," said Syafrudin, who earns up to Rp 1 million per month.
The poultry business is forecast to survive the economic crisis, as the price of chicken is expected to remain affordable compared to that of fish and red meat.
Syafrudin and his co-workers are among 60 million people employed in the informal sector, compared to the country's total work force of 97 million.
"Given the fact that over 60 percent of the country's employment is provided by the informal sector, we can imagine how much it has contributed to the economy," Hetifah Sjaifudian Sumarto, director of the Bandung Trust Advisory Group for Local Governance Reform, told an academic forum.
Hetifah was one of a number of researchers who Monday presented researches on public exposure as part of a program funded by the Australian government under the Australia-Indonesia Governance Research Partnership.
"With massive layoffs predicted to increase the country's jobless by 2 million next year, the informal sector could provide earnings for most of them; allowing them to survive while decreasing the risks of political and social instability," she said.
Despite its pivotal role in the economy, as evidenced during the Asia financial crisis in 1998, the informal sector has remained largely neglected by the government, Hetifah said.
The government has no policy to address the problems within the sector or protect the people it employs, she added.
Hetifah found in her research on street vendors in Surakarta and Manado that local government support for the vendors helped boost their profits, created more jobs and contributed more to regional revenue.
"Surakarta has formed a special office dealing with street vendors and has allocated a budget to provide loans and infrastructure, including markets," she said.
Surakarta Mayor Joko Widodo has relocated more than 1,000 street vendors without resorting to the violence that other city administrations have resorted to.
"Our research suggests that the government must introduce a special policy at the national level to deal with the informal sector in anticipation of the looming massive lay-offs next year. Surakarta has shown the way," she said.
Quid Novi
India: Bird flu spreads to new areas
12/2/08 New Kerala--Thousands of birds are being culled daily at Hajo near the state capital even as Avian Influenza spread to new areas forcing authorities to ban sale of chicken in some areas.
''Culling is on, though remoteness of areas and resistance by owners presents some difficulties in further expediting the process,'' state Veterinary department director Dr A K Kotoky said.
He added that about 37,000 ducks and chickens had been culled so far.
Blood samples were sent to Bhopal and Pune laboratories after unnatural death of birds was reported since last week and they had tested positive for the H5N1 strain, confirming the first outbreak of bird flu in the state.
The director informed that all district deputy commissioners have been alerted to keep watch on any possible mass death of poultry and report immediately in the wake of such a situation.
Preventive culling was undertaken in the state last year when bird flu was detected in North Bengal.
Dr Kotoky said migratory birds, who arrive in small numbers to roost in water bodies at Hajo, could have been the bearers of the virus.
Kamrup (rural) district authorities have imposed a ban on sale of poultry and sounded a general alert in about 40 villages in a radius of five kms from the area where the deaths were reported.
The country has not reported any human infections so far, though the first outbreak in poultry was reported in 2006 in Maharashtra.
Experts fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to an epidemic.
After the last outbreak reported in Darjeeling in West Bengal in May, there were no further reports prompting the Centre to declare the country free of avian flu. Between January and May this year, 42 incidents of bird flu were reported from West Bengal and Tripura.
Though the last reported case in Darjeeling was disinfected on June 4, the government could not declare the country flu-free due to a sporadic incident of outbreak in Manipur in July.
Quid Novi
Turkey: 5 Hospitalized due to Suspected AI in Ortaklar Village
12/1/08 ARGUS--A regional source reports that 5 people in Ortaklar Village, Vezirkopru District who were visiting each other were hospitalized at Vezirkopru Government Hospital due to suspected avian influenza (AI) after consuming an unspecified number of sick chickens and complaining of fever and nausea. According to the source, laboratory tests are underway. Reportedly, 1 child and 1 adult remain hospitalized. 3 were discharged.
Article URL(s)
http://www.halkgazetesi.com.tr/news_detail.php?id=13152
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Official Warns Citizens Against Purchasing Unlicensed Poultry and Dairy Products
12/1/08 ARGUS--Given the onset of winter, the Director of Environmental Safety in the city of Karaj is warning citizens against using or purchasing dairy products, egg products, and poultry from unlicensed sources. Citizens are asked to report any food safety violations to veterinary organizations or government officials. According to the Director, these measures are being taken in order to prevent the potential spread of avian influenza in the province.
Article URL(s)
http://avianinfluenza.blogfa.com/post-1443.aspx
Quid Novi
China: 800 Chickens reported dead in Anshun
12/1/08 ARGUS--A national source reported that 800 chickens have died on a farm in Maguan Township, Anshun City. The birds reportedly began dying steadily in September, and local veterinary authorities reportedly confirmed that the birds died from receiving incorrect vaccinations of an unspecified type. The bird vendor from which the farmer purchased 1,200 chickens on September 3 denied that claim, the source said. The report stated that within 3 days of buying the birds, 30 had died; over the course of the next 20 days, birds had died steadily, ranging from 3 to 40 birds dead per day.
The die-off was said to have attracted local government attention, and following further investigation the birds have been initially diagnosed with a severe avian disease. The source used a word that can often refer to Newcastle disease, although Newcastle was not mentioned specifically in the report. The birds were also reportedly found to be sold as one particular breed but in fact were a mix of several; local authorities are still investigating the matter.
Article URL(s)
http://news.sohu.com/20081201/n260949154.shtml
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Bangladesh: Call for preventive measures to check bird flue stressed
12/1/08 Financial Express--Speakers at a workshop here Friday underscored the need for taking preventive measures against infection of avian influenza (bird flue) to protect the country's poultry farms from ruination.
Quite a large number of people at every nook and corner of the country are directly engaged in poultry farming, making significant contribution to the economic development of Bangladesh.
The speakers urged all concerned government and non-government organisations as well as poultry bird farmers to work together to protect this potential sector from any adverse impact.
Besides, they said, focus should be given to creating awareness among the grassroots people side by side with intensifying inter-departmental coordination to check bird flue.
Local unit of Mohila Sanghati Parishad (MSP) and CARE- Bangladesh jointly arranged the workshop styled "Influenza NGO Network" at the conference hall of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The speakers said that measures should be taken to gear up the activities of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and other law enforcing agencies to check smuggling of chicks and eggs into the country from neighbouring India.
Additional Deputy Commi-ssioner (education and development) Satyendra Nath Sarker, Training Officer of Department of Agriculture Extension Dr Ittefaqul Azad, District Livestock Officer Khairul Alam and Journalists Mustafizur Rahman Khan Alam and Akbarul Hassan Millat addressed the workshop as guest speakers with MSP president Shahnaj Begum in the chair.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
India: 40,000 poultry culled in Assam after bird flu outbreak
12/1/08 Times of India-- Authorities in Assam have culled some 40,000 poultry of an estimated 60,000 birds ordered to be killed after an outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus in the region, officials Monday said.
"Culling operations are on in the district of Kamrup since Friday and so far about 40,000 chickens and ducks were killed," said Manoranjan Choudhury, deputy director of the Assam Veterinary department.
The culling is being carried out in about 48 villages within a five kilometre radius of village Thakurchuba in Kamrup district, about 40km west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
The poultry targeted includes ducks and chickens. Some 22 Rapid Response Teams are engaged with the operation expected to be completed in the next two to three days.
The Indian health ministry last week confirmed outbreak of bird flu after laboratory tests found strains of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza.
More than 300 birds died in the past one week in the area. Assam's veterinary and animal husbandry department has sounded an alert and maintaining strict surveillance on farms in the state with veterinarians carrying out checks on all poultry.
A central health ministry team is also assisting the local authorities in the culling operations.
The World Health Organisation fears that the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted between humans and spark a deadly pandemic. Sale and purchase of poultry in the area was banned.
Science and Technology
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology to Conduct NanoViricides Animal Studies against Bird Flu
12/1/08 Yahoo Business--announced today that they have executed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP). This joint R&D effort will enable AFIP scientists to test the effectiveness of several NanoViricides, Inc. anti-viral nanomedicines against deadly bird flu viruses (H5N1) at their facilities.
We are very excited to study the effectiveness of nanoviricides against the most current strains of H5N1 in animal models,? said lead AFIP scientist Dr. Mina Izadjoo.
The H5N1 bird flu virus continues to spread further across the globe every year, while continuing to mutate. The accumulating mutations make a human pandemic ever more likely. Because the virus is continually changing its genomic structure, creating a vaccine against it is very difficult. It has been predicted that six to nine months will be needed to produce an effective vaccine in the case of a pandemic. Broad-spectrum antivirals that continue to be effective in the face of the mutations in the virus strain will therefore be essential for any effective response to a pandemic. [For a concise up-to-date summary, please visit ?CIDRAP>> Avian Influenza (Bird Flu): Implications for Human Disease? (http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/biofacts/avflu_human.html).]
The Company is developing anti-influenza drugs under the brand names FluCide?, and FluCide-HP?. FluCide is a broad-spectrum nanoviricide that mimics sialic acid, and therefore no influenza viruses (including bird flu) can escape it, no matter how much they mutate, say the Company scientists. FluCide-HP is expected to be more effective against all highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses than is FluCide, according to the Company?s proprietary data. Any of the HPAI viruses may cause a potential pandemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The most prevalent current HPAI virus is H5N1.
Public AI Blog Discussions
India: State Department Faces Resistance from Political Party in Conducting Poultry Surveillance in Darjeeling
12/1/08 ARGUS--The West Bengal state animal resources department (ARD) has been unable to conduct poultry surveillance in Darjeeling district due to demonstrations held by a regional political party. The central government had recently instructed the West Bengal state government to closely observe the poultry in the state to prevent an outbreak of avian influenza on reports of the disease spread in neighboring Bangladesh. The state ARD minister said that the department has requested assistance from the central government to maintain poultry surveillance in the state.
Article URL(s)
http://beacononline.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/darjeeling-hills-centre%E2%80%99s-aid-sought-to-check-h5n1-spread/
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
FAO: One World, One Health edging onto a global agenda
12/1/08 FAO AIDE News Update 56--International community to draw on lessons from bird flu fight--[full text pdf]--A fresh input of US$ 350 million to the international fight against highly pathogenic
avian influenza (HPAI) made the news when it
was announced in Sharm El-Sheikh towards the
end of October. Less coverage was given to
endorsement of an ambitious new strategy to
look at HPAI and other existing and emerging
infectious diseases at the points where the
animal, human and ecosystem domains meet.
The Sharm El-Sheikh meeting, the sixth in a
series of high-level inter-ministerial conferences
on avian and pandemic influenza, took place
from 24 to 26 October and was attended by 530
participants from over 120 countries and 26
regional and international organizations.
Pandemic Preparedness
Gaming the next pandemic
12/1/08 C|Net--As anybody who's watched the movie Outbreak knows, when it comes to raging epidemics, the military will get involved at some point, the question is: in what way?
To answer that, the Department of Defense (DOD) has commissioned the development of a simulation-based planning and training software application--a game, in other words, albeit a "serious" one--to help it to prepare for the next influenza pandemic.
The game will allow health care professionals and the military to recognize early signs of an outbreak, practice response tactics, and plot "local mitigation strategies" to limit the spread of disease, according to developer SimQuest, a technology-assisted education and training company.
"The world is due for an influenza pandemic, with the last one occurring in 1968, and there is a severe shortage of caregivers experienced in pandemic flu response," said Bob Waddington of SimQuest. "Unfortunately, an experienced caregiver from the last outbreak would likely be over 60 years old or retired. Our goal is to create an engaging training application for medical treatment facility administrators and supervisors, as well as the military, which can increase readiness and minimize the potential for chaos during the next pandemic outbreak of influenza."
The consequences of a worldwide pandemic are hard to predict because the biological characteristics of the virus are unknown, but the 1918 Spanish flu killed more American soldiers than World War I. A pandemic in the United States could result in 20-35 percent of the population becoming ill, according to government estimates (PDF).
The role of the military will include supporting domestic infrastructure and maintaining law and order, according to the DOD Implementation Plan for Pandemic Influenza. No mention of fuel air bombs.
