Dino
10-13-2005, 10:58 PM
This is getting bad....... :worried:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/10/13/eu.birdflu/index.html
Turkey bird flu 'is deadly strain'
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in Turkish poultry and is likely present in Romania, the European Commission has said.
If confirmed in Romania, it would be the first instance of the deadly strain to reach Europe. H5N1 does not easily infect humans although 117 people, mostly poultry workers, have caught it since 2003 and 60 of them have died.
Scientists are tracking the spread of the virus in birds, which they fear could mutate into a dangerous human pandemic strain. The worries have forced the slaughter of millions of birds, mainly in Asia.
"The virus found in Turkey is avian flu H5N1 high pathogenic virus," the EC's Health and Consumer Protection chief Markos Kyprianou told a news conference in Brussels on Thursday.
Kyprianou said the EU executive did not yet know whether the cases of avian flu discovered in Romania were of the same virulent strain but they were assuming they were, pending final tests.
He recommended "the increase of vaccination among the risk population for the seasonal flu in any event, not at least because this is part of our preparedness plan to deal with the potential or possible pandemic."
Earlier Thursday the EU banned the import of live birds, poultry meat and feathers from Romania after officials there confirmed positive tests.
An emergency meeting of EU veterinary experts was to be held later in the day to try to determine which strain of flu had been found, The Associated Press reported.
Romania's chief veterinarian Ion Agafitei told Reuters that scientists detected the H5N1 virus in samples taken from three ducks found in the Danube delta.
"We eventually isolated the avian flu virus in the samples taken from the three ducks," Agafitei told Reuters by telephone.
"We have so far culled 3,000 poultry and we will continue to do so at a rapid pace," said Mihai Carciumaru, the mayor of Ceamurlia de Jos in the Danube delta, where the three infected ducks were found last week.
"Today, we need to cull 15,000 more birds to contain the disease," he told Reuters. The mayor also said authorities had sealed off the village.
The EU said it planned to extend until next April its ban on imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey, where an outbreak of avian influenza was discovered at the weekend at a farm near the Aegean and Marmara seas.
"All the virological tests carried out to date in Romania have failed to identify the presence of the avian influenza virus. Every day that passes ... reassures us that avian influenza is not in fact present in Romania," EU Commission spokesman Philip Tod told reporters, Reuters reported.
"We hope in light of that report ... to conclude ... that avian influenza is not present in Romania," he added.
Amid fears that the virus might be creeping closer to the European Union's borders, the EU executive announced that Thailand, whose poultry sector has been ravaged by bird flu, had offered its assistance to the EU.
"Thailand has great expertise in this area," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a joint news briefing with visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Bird flu began sweeping through Thai poultry flocks in late 2003, all but wiping out markets for what was then the world's fourth largest poultry exporter.
With pharmaceutical companies under pressure to increase output of drugs to fight any human pandemic, Switzerland's Roche Holding said it was enlisting the help of other specialized firms in producing its Tamiflu antiviral treatment, Reuters reported.
Tamiflu is the most effective antiviral drug available for avian flu. There are fears of a shortage if the virus spreads widely among humans.
Roche said that while it was outsourcing some stages of its production it would not surrender the patents that protect the treatment and it had no plans to farm out the entire production process to other companies, not least because of its complexity.
"We are already collaborating with several specialist companies on the production process for Tamiflu," a spokesman for Roche said. "This has nothing to do with the patent."
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/10/13/eu.birdflu/index.html
Turkey bird flu 'is deadly strain'
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in Turkish poultry and is likely present in Romania, the European Commission has said.
If confirmed in Romania, it would be the first instance of the deadly strain to reach Europe. H5N1 does not easily infect humans although 117 people, mostly poultry workers, have caught it since 2003 and 60 of them have died.
Scientists are tracking the spread of the virus in birds, which they fear could mutate into a dangerous human pandemic strain. The worries have forced the slaughter of millions of birds, mainly in Asia.
"The virus found in Turkey is avian flu H5N1 high pathogenic virus," the EC's Health and Consumer Protection chief Markos Kyprianou told a news conference in Brussels on Thursday.
Kyprianou said the EU executive did not yet know whether the cases of avian flu discovered in Romania were of the same virulent strain but they were assuming they were, pending final tests.
He recommended "the increase of vaccination among the risk population for the seasonal flu in any event, not at least because this is part of our preparedness plan to deal with the potential or possible pandemic."
Earlier Thursday the EU banned the import of live birds, poultry meat and feathers from Romania after officials there confirmed positive tests.
An emergency meeting of EU veterinary experts was to be held later in the day to try to determine which strain of flu had been found, The Associated Press reported.
Romania's chief veterinarian Ion Agafitei told Reuters that scientists detected the H5N1 virus in samples taken from three ducks found in the Danube delta.
"We eventually isolated the avian flu virus in the samples taken from the three ducks," Agafitei told Reuters by telephone.
"We have so far culled 3,000 poultry and we will continue to do so at a rapid pace," said Mihai Carciumaru, the mayor of Ceamurlia de Jos in the Danube delta, where the three infected ducks were found last week.
"Today, we need to cull 15,000 more birds to contain the disease," he told Reuters. The mayor also said authorities had sealed off the village.
The EU said it planned to extend until next April its ban on imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey, where an outbreak of avian influenza was discovered at the weekend at a farm near the Aegean and Marmara seas.
"All the virological tests carried out to date in Romania have failed to identify the presence of the avian influenza virus. Every day that passes ... reassures us that avian influenza is not in fact present in Romania," EU Commission spokesman Philip Tod told reporters, Reuters reported.
"We hope in light of that report ... to conclude ... that avian influenza is not present in Romania," he added.
Amid fears that the virus might be creeping closer to the European Union's borders, the EU executive announced that Thailand, whose poultry sector has been ravaged by bird flu, had offered its assistance to the EU.
"Thailand has great expertise in this area," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a joint news briefing with visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Bird flu began sweeping through Thai poultry flocks in late 2003, all but wiping out markets for what was then the world's fourth largest poultry exporter.
With pharmaceutical companies under pressure to increase output of drugs to fight any human pandemic, Switzerland's Roche Holding said it was enlisting the help of other specialized firms in producing its Tamiflu antiviral treatment, Reuters reported.
Tamiflu is the most effective antiviral drug available for avian flu. There are fears of a shortage if the virus spreads widely among humans.
Roche said that while it was outsourcing some stages of its production it would not surrender the patents that protect the treatment and it had no plans to farm out the entire production process to other companies, not least because of its complexity.
"We are already collaborating with several specialist companies on the production process for Tamiflu," a spokesman for Roche said. "This has nothing to do with the patent."
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.