Bird Flu 2006: Water Safety

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NOTE: A virulently fatal form of H5N1 bird flu has not yet appeared in humans. But "flu season" runs from fall through early winter in the northern hemisphere - so this is the time when new mutations are most likely to appear. Scientists are afraid that H5N1 bird flu will infect someone already sick with another virus, cross-breed inside the host, and mutate into a form that is easily transmitted human-to-human. A virulent strain will most likely occur if H5N1 cross-breeds with another flu strain. Authorities are on high alert. See: Bird Flu 2006: Mutation


H5N1 bird flu - and other flu - can spread in water, but current water treatment technologies don't touch it. So the US Department of Homeland Security funded Vortex Corporation to design a water treatment technology to kill flu viruses.

Vortex now has a new treatment, which "has been shown to destroy the Avian Influenza A virus in water" - and Homeland Security has contracted Vortex to develop this new bird-flu-killing water treatment system for US municipalities.

Treatment system destroys waterborne 'bird flu' virus

A chlorine-free water treatment technology designed by Prescott-based Vortex Corp. and funded by the US Department of Homeland Security has been shown to destroy the Avian Influenza A virus in water...

The photo-oxidation treatment technology, which mimics a water purification phenomenon that occurs in the environment, was recently found by scientists at the University of Minnesota to destroy a subtype of Avian Influenza A, commonly known as bird flu, the report stated.

Vortex is now under contract by the Homeland Security Department to develop the chlorine-free water treatment systems for municipal use...

US and other scientists flagged water safety as a major concern long ago. Current treatment methods only work on "old" contaminants - they do not filter out any new disease mutations, prions, or pharmaceuticals, for example.

But deregulation lobbyists routinely cloud public health issues - and public safety takes a back seat to the "corporate right to profit" - so nothing was done before now.

This program will take ages to implement. Another case of too little, too late.

My advice?

BOIL YOUR DRINKING WATER. And don't count on reverse osmosis - or any other filtration treatments. They don't work.




This is the second in a series of 9 new bird flu threads about Mutation; Water Safety; Food Safety; Symptoms; Diagnosis; Medical Treatments; Traditional, Alternative, and Over-the-Counter Treatments; Molecular Pathology; and Spread.


[edit on 8-10-2006 by soficrow]

Despite Homeland Security's significant investment in developing new water treatment technologies, the latest reports claim that current water treatment technologies are actually safe.

Study: Treatments effective against bird flu relative

ITHACA, NY – Chlorination, ultraviolet (UV) radiation and bacterial digesters used to treat municipal drinking water and wastewater may be sufficient in preventing bird flu viruses from infecting plant workers and spreading through tap water, a January 2 report issued by Cornell University said.

Scientists from the university worked with the US Military Academy at West Point to examine H5N2, a close relative of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, to find out if bird flu could infect people through drinking water and wastewater systems, the report noted.

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Bird Flu Viruses Unlikely to Endure Water Treatment, Study Says

By Jason Gale

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu viruses are unlikely to survive sewerage and drinking water treatment systems, making it doubtful contaminated feces could infect plant workers and spread through tap water, scientists at Cornell University said.

The researchers studied a low-pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza virus, which they said resembles the lethal H5N1 strain circulating in Asia and Africa. Water treatments, including chlorination, ultraviolet radiation and bacterial digesters killed the microbes, said Araceli Lucio-Forster, a microbiologist at Ithaca, New York-based Cornell.

The finding may reduce concerns about drinking water as a mode of infection during a pandemic. World health officials say the H5N1 flu virus, which has killed 157 people since 2003, may spark a global outbreak if it mutates to become as infectious to humans as seasonal flu.

Sure.

Boil your water anyway.

A new nanotechnology filtration process eliminates viruses from water - an important breakthrough in the new age of emerging super-flus and other super diseases.

The big question is, "Who can afford it?" ...Certainly not your local municipal water treatment facility.

The next step is filtering viruses from air and blood - a kind of "super dialysis" concept - also to be priced for the wealthy and privileged.

Blood HIV filter unveiled

The Queensland team have worked out how to eliminate viruses from water using nanofiltration – technology which pushes minute particles through extremely small pores.

The next difficult step is to remove viruses from air and blood, which could change the landscape of some major global diseases, said lead researcher Professor Huaiyong Zhu.

"If we can remove compounds from liquids and viruses from water then there may also be potential to remove HIV from blood," said Dr Zhu, from the Queensland University of Technology.

Technology really is wonderful. But what grinds me is that all these incredible, and incredibly expensive, breakthroughs are made on our backs, and out of our pockets - with no intent that we might benefit.

Sucks, dontcha think?





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[edit on 14-2-2007 by soficrow]

www.who.int...

More on water . H5N1 and how they will flow together .. I can accept birds and mammals , small human clusters , however the mention of water and simple searches on water & H5N1 and reading the results brings a new meaning to the word pandemic .. Sars reading on bleach rusting pipes as panic reduced people into using the bleach in its undiluted form was a treat to read . Water ... Been a long time visitor , 1st post .
Top thread . Water is our most precious life force .

Originally posted by Gemini Candles
www.who.int...

More on water . H5N1 and how they will flow together .. I can accept birds and mammals , small human clusters , however the mention of water and simple searches on water & H5N1 and reading the results brings a new meaning to the word pandemic .. Sars reading on bleach rusting pipes as panic reduced people into using the bleach in its undiluted form was a treat to read . Water ... Been a long time visitor , 1st post .
Top thread . Water is our most precious life force .

yes. that is quite scary. it may flow and spread easier throught the water.