Humans Becoming Preferred Host for H5N1 "Bird" Flu?

"Humans may be becoming a preferred host for H5N1," based on the Replikin Count of human H5N1 virus sequences in 2006. The 2006 Replikin Count in humans rose 35% over the 2005 count, and is far greater than the count in all chicken H5N1 virus specimens.



"Replikins" are a new class of peptides associated with rapid virus replication, and is a trademarked name. Subtypes of these peptides also are present in many rapidly-replicating viruses - also called replikins.

"Replikin Counts" can be used to determine if a virus is rapidly replicating, and to predict whether or not it is likely to spread. Replikins also may be a key to designing 'universal' vaccines that would not have to be changed every year.

The technology is "proprietary" - owned and promoted by a company called Replikins, Ltd. Granted, Replikin Ltd. has a big stake in pushing their technology. But this is still exciting stuff - and an extremely important finding.

If humans are becoming the "preferred" host for H5N1 "bird" flu - then what are the implications?



Related News Links:
www.medicalnewstoday.com
www.prweb.com
www.replikins.com
www.freepatentsonline.com

If replikins count are legitimate, then it looks like humans are becoming the preferred hosts for H5N1 'bird' flu.

It also means that bird flu in humans is probably under-reported.

But we knew that...

FYI -



The H5N1 bird flu virus is changing and becoming less lethal. BUT:

The less lethal the virus, the more dangerous it becomes

...because the virus has a longer 'window' inside a living host to change and mutate into a form that spreads more easily.

Bird Flu Panic Waning: Sense of Urgency Rising

The bird flu virus is still killing, still spreading, and still mutating. In recent weeks, it's reappeared in Korea and flared in Somalia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ukraine and Russia. The death toll among birds, both those infected and those killed to avoid the spread of the disease, exceeds half a billion. Deaths among humans are at 154, with nearly half of those occurring this year.

It's not just complacency that worries Kasai. The virus is changing. ...When bird flu first started killing people, about 80 percent of those infected died. The lethality has dropped to about 60 percent. Cases reported outside of Indonesia have a better than 50 percent chance of survival.

Normally, that's good news. But bird flu needs a living host to undergo the genetic mutations that can spread it from one person to the next. So the less lethal the virus, paradoxically, the more dangerous it becomes.

[edit on 28-12-2006 by soficrow]

...a sure sign that the Replikins news release is probably dead on:

Bird flu threat not so grave, CDC chief says

She and other federal officials said H5N1 bird flu likely will reach the United States, because bird flu and its many strains occur naturally in migratory birds.

When that happens, “it does not signal the start of a pandemic” or a threat to the food supply, said Richard Raymond, an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Gerberding cautioned that when H5N1 is detected in the United States, “there will be temptation for the press to make this into something it is not. We will need responsible journalism” to prevent irrational panic.

If you're going to gank my article you could at least link to my thread.

Btw, aren't replikins the synthetic humanoids from Bladerunner?

Originally posted by apc
If you're going to gank my article you could at least link to my thread.

Sorry. Here it is: The Washington Bird Flu Shuffle.


Okay. So the CDC is shifting gears, and Gerberding now is saying that 'there is no evidence bird flu will go pandemic.'

And when bird flu does come to America, we especially need to recognize that the food supply will NOT be compromised.

Oh, really?

"What's going on?" you may ask.

Well, if you follow the money.....

Chicken producer Pilgrim's Pride created the Protein Acquisition Corporation as a vehicle for merging with chicken and pork processor Gold Kist Farms.

Now, "Pilgrim's Pride Corporation is the largest chicken producer in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest producer and seller of chicken in Mexico." Thanks to the Protein Acquisition Corporation and what turned out to be a not-so-friendly takeover.

The Great Chicken Merger and the Protein Acquisition Corporation

...Pilgrim's Pride and Gold Kist entered into a definitive merger agreement on December 3, 2006, under which Pilgrim's Pride agreed to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Gold Kist common stock for $21.00 per share in cash. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Pilgrim's Pride and Gold Kist and has a total equity value of approximately $1.1 billion, plus the assumption or refinancing of approximately $144 million of Gold Kist's debt. Upon expiration of the subsequent offering period, Pilgrim's Pride intends to complete the acquisition of Gold Kist through a merger of its acquisition vehicle, Protein Acquisition Corporation, into Gold Kist, in which all Gold Kist shares not tendered into Pilgrim's Pride's offer (other than shares held in the treasury of Gold Kist or held by Pilgrim's Pride or any of its subsidiaries) will be converted into the right to receive $21.00 per share. Following the merger, Gold Kist will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Pilgrim's Pride.

As a result of this transaction, Pilgrim's Pride Corporation is the largest chicken producer in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest producer and seller of chicken in Mexico. Pilgrim's Pride employs approximately 56,500 people and operates 37 processing and 12 prepared-food facilities, with major operations in Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Mexico and Puerto Rico as well as other facilities in Arizona, Iowa, Mississippi, Ohio and Utah.

Pilgrim's Pride products are sold to foodservice, retail and frozen entree customers. The Company's primary distribution is through retailers, foodservice distributors and restaurants throughout the United States and Puerto Rico and in the Northern and Central regions of Mexico. For more information, please visit www.pilgrimspride.com....

BUT when bird flu comes to America, the new Protein Acquisition Corporation and heavily-refinanced Pilgrim's Pride could get in trouble.

Luckily, Pilgrim's Pride President and CEO, O.B. Goolsby Jr. has friends in high places - like in the Texas House and White House, for example:

...state Rep. Tony Goolsby, a Dallas Republican who chairs the powerful House Administration Committee

***

Bush received ...two chairs from the 1949 Texas House chamber valued at $500 from Texas state Reps. Tony Goolsby (R)...

***

Goolsby is currently a producer for Voice of America, the Congressionally funded radio network that claims to promote America's values abroad.

All of which goes to prove once again: It's not what you know, it's who you blow.





[edit on 29-12-2006 by soficrow]

I tell you what Sofi, you only have to do is follow the money trail and you will find how well our nation is rule by corporate power.

They don't have to eat what they push and sell to us so they don't have to worry about who live or die.

They only care about their profits.

But, Hey this what American has become.

A disgrace

Whatever happen to we the people.

Originally posted by soficrow
Sorry. Here it is: The Washington Bird Flu Shuffle.

I have respected your position on this issue. I consider it insulting that you can not even link my thread using its actual title... you have to twist it to fit into your own agenda. That is an act of weakness, one which actually doesn't surprise me.

apc, you don't believe that is some type of cover up when it comes to corporate American interest in the poultry business and the bird flu?

You know that our government lies to the people, so why they would not lie about our food sources to protect private interest.

Who will suffer the most from loses if Chicken has to be killed because of bird flu.

All we have to do is look at the spread of bird flu in the world and the cases found and how many people has died.

And then you most wonder why in America we have been so safe, even when has been cases of the flu in some places.

But not human death to it yet.

To me I smell a rat and a cover up to protect private interest in the poultry business.

look at the mad cow, is not that we have been spared but that the way in which cows are tested in the US are slacked.

But when one cow comes out that is infected, immediately the damage control will assure the citizens that the cow is not in the in the meat supply.

How convenient.

And when it comes to humans, you will probably be treated by an array of other possible diseases than be diagnosed to have mad cow disease.

Funny how things work to perfection to protect the private sector.

This isn't the subject of discussion in this thread, rather it is in mine: Bird Flu Chickens Out. Unless of course soficrow wishes to veer her own thread off course... which is entirely within her right naturally.

But... considering that the US is not the only entity taking this stance, I would have to say no... I don't believe this is a cover up to protect the poultry industry. It doesn't make sense. If the chickens die, the industry suffers. If the chickens live, it doesn't. How would a cover up protect the chickens? It wouldn't.

Now of course there is the issue of people being afraid to buy chicken because of fear of infection... but enough people think cooking beef will kill mad cow. It is reasonable to believe they would think the same about Bird Flu, only in this case they would be correct.

Following news reports that humans may be becoming a preferred host for 'bird' flu, and Pilgrim's Pride's continental mega-merger with Gold Kist under the "Protein Acquisition Corporation," there suddenly was a flurry of press releases saying the pandemic danger is over.

Such statements are inaccurate, and totally irresponsible.

...Minimizing the pandemic risk is all about protecting travel, trade, tourism - and Bush' buddies' profits from the Pilgrim's Pride "Protein Acquisition Corporation."

It looks like bird flu was over-hyped to force Gold Kist into a hostile takeover by Pilgrim's Pride - the CDC has been running pandemic planning workshops throughout the country for months.

But now that the Gold Kist takeover is a done deal, the pandemic risk is suddenly over, according to the CDC. Even though winter flu season has not yet peaked. And they're still running their workshops.

Puh-leeze.

FYI - "the strain that sparked the 1918 pandemic "had been around for some years before it became part of a virus that could efficiently transmit between humans." "

Bird Flu Cases Decline, Raising New Risk: Complacency

"...I'm sure we're going to see some peaks of infection in the future," said Peter Roeder, an animal health officer with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, who helped Indonesia set up its bird surveillance. "How important they will be, how serious they will be it's not possible to say right now."

"H5N1 viruses have been around for nearly a decade and it might be tempting to conclude that if they were going to proceed to form or contribute to a pandemic strain, they would have done so by now," the influenza team at the European Centre for Disease Surveillance and Control said in a report last week.

Still, the strain that sparked the 1918 pandemic "had been around for some years before it became part of a virus that could efficiently transmit between humans," they said.

The pandemic risk is NOT over. A pandemic is virtually guaranteed sooner or later, according to health experts.

Pilgrim's Pride and the "Protein Acquisition Corporation" are making a power play to sew up the North American market.

Obviously, they are using government services like the CDC to manipulate public perception.

Migratory waterfowl are known to transport H5N1, but no virus reservoirs were identified except frozen lake water.

Influenza virus can live for decades and perhaps even longer in frozen lakes and might be picked up and carried by birds to reinfect animals and people...

Now, data from replikin counts show that shrimp also are reservoirs, and monitoring the replikin counts may help predict epidemics more accurately.

Advance Warning Of H5N1 Influenza Outbreaks May Be Found In Shrimp Virus Reservoirs

Researchers at Replikins, Ltd. have discovered that the shrimp viruses White Spot Syndrome virus (WSSV) and Taura Syndrome virus (TSV) - global lethal pathogens for shrimp - may be reservoirs for the peptide building blocks of H5N1, or bird flu virus.

The H5N1 virus recently has been responsible for huge poultry losses in many countries and for several hundred human cases, with approximately 50% mortality. While migratory waterfowl are known to transport the H5N1 influenza virus globally, no reservoirs for this virus have been identified.

Using FluForecast(R), the following findings were obtained which suggest that shrimp viruses may serve as one reservoir of replikin peptide building blocks for H5N1 and other influenza strains:
1) Shrimp viruses WSSV and TSV were found to contain replikin peptide sequences.
2) These shrimp virus sequences were found to be related in structure to the replikin peptide sequences in H5N1 virus.
3) Shrimp WSSV replikins increased markedly in concentration in the year 2000, just before the increase in H5N1 virus Replikin Counts which preceded the H5N1 outbreaks in chickens and humans of 2001-20061. The increase in shrimp virus Replikin Count was not trivial: In shrimp WSSV, which in dormant states was found to be less than 10 in the year 2000, reached 103.8. This is comparable only to the highest Count so far observed in any organism in nature. (The highest Replikin Count to date of 111 has been observed in the malaria species, pl. falciparum, which replicates 11,000 times in 48 hours passing from liver to blood in the host.)
4) Of the new shrimp replikins which appeared in 2000, the percent which were short peptides was increased compared to dormant years. Short replikins previously have been found to be related to high virulence and high mortality in the host, whether animal or man.
5) These short shrimp virus replikins share structures with short replikins in both H5N1 and other influenza strains going back 88 years to the great pandemic of 1918.

[edit on 31-12-2006 by soficrow]