NEWS: WHO Plans Flu Pandemic Summit

There is now a summit planned for Geneva, to expand plans for dealing with the threat of a flu pandemic. It seems that the "people in the know", may yet again know more than we do. Most people think of the flu and the common cold together in a general sence, yet the flu is FAR more severe!

For instance, there were three major outbreaks in the 20th century. The worst of which was the Spanish flu in 1918-19. As many as 50 million people worldwide were thought to have died, nearly half of them young, healthy adults and it was here as well, more than 500,000 in the U.S.died as a result of the flu.



At least we seem to be getting a warning this time. From reading about this summit and the stir around the vaccine shortage, we may all want to be extremely careful this year.

Who would have ever thought that we have to worry against about the flu as a severe biological threat in the U.S in the 21st Century?

Originally posted by K_OS

At least we seem to be getting a warning this time.

FYI - There was plenty of warning but Bush dropped the ball. This summit is unprecedented. The strain that is about spread world wide is H5N1 avian flu.

Vaccines now available in the USA do not immunize for H5N1 avian flu. The size of the American population and the mobility of the nation's citizens make the USA particularly susceptible to contagious spread.

Please see

www.atsnn.com...
and www.atsnn.com...


and for better coverage of the summit announcement

www.cidrap.umn.edu...




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Originally posted by K_OS
Who would have ever thought that we have to worry against about the flu as a severe biological threat in the U.S in the 21st Century?

It is frightening that we are actually overdue for a pandemic. Here's a link to the CDC faq regarding avian influenza - it also has a history of pandemics in the 20th century as well as some of the current outbreaks.

Avian Influenza Infections in Humans
Confirmed instances of avian influenza viruses infecting humans since 1997 include:

1997: In Hong Kong, avian influenza A (H5N1) infected both chickens and humans. This was the first time an avian influenza virus had ever been found to transmit directly from birds to humans. During this outbreak, 18 people were hospitalized and 6 of them died. To control the outbreak, authorities killed about 1.5 million chickens to remove the source of the virus. Scientists determined that the virus spread primarily from birds to humans, though rare person-to-person infection was noted.

1999: In Hong Kong, cases of avian influenza A H9N2 were confirmed in 2 children. Both patients recovered, and no additional cases were confirmed. The evidence suggested that poultry was the source of infection and the main mode of transmission was from bird to human. However, the possibility of person-to-person transmission remained open. Several additional human H9N2 infections were reported from mainland China in 1998-99.

2003: Two cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) infection occurred among members of a Hong Kong family that had traveled to China. One person recovered, the other died. How or where these 2 family members were infected was not determined. Another family member died of a respiratory illness in China, but no testing was done. No additional cases were reported.

2003: Avian influenza A (H7N7) infections among poultry workers and their families were confirmed in the Netherlands during an outbreak of avian flu among poultry. More than 80 cases of H7N7 illness were reported (the symptoms were mostly confined to eye infections, with some respiratory symptoms), and 1 patient died (in a veterinarian who had visited an affected farm). There was evidence of some human-to-human transmission.

2003: H9N2 infection was confirmed in a child in Hong Kong. The child was hospitalized but recovered.

CDC - avian influenza




[edit on 11/1/04 by Bleys]

If we had enough vaccine, it would not help if this pandemic occurs. The vaccine we had made would NOT protect from the avian flu.
It would take six months to make up vaccine for this strain.

I'm sure pandemics happen from time to time. In America,, we think we are immune from such disasters.
I'll say this, the best thing to do is adopt a cleanliness policy. Hand washing is important to avoid colds and flu.

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
If we had enough vaccine, it would not help if this pandemic occurs. The vaccine we had made would NOT protect from the avian flu.
It would take six months to make up vaccine for this strain.

The vaccine Chiron was making for the USA was for H5N1 avian flu - the strain that's about to go pandemic. Chiron's production problems were identified early, and re-confirmed in mid-September. Bush then ordered 2 million doses of H5N1 vaccine from Aventis-Pasteur. The notice that the Brits shut down the Chiron plant was NOT a surprise.

...It's true that the vaccines ditributed to ordinary people in the USA do not protect against bird flu - but 2 million of Bush's close personal friends are covered.


Please read the coverage at:

www.atsnn.com...



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Originally posted by soficrow

...It's true that the vaccines ditributed to ordinary people in the USA do not protect against bird flu - but 2 million of Bush's close personal friends are covered.

I've been reading your links over the past few days with mixed feelings. The threat of a pandemic has been real for a very long time - every administration since the 80s has not taken the threat seriously. Doesn't the fact that WHO is finally getting all countries of the world mobilized indicate that the "wake-up" call is finally being heeded?

Also the 2 million doses for personal friends comment. From one of your links:

The vaccine that is being made is designed to match the H5N1 influenza virus that has killed 29 people in Thailand and Vietnam this year. If a pandemic of avian influenza virus H5N1 occurred in humans, the new vaccine would be used to protect laboratory workers, public health personnel, and, if needed, the general public.

Isn't this exactly who should be getting these vaccinations? Were they earmarked for Congress - then I would have a problem. IMO the choice to give them to lab and health care workers is appropriate.



B

I might as well add this.

From dailyrecord: WORLD FLU SUMMIT OVER EPIDEMIC FEAR

WORLD health chiefs have called a crunch meeting amid fears that a deadly global outbreak of flu is set to strike.

The World Health Organisation is increasingly worried that a mutation of bird flu could kill millions across the planet.

Sixteen vaccine manufacturers and officials from several countries will attend the summit in Geneva, Switzerland next week.

Klaus Stohr , influenza chief of the UN health agency, yesterday warned: 'We believe that we are closer to the next pandemic than we ever were.'

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The point is that Chiron was manufacturing the H5N1 bird flu vaccine - that is what Americans were SUPPOSED to get. Chiron's production problems were identified early on - but when they were reconfirmed in mid-September, Bush ordered only 2 million doses from Aventis-Pasteur. If Bush cared about Americans, he would have started looking then to replace the nation's supply.

Instead, he's letting manufacturers dump old stock - that doesn't immunize against H5N1 bird flu.





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Soficrow....you keep making your opinion without giving the facts.... you quoted, a thread of yours which essentially only gives your opinion and which does not really convey what the article you were trying to report states.

So essentially you are linking to other posts of yours, which are opinions only, as proof that Bush is pushing this around...

Soficrow:

I don't know whether you are reading too much into what you are reading or simply misrepresenting the facts. Based on your comment that 2 million doses of vaccine were purchased for Bush and his friends - I am inclined to believe the latter is true since you never clarified this. It also sounds similar to those on the other side who say Edwards single-handedly killed vaccine manufacturing in the US.

As I noted above, this problem was not created overnight or under one administration. Also no one has mentioned the public's own failure in this matter. For years US companies produced and destroyed millions of doses of vaccine because no one would get a shot.

This is a serious issue. Focus should be put on WHO summit and preventing a possible pandemic, not BS political posturing by the "I hate Bush, Kerry, Cheney, Edwards" groups. It's time to quit finger pointing and actually do something.






B.

[edit on 11/1/04 by Bleys]

Originally posted by Bleys
Soficrow:

Focus should be put on WHO summit and preventing a possible pandemic, not BS political posturing by the "I hate Bush, Kerry, Cheney, Edwards" groups. It's time to quit finger pointing and actually do something.
B.

[edit on 11/1/04 by Bleys]

You bet this is a serious issue. Bush knew the epidemic was coming - and he did nothing to protect the American people. He simply gave good buddies good contracts.

Unlike others here, my interest is almost entirely personal - not political. I know my stuff, and I call it like I see it.

I know about FMD because I am diagnosed with it. ...After a lifetime of episodic hell, I was diagnosed in 1990, given an angioplasty and told the disease was incurable but recurrences would be treatable.

...Guess what? It's not treatable. The disease causes stem cell mutations in connective tissue inside the blood and lymph vessel walls - then it spreads by cell-cell contact to smooth muscle. FYI smooth muscle cells can be 1500-odd feet long, and the same cell can wind through the body from head to foot several times. Also by cell-cell contact, it spreads to other connective tissue - in bone, joints, and more.

FMD can take decades to kill - but before it does, it wipes out the immune system and eats away systems and organs slowly, bit by piece. Someday, maybe soon, I will die quickly by stroke, heart attack, dissected artery or ruptured aneurysms. Or slowly by kidney failure. On the way I will have other 'problems' - I already have one shrivelled kidney, osteoarthritis (from destroyed joint tissue), COPD (destroyed lung tissue), fibromyalgia (destroyed muscle tissue), systemic pain amplification syndrome (nervous tissue in the process of being destroyed)... and the list goes on.

I waited for treatment - but the disease is now systemic and too widespread in my body to benefit from surgery. AFTER I cleaned out my savings, pensions and everything and went bankrupt, I found support on the Net and started researching FMD with a vengeance. ...I am only 52, a single mother with a 14-year-old daughter. I am too young to be disabled; I want to live and produce. But I can't, and you will support me because you will not support solutions.

....One of the first things I discovered is that FMD is epidemic in the USA - new cases are reported at an incidence rate of 1.7% per year, 1.1% diagnosed in autopsy. That translates to an average of 7,000 new cases in Americans diagnosed in autopsy every single DAY.

So do I have an agenda? You betcha. I want everyone to know about this disease - that it's transmitted through our food and water - and that its progression is radically speeded by drugs that shut down immune response and by contaminants in our food air and water.

I want everyone to know FMD is epidemic but invisible - its killing 10's of thousands of Americans every day, disabling more - and it can be prevented. But it's not, because letting it spread and progress is just too profitable.

...as far as the new strains of flu go - the beginning of the evolutionary process was flagged in 1980 in the USA when LM Julian discovered FMD in a flock of domestic turkeys. The geographic spread and mutations have been tracked since.

Yes, the pandemics have been evolving for decades - but the crisis hit on Bush's watch. He not only dropped the ball - but he made it worse. He de-regulated decontamination and sterilization procedures in industry when he should have added more controls. He gutted the EPA and the Environmental Genome Project when he should have strengthened both. ...and he didn't cover the bases to make sure Americans hadenough of the right flu vaccine.

As a result of Bush's actions and inactions, I am sick and dying. My 14-year-old may be orphaned - and there are millions of stories just like mine in the good old USA. Thanks to Bush.

Bush is the Commander-in-Chief. He dropped more than one ball here - and he is responsible. Enough with this "Not my fault, somebody else started it" BS.

Bush IS responsible - he created a world crisis by screwing up the US vaccine supply - that's why the WHO called an emergency summit.

....So there you have it. My motivation and my agenda. All personal.

Your turn.



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The flu summit was called because the pandemic potential is considerably higher than the numbers being discussed in the news

www.recombinomics.com...

Pigeons are falling from the sky in Thailand

www.recombinomics.com...

but efficient human to human transmission will generate significant challenges

www.recombinomics.com...