Bird flu fear as mutant strain hits China and Vietnam

Avian flu shows signs of a resurgence, while a mutant strain - able to sidestep vaccines - could be spreading in Asia, the United Nations has warned.

The variant appeared in Vietnam and China and its risk to humans cannot be predicted, veterinary officials said.

Virus circulation in Vietnam threatens Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, where eight people have died after becoming infected this year, they warned.

The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 331 people since 2003.

It has also killed or provoked the culling of more than 400m domestic poultry worldwide and caused an estimated $20bn (£12.2bn) of economic damage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14709024

U.N. Warns of Possible Bird Flu Resurgence


U.N. Warns of Possible Bird Flu Resurgence

A mutant strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus that's resistant to existing vaccines is spreading in China and Vietnam, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday.

The FAO also said wild bird migrations in recent years have brought H5N1 to countries that had been free of the bird flu virus for several years, including Bulgaria, Romania, Mongolia, Nepal, Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Associated Press reported.

These and other factors could lead to a possible resurgence of the bird flu virus

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/ma ... ug-29-2011

Mutant bird flu spreading through Asia


The FAO said the renewed geographic spread of the virus in poultry and wild birds was noted in 2008, an advance associated with the movements of migratory birds.

These migrations enable the virus to travel over long distances, said Juan Lubroth, the FAO's chief veterinary officer, and in the last two years H5N1 has shown up in poultry or wild birds in virus-free countries.

Recently affected areas were to be found in Israel, the Palestinian territories, Bulgaria, Romania, Nepal and Mongolia.

The appearance of a variant virus in China and Vietnam that is immune to existing vaccines is also a cause for concern, Lubroth said.

The new virus strain in Vietnam is known as H5N1 - 2.3.2.1., and the country was reportedly considering a novel vaccination campaign in autumn.

The virus circulation in Vietnam poses a "direct threat" to Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and endangers the Korean peninsula and Japan, the FAO said.

http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2011 ... rough-asia



Deadly bird flu on rise(read from link)


http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/201 ... d-flu.html

and should ever the twain meet



Virologists and influenza authorities are becoming increasingly concerned that the 2009 A-H1N1 flu virus could “reassort” with the highly virulent H5N1 avian flu that’s still prevalent in parts of the world like China, and that a mutation could occur resulting in a new strain that has the lethality of H5N1 and the human transmissibility of A-H1N1.

http://www.nationalterroralert.com/2009 ... -mutation/

This was written in 2009 but now we have an even worse case scenario...both have mutated



More Deadly Swine Flu? CDC Mixes H1N1, H5N1 Viruses in Tests
2009 again


The scientists want to know whether a combination of the H1N1 virus -– highly transmissible, but not terribly deadly -– and the H5N1 flu virus could create an easily transmissible, deadly scourge. The H5N1 virus has only sickened 440 people world-wide since 2003 and generally isn’t transmitted from one person to another. But it has killed 262, or about 60%, of those people, according to the World Health Organization.

As the new H1N1 flu has spread, flu experts have kept a close eye on Egypt and parts of the world where human H5N1 infections are occurring too. The two viruses could mix if they infected the same person simultaneously. The new H1N1 virus was also detected recently in turkeys in Chile, proving that it has the capacity to jump to birds, another potential source for reassortment.

The CDC scientists don’t have results of their lab experiments in ferrets yet, said Michael Shaw, associate director for laboratory science for the agency’s influenza division. While the experiments could produce viable combinations of the two viruses, the real question is whether any could create a virus that would spread, he said. “Viability is one thing,” he cautioned. “Whether it’s easily transmissible is another.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/09/17/ ... -in-tests/

they never did release the results of the tests that I can find




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I picked this up from research...where they mixed H5N1 with common H3N2,s and this is the results


Study Yields Hybrid Flu Strains That Cause Severe Disease

NIAID-supported researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison have found that when H5N1 avian influenza reassorts (combines) with a seasonal flu strain, the results can be a highly pathogenic (causing severe disease) avian influenza. Led by Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka, the team used reverse genetics to generate 254 combinations of reassortant viruses between a low-pathogenic avian H5N1 virus and a human seasonal H3N2 virus. The study found that 22 viruses were more pathogenic for mice than the original H5N1 virus and 3 viruses caused extremely severe disease. The findings underscore the critical need for virus genetic surveillance and the importance of monitoring influenza strains in wild birds, animals, and people.

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/flu/res ... dings.aspx