Bird flu claims third victim this year in Indonesia



Tests on a 19-year-old woman who died last week showed she had contracted the bird flu virus, Indonesia's third human death from the deadly disease this year, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Concerns about avian influenza have risen in the region with China, Cambodia and Vietnam all reporting deaths from the H5N1 virus this year.

The latest Indonesian victim died on February 13, a day after being admitted to a hospital in Tangerang district on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, the ministry said.

Tests on the victim after she died confirmed she had contracted the virus, but a health ministry team that surveyed her house and neighbourhood was unable to determine its source.

The ministry added the woman had a fever for four days before arriving at the hospital.

Indonesia recorded two fatalities in Jakarta in January. The country has been the hardest-hit by bird flu, with 150 deaths reported between 2003 and 2011, according to the World Health Organization.

Nine Indonesians died from the virus last year, including two children on the resort island of Bali in October, according to authorities.

The virus typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact, but experts fear it could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, with the potential to kill millions in a pandemic.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/bird-flu-claim ... 05574.html



CDC study suggests H3N2 swine virus may have pandemic potential


The H3N2 virus, now called the H3N3 variant because it has changed since first being discovered, was first found in humans in the United States, but is believed to have migrated to pigs back in 2009. The version seen last year has apparently migrated back to humans after picking up a new gene from the H1N1 variant, a gene that many researchers believe makes flu viruses more easily transmissible.

In their research, the CDC team found that unlike the H5N1 variant, or so-called bird flu, the H3N2 virus needed no prodding from researchers to become more transmissible, as it showed itself to be highly so among lad ferret populations. Fortunately, the team also found that H3N2 does not migrate very easily to humans or even between humans, despite the addition of the M gene, which accounts, they say, for the low numbers of cases seen. This appears to be because of lung differences between pigs, ferrets and humans.

The dark side of this new research though, is that it appears to show that if the H3N3 variant mutates further and retains its high transmissibility rates, that’s when we could have a real problem on our hands because H3N2 appears to have a high mortality rate. The researchers are not suggesting this is a possibility but they’re not saying it’s not either.

This study comes on the heels of the debate that continues to rage in the scientific community over whether it makes sense to publish studies that describe how to cause the H5N1 virus to become more transmissible; information that terrorists or governments could use to make a biological weapon. Just last week a World Health Organization group of experts all agreed that such studies should be published, despite protestations from representatives of the United States.

Thus far, there are have been no new cases of H3N2 in humans in the United States since December, but that might be due to the delayed flu season which this year has only just started.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-c ... demic.html



I think this is the one I have talked about before..just this is a newer warning

Vietnam reports H3N2 swine flu case


Vietnam has urged citizens and holidaymakers not to eat pork or poultry from animals that were sick or died of unknown causes after the first human case of H3N2 swine flu contracted from pigs was reported in the country.

Officials from Vietnam's Preventive Medicine Department said a two-year-old girl was diagnosed with the disease and successfully treated in hospital.

The Ministry of Health announced it will investigate the case in co-operation with the World Health Organisation and said the country's flu surveillance systems will be strengthened to help identify similar cases.

It said people who were in contact with poultry or pigs and showed flu-like symptoms such as fever, coughing or breathing difficulties must be taken to hospital immediately.

Holidaymakers with existing health problems are being urged to take out travel insurance with medical conditions ahead of visiting the country.

A total of 18 people with H3N2 swine flu contracted from pigs have been detected by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the past three years.

http://www.world-first.co.uk/home/trave ... 43960.aspx


Four Residents Feared Bird Flu Suspects

The four residents of Kunjung Mae Hamlet were having high fever, cough, and flu.


VIVAnews – Four residents of Gowa, South Sulawesi, were rushed to the nearest hospital after showing the symptoms of H5N1 virus or famously known as the bird flu. The four residents of Kunjung Mae Hamlet, Panakkukang Village in Pallangga were having high fever, cough, and flu, which were suspected as the symptoms of the bird flu.

The four residents are SM (3 months), R (7 months), MA (6 years), and S (32 years). Their family did not want to take any risks, especially since the past 3 days, dozens of the residents’ chickens suddenly died with the symptoms of H5N1 virus.

“That’s why we rushed them to the hospital, because family members are worried,” said Daeng Kenna, a family member on Monday night, Feb 20.

Meanwhile, the Syekh Yusuf Gowa Hospital immediately treated the patients with standard procedures in handling the H5N1 virus, in isolation room. According to one of the officers there, Dr Nurul, the four patients are still under treatment.

However, the hospital has yet to find the exact cause of their sickness, because the hospital in Gowa is not included as a referral hospital in handling H5N1 virus. The hospital is planning to recommend the patients to be transferred to Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital in Makassar.

http://us.en.vivanews.com/news/read/289 ... u-suspects





Watch this video at 1.33 they infected one ferret and then air flowed through and it infected all the other 40 ferrets

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/bird-fl ... h-15745084



This is from Dec 2011 but it gives an idea of what could happen


How a New Swine Flu Virus Could Complicate Influenza Season

Since August, the CDC has logged 12 cases of human infection with H3N2, a new flu virus from pigs. Should we be worried?


I received my annual flu shot back in October, and I have to say, I felt pretty good about myself. Though doctors constantly tell us to get vaccinated, most Americans don’t bother — a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in November indicated that just 36% of all Americans age 6 months and older will get the flu vaccine. That’s too bad — a simple flu shot can save the average person days of unhappy illness (and lost time at work or school) if they get exposed to the flu this winter. And for the very young, the very old and the immunocompromised, a flu vaccination might make the difference between life and becoming one of the 30,000 some Americans who die from influenza-related causes each year.

There’s just one problem: influenza is unpredictable. Flu viruses are notoriously promiscuous, which isn’t a judgment of their morals, but their genes. Flu viruses mutate constantly, sometimes on their own as they replicate inside an infected cell, and sometimes through recombination — directly swapping genes with other flu viruses. We need a new vaccination every year because the flu strains we might be exposed to over the winter differ from season to season. The flu shot itself is actually a trivalent vaccine, meaning that it protects against the three separate flu strains that experts believe are most likely to be circulating around the Northern Hemisphere this winter. If all goes well, you’re unlikely to be exposed to a flu strain that’s not covered by the vaccine.

Unless, of course, something unexpected occurs. And that may indeed be happening this winter.

Since the middle of August, the CDC has received 12 reports of human infections with a new flu virus — a swine influenza A strain called H3N2. So far the cases come from five states — Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — and all but one of the affected individuals were below the age of 18. While the virus itself seems to have originated in pigs and initially jumped directly from swine to human beings, half of the cases had no documented contact with pigs, which means there’s at least minimal person-to-person transmission. Because there’s already a common seasonal flu called H3N2, health officials are calling the new strain H3N2v — meaning v for “variant.”

Twelve cases may not seem like much, especially since only three required hospitalization and no one so far has died. But in an article for Scientific American earlier this month, ace flu reporter Helen Branswell explained why the possible emergence of a new flu strain worries health officials — even as they fear overly alarming the public:

The cases leave public health authorities in the U.S. and elsewhere wondering if a new swine-origin flu virus is circulating at low levels among humans — and what needs to be done if that is indeed happening. (Read “Flu Factories” in the January 2011 Scientific American (preview) to learn why health authorities fear the next pandemic virus may emerge as a result of industrial farming practices.)

Given the mercurial nature of flu viruses — which can easily mutate into lethal pathogens — ignoring the new virus is not an option, even though to date there have been no deaths and most of the infections have produced only mild symptoms. But the widespread perception that the 2009 swine flu pandemic was much ado about nothing means health authorities risk further damage to their already battered credibility if they sound an alarm and this virus turns out to be a dud. And they know it.

Even if H3N2v doesn’t mutate into something more dangerous, if the strain does establish itself in the human population — which it hasn’t yet — it could worsen the usual flu season because the vaccine likely won’t offer much protection. Young children could be particularly vulnerable because they’re unlikely to have had much exposure to similar H3N2 viruses in the past — or any flu strains, depending on how young they are. By the same token, older people may have more resistance to the new strain — CDC testing indicates the H3N2v is similar to a human H3N2 strain that circulated in the mid-1990s. (Humans actually gave the H3N2 virus to pigs back then — which shows just how interconnected and vulnerable we all are.) If you’re old enough to have enjoyed swing music ironically — think Swingers-era Vince Vaughn — you can probably fight off the new swine flu.

In fact, what unfolds with H3N2v could be similar to what happened in 1977, when H1N1 flu viruses suddenly re-emerged — possibly through a lab accident — after a 20-year absence. The new H1N1 infected mostly younger people who had never been exposed to a similar flu strain before, while older people proved more resistant.

Just in case things get worse, the CDC is looking to create a vaccine for the new H3N2v. Hopefully we won’t need it — but as the furor over man-made killer H5N1 flu viruses and the emergence of a new pandemic just three years ago shows, there are no guarantees with the flu.


Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/30/h ... z1n3yKphsQ

AI, 12 year boy dies in Bali

Gede Suardana - Detiknews

Tuesday, 21/02/2012

Denpasar Bird flu virus still a threat, a boy with the initials WM (12) died of the H5N1 virus is. WM is the origin of Badung, Bali was the fifth victim of bird flu in Bali since 1997. Information gleaned from Denpasar Sanglah Hospital, the victim was admitted to hospital earlier Surya Husada since five days ago.

However, because the condition is worsening, then on Tuesday (2/21/2012) morning, WM Sanglah referred to Denpasar. Unfortunately after a treatment in a special room, Nusa Indah, the lives of the victims could not be saved. "Based on the victims' families demand, while This victim was taken home, "said Yan Kasi Special Treat Sanglah dr. I Gede Ken Wirasandi, told reporters on Tuesday (21/02/2012).

Although the family has denied that his son contracted the bird flu virus, but based on the results of medical treatment by team doctors Sanglah, WM positive for this deadly virus. "Based on the PCR, he's positive, "he said. case of death of this child is the fifth death from bird flu virus that occurred in Bali.

To keep from getting infected with this virus, health and hygiene and cooking food with cooked will prevent from this virus, because this virus will die in a high temperature. The characteristics of the victims of this virus is prolonged shortness of breath accompanied by fever does not go down. If you're having such a case, then you should immediately consult a doctor.

http://us.news.detik.com/read/2012/02/2 ... ggal-dunia

Gasoline prices rise as oil hits $106 US

Iran threatens Europe with embargo


Gasoline prices in Canada rose Tuesday as oil prices hit their highest levels in nine months.

According to the price-monitoring website Gasbuddy.com the average price for regular gas in Canada was $1.2443 a litre, up from $1.2430 Monday as crude oil for March delivery closed at $105.84 US a barrel, up $2.60, or 2.5 per cent, in New York.

The more widely traded April contract settled at $106.25, up $2.65, oil's highest price since May.

Crude prices rose after European leaders agreed to lend Greece €130 billion ($172 billion Cdn) to avoid a debt default and as Iran laid out conditions for future oil exports to European countries.

Earlier in the week, Iran said it was halting sales to Britain and France in retaliation for a European Union embargo taking effect in July over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2 ... anada.html


Experts warn of record gas prices across North America

Drivers across North America are paying more to fill their gas tanks as analysts warn of record fuel-price increases this spring.

The price of oil reached a nine-month high Tuesday, closing at more than $106 a barrel.

At the pumps, that translated to an average fuel price of $1.24 a litre in Canada on Tuesday, according to gas price tracking website GasBuddy.com. At this time last year, the average price was $1.13 a litre.

Gas prices in Vancouver could reach $1.50 a litre this summer, experts say. The average price of gas in the city has already gone up more than six cents this week to $1.34 a litre.

In the U.S., average gas prices are expected to hit $1.12 a litre by April -- a record for that time of the year. California has been one of the hardest hit states so far, where some drivers expressed their anger by throwing pop cans at changing fuel price signs.

Prices are fluctuating due to increased demand for oil around the world and instability in some regions. Iran recently threatened to withhold its oil deliveries as the U.S. and Europe tighten economic sanctions against the oil-rich country over suspicions it's attempting to build a nuclear bomb.

Iran has already stopped oil shipments to Britain and France. It's a largely symbolic move because Britain hasn't purchased oil from Iran for over a year and France only buys a small amount.

A recent cold snap in Europe and heavy demand from developing nations is also affecting oil prices.

But analysts warn than even small threats to the oil supply can disrupt the market. For example, a fire at a Seattle refinery spiked fuel prices overnight on Friday.

Compounding the problem is the fact that refineries suspend operations every spring to switch the type of gasoline they make. Supplies of wintertime gas are sold off before March, when refineries start making summertime gas, which contains less butane and other compounds that contribute to smog.

The period during this production switch can mean less supply for gas stations, resulting in higher gas prices.

The only thing drivers on a budget can do is limit their travel and wait for the prices to drop. But analysts say it's hard to predict when relief will come.

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20 ... z1n6XToKhI

Trickle Effects of Weather

Melting ice causes chaos on the Danube, as experts warn heavy flooding could bring more misery to a country devastated by the cold-snap


Giant chunks of melting ice are breaking free on the River Danube in Serbia, damaging hundreds of boats, sweeping away barges and sinking one of Belgrade's trademark floating nightclubs.

The thick ice had closed large parts of Europe's busy waterway as the region faced a record-breaking cold snap, but it has been shifting since Sunday afternoon because of rising temperatures. There were no reports of injuries.


Officials around the region were trying to determine whether melting snow and ice would cause heavy flooding, creating more misery in an area that is dealing with a death toll that has risen to more than 600 and trapped thousands in remote mountain villages behind massive snow banks.

Officials were hoping that lowered water levels in the Danube from a drought last year would help Serbia avoid flooding like that which has hit Bulgaria and Greece.

Nikola Marjanovic, a Serbian water supply official, said there is no need for panic but the situation must be carefully monitored.

'At this moment we don't know what will happen,' he said.

Some 3,300 people remain stranded by deep snow that hit remote areas of southern Serbia and they can only be reached by helicopters, said Serbian emergency official Predrag Maric


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1n3rvDyw5

Growing Air of Concern in Greece Over New Bailout

ATHENS — Even as the European Union signed off Tuesday on a sweeping new arrangement to help avert a Greek default and stabilize the euro, many people here on the streets saw no end to their country’s woes.


“They don’t want to kill us but keep us down on our knees so we can keep paying them indefinitely,” said Eva Kyriadou, 55, as she stood in a square in downtown Athens where the smell of tear gas and the smashed facades from last week’s violent riots still lingered.

Indeed, the deal was reached amid a growing air of stalemate and concern. Greece’s foreign lenders expressed doubts that the new austerity measures the Greek Parliament passed last week — including a 22 percent cut to the private-sector benchmark minimum wage — would actually be carried out, at least before early national elections as soon as April.

Others are concerned that in the fine print of the 400-plus-page document — which Parliament members had a weekend to read and sign — Greece relinquished fundamental parts of its sovereignty to its foreign lenders, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

“This is the first time ever that a European and probably an O.E.C.D. state abdicates its rights of immunity over all its assets to its lenders,” said Louka Katseli, an independent member of Parliament who previously represented the Socialist Party, using the abbreviation for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. She was one of several independents who joined 43 lawmakers from the two largest parties in voting against the loan agreement.

Ms. Katseli, an economist who was labor minister in the government of George Papandreou until she left in a cabinet reshuffle last June, was also upset that Greece’s lenders will have the right to seize the gold reserves in the Bank of Greece under the terms of the new deal, and that future bonds issued will be governed by English law and in Luxembourg courts, conditions more favorable to creditors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/22/world ... &ref=world



Greece bailout: Large protests expected against cuts


Greece is braced for large protests against further budget cuts, following a 130bn-euro (£110bn; $170bn) bailout deal aimed at avoiding bankruptcy.

There are fears of more violence during the rallies called by trade unions as the public mood hardens, a BBC correspondent in Athens says.

Meanwhile the government is finalising emergency legislation demanded by international lenders.

It says Greece has avoided a nightmare scenario by agreeing to the bailout.

The country has a week to approve a raft of spending cuts of more than 3bn euros tied to the bailout.

Emergency legislation, discussed by the Greek cabinet on Tuesday night, will be debated by MPs on Wednesday afternoon, although no vote is expected until Thursday.

The bill proposes cutting the current 751-euro minimum monthly wage by 22%, and also further cuts of pensions, reports say.

A key part of the bailout deal - the debt writedown by holders of Greek bonds - will be discussed at committee level before going to a vote by MPs on Thursday.

The protest against measures demanded by the IMF and other eurozone governments has been planned to coincide with Wednesday's session of parliament.

A week ago, Athens saw its worst rioting in years as MPs passed a series of deeply unpopular austerity measures.

"Workers in our country refuse to accept the barbarity of the tougher neo-liberal measures that have been extortionately imposed by our creditors," the GSEE private sector trade union warned earlier this week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17123199

One mother in four mothers forced to return items at checkout in order to make ends meet


One in four cash-strapped mothers is being forced to return items at the checkout or buy low-cost own brand products in order to make ends meet.

In a desperate attempt to disguise the impact of the economic downturn from their children, mothers are re-filling branded cereal boxes with supermarket own brand versions.

The tactics being used in homes across the country have emerged in a study carried out by Asda.


The research - dubbed the Mumdex - comes from interviews with around 4,000 mothers to gauge their views and experiences in the current economic climate and discovered some 75pc had lower disposable incomes than a year ago.

Around 42pc have been forced to accept a household pay cut or freeze and 23pc can’t make ends meet and are borrowing to get by.


While households across the country are facing some of the most straightened times seen in a generation official data last week showed retail sales rose unexpectedly in January lifting hopes that Britain’s economy will avoid recession despite having contracted in the last three months of 2011.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/artic ... z1n6TohzxU

Household spending suffers bigger fall than in any other economic setback since Second World War

Household spending has suffered more in this recession than in any other economic setback since the Second World War, according to an official assessment released yesterday.

The decision to cut back and spend only on essentials after the banking crisis of 2008 caused the latest downturn has led to the biggest drop in the amount of goods and services bought by consumers since modern records began in 1955.

According to figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) consumers reigned in spending on items now considered to be luxuries - including expensive food, clothes, going out and products such as televisions - by nearly a tenth over the first 18 months of recession.


Even now, two years on from the lowest point, the level of goods and services people are buying has crept up by only one percentage point from the bottom, the analysis said.

According to the ONS, ordinary consumers and families have borne a burden greater than any other generation has had to shoulder for more than 50 years.

It said spending by households dropped by 2 per cent over the last three month of 2008, from £221 billion to £216.5 billion at current prices. This was the biggest fall measured since 1968.

Over the following six months family spending continued to go down. This had not happened since household spending began to be recorded in the mid-1950s.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1n6UVagK9

Afghans begin 2nd day protest at Koran burning

Hundreds of Afghan protesters threw stones at police on Wednesday and security forces fired shots in the air in a second day of demonstrations after copies of the Koran, Islam's most holy book, were burned at a major NATO airbase.

Protesters shouted "Death to America!" and "Death to (President Hamid) Karzai" in demonstrations on the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul, while separate protests were also underway in the eastern city of Jalalabad, Reuters witnesses said.

As many as 2,000 Afghans on Tuesday massed outside several gates to Bagram Airbase, the main centre for NATO-led forces just north of Kabul, after local labourers found charred remains of copies of the Koran as they collected rubbish, prompting an apology from the White House and NATO.

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=258857

Iran nuclear row: UN inspectors barred from Iran site


The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran has stopped a team of inspectors from visiting a key military site.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says no deal has been reached on inspecting the Parchin site, south of Tehran, despite "intensive efforts".

The inspectors had sought to clarify the "possible military dimensions" of Iran's nuclear programme.

Iran insists it is purely for peaceful purposes, but the West suspects the programme has military implications.

The IAEA said that after two days of talks, its team was returning from Iran without a deal on a document "facilitating the clarification of unresolved issues" in connection with Tehran's nuclear programme.

The first round of discussions in January also failed to produce a result.

"It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin," IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in a statement.

It is suspected that Parchin was the site where explosives related to nuclear weapons may have been tested in recent years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17122738