Lacking a new vaccine, Vietnam highly susceptible to bird flu pandemic

Last Updated: Sunday, February 19, 2012 05:15:



Vietnam’s agriculture minister called an urgent meeting Sunday demanding local authorities adopt better measures for bird flu prevention, given that the virus has mutated and become more lethal.

Cao Duc Phat, minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and head of the National Steering Committee of Bird Flu Prevention, said at the meeting that the condition is spreading widely and preventative policies are more important than ever.

The disease has recurred this year in the northern city of Hai Phong and ten provinces nationwide, with more than 34,300 fowl have either died or been culled.

Hoang Van Nam, the interim director of the Animal Health Department, said the bird flu virus has undergone unexpected changes since the epidemic first struck in late 2003.

Since 2007, Nam said, bird flu has developed new strains that are more dangerous and spread faster.

He said the increased danger is illustrated by the human mortality rate of 100 percent in the two cases so far this year, almost double the death rate among 121 infected persons between 2003-2011.

Nam said the biggest challenge to prevention efforts has been the lack of a vaccine capable of handling the new strain. The vaccine which has been used, H5N1-Re 5, has proved ineffective against the new strains.

He said experts in China, where the new strains have also appeared among fowl, have successfully developed an effective vaccine (H5N1-Re 6), but the Chinese government has yet to allow it to be used or produced extensively.


“Without a suitable vaccine, a recurring epidemic is totally possible anywhere,” Nam said.

As the development of the disease will continue to be unpredictable, Phat said, adding that local authorities would have do their best with what they have and should provide enough H5N1-Re 5 vaccinations, despite their apparent ineffectiveness.

Earlier, he proposed that the Prime Minister urgently approve the purchase of 100 million H5N1-Re 5 vaccinations from China.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/pages ... etnam.aspx



5 Possible Bird Flu Cases in S. Sulawesi

February 22, 2012

Five people from a remote village in Gowa district, South Sulawesi, were rushed to the Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital in Makassar late on Monday under suspicion that they had contracted the avian flu virus.

The hospital’s medical service director Khalid said on Tuesday that the five, who lived in the same village and included two babies less than 7 months old, had not tested positive for the H5N1 virus but said they had been showing symptoms similar to those infected.

“We have taken their blood and saliva samples to be tested in our laboratory,” the doctor said. The results should be available on Thursday. 

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/5-p ... 88#Scene_1



S. Africa ostrich industry hit by major bird flu outbreak


For some 100 years, tourists have flocked Arenhold Hooper's ostrich family farm in Oudtshoorn, the South African city renowned as the ostrich capital of the world, to ride its long-legged, long-necked birds.

Today, however, Hooper's Highgate Ostrich show farm is devoid of both birds and people after tests showed that a major avian flu outbreak in the region has infected his birds. As a result, all of Hooper's 1,500 ostriches have been culled.

"We do not have a business at this stage, our business is closed," says Hooper, whose farm has been empty eight months now.

"Tremendously frustrated -- it has been a battle of unanswered questions, it has been sleepless nights, it has been staff concerns, it has been financial concerns. We still do not have the green light so the sleepless nights and the frustration still carries on," he adds.

Hooper is just one of the hundreds of Oudtshoorn farmers facing tough times after the H5N2 virus was first detected in the region in April -- the strain, officials say, does not pose a threat to humans but could mutate and affect poultry.

More from Marketplace Africa: Agriculture must play 'critical role' in Africa's future

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/22/busin ... hpt=ibu_c2

Published Date: 2012-02-22 17:24:57
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, human (19): Egypt (MA)
Archive Number: 20120222.1049390

AVIAN INFLUENZA, HUMAN (19): EGYPT (MENOFIA)
********************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Wed 22 Feb 2012
Source: World Health Organisation (WHO), CSR, disease Outbreak News [edited]
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_02_22/en/index.html


As of 22 Feb 2012, The Ministry of Health and Population of Egypt has notified WHO of a new case of human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus.

The case is a 45-year-old female from Menofia governorate. She developed symptoms on 10 Feb 2012, received oseltamivir treatment on 17 Feb 2012, and is still recovering. The case was laboratory confirmed by the Central Public Health Laboratories; a National Influenza Center of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network, on 18 Feb 2012.

Epidemiological investigation into the source of infection indicates that the case had exposure to backyard poultry.

Of the 160 cases confirmed to date in Egypt, 55 have been fatal.

http://www.promedmail.org/?p=2400:1000: ... 702832:::::


Not All Migrating Birds Adjusting to Climate Change, Report Says


Some birds are adjusting their migration patterns and adapting to climate change better than others, researchers found.

A study of bird flight patterns found that while some shift their migration as much as six days earlier in warmer weather, others are keeping the same habits, according to a report in the Public Library of Science.

Birds that aren’t adapting, like the Barn Swallow, could be threatened if the crop of insects they feed on aren’t available at the same time, for example, said Allen Hurlbert, the lead author, in a telephone interview.

“This is a new threat,” said Hurlbert, an assistant professor of biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “It’s an additional risk factor for the health of their population.”

Hurlbert’s study of 18 bird species is the first to examine the entire Eastern United States, he said. It’s also unique in using citizen bird watching data from more than 50,000 people logging into eBird, an online site created in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audobon Society.

On average, the birds shifted their migration almost a day earlier for every Celsius degree of warming spring temperature. Species that fail could be eliminated through natural selection

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-2 ... -says.html

Weather

Thousands in W.Va. still without power after snowstorm


One day after snowfall knocked out power to more than 60,000 Appalachian Power customers in West Virginia and Virginia, the company is still working to restore power, spokesman Phil Moye said.

Throughout the day Monday, new power outages were reported as tree limbs broke under the weight of the snow and as the snow melted, causing branches to hit power lines, Moye said.

"We had a lot of new outages throughout the day," Moye said. "Essentially, in some areas the longer that heavy snow was there the more likely the limbs were to break."

With the new outages, there were up to 63,000 power outages Monday -- almost as many as when the power outages peaked at 66,000 Sunday night, Moye said.

At about 6:15 p.m. Monday, the number of outages was down to 35,000, he said.

The company hopes to have an even lower number of outages by Tuesday, he said.

http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/201202200160

Freeze Kills Rare Pelicans in Dagestan

Rare Dalmatian pelicans, a threatened species, are dying of cold and hunger amid freezing weather in Russia’s usually warm Dagestan, where the birds are currently wintering.

Temperatures of minus 20-30 degrees Celsius have swept Russia’s southern latitudes, coating the Caspian Sea in a thick layer of sea ice. Some 500 Dalmatian pelicans out of the total population in Russia of about 1,400 were forced to take refuge at a shipyard on the Caspian Sea near Dagestan's capital Makhachkala.

According to information from the Dagestansky Nature Preserve, about 16 pelicans have died from hunger and cold on the Caspian shores of Dagestan.

An adult Dalmatian pelican requires at least 2.5 kg of fish daily, but the giant birds are unable to feed themselves from the ice-covered sea.

http://en.ria.ru/Environment/20120220/171425936.html



Floods submerge homes in eastern Bolivia


Bolivia's government sent aid on Wednesday (February 22) to a severely flooded region near the border with Brazil after hundreds of families were driven from their homes, some of them completely submerged in water.

The town of Cobija in the eastern Pando province was among the worst after the Acre River spilled into neighbourhoods.

Vehicles floated and roofs of homes poked up through the water. Some 900 families were driven from their homes in the Pando region.

Back in the capital La Paz, Defence Minister Ruben Saavedra said the government would take care of the flood victims, donating thousands of dollars as well as food and clothing.


http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/s ... _category2

Rewards for failure at RBS: State-owned bank posts losses of £2billion - but 'casino bankers' still enjoy £390million bonus pot

Royal Bank of Scotland today revealed total losses of £2billion in 2011, but still paid employees a total bonus pot of £785million.

The huge bonus pool includes a £390million pool for its 17,000 investment banking staff.

The overall loss is almost double the £1.1billion figure posted the previous year by the bank, which is 82 per cent owned by the taxpayer
It is RBS's fourth year of losses since it received a £45.5billion bailout at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... s-pot.html

Let there be energy-saving light: Halogen bulbs face being switched off by EU... and the alternative costs eight times more

Halogen bulbs will be banned next year as part of the same legislation that phased out incandescent bulbs, according to EU proposals.

All 12V MR16 lamp bulbs will be phased out from 2013 if the draft legislation is approved.
Millions of these powerful spotlight bulbs are sold in Britain every year.

On the way out? Halogen bulbs will be banned next year as part of the same legislation that phased out incandescent bulbs, according to EU proposals

The cost to the many businesses and households that will be forced to replace their lightbulbs will have a significant impact during already difficult economic times.

A 12V MR16 bulb costs around £3, while an energy-saving alternative can cost up to £25.
While the environmentally friendly alternative may last a lot longer than a standard bulb, its cost vastly outweighs any financial benefit this might have.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1nCLK1TxE

Online surveillance bill setup costs estimated at $80M


It's going to cost at least $80 million to implement the government's lawful access bill to force internet and telecommunications service providers to collect customer information in case police need it for an investigation, CBC News has learned.

C-30, a bill to update Canadian law when it comes to crimes committed online, will cost $20 million a year for the first four years and $6.7 million a year after that, Public Safety Canada told the CBC's Hannah Thibedeau on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews wouldn't provide any more information about the costs. It's not clear if those are the only costs associated with the legislation.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2 ... costs.html


Canadians will likely pay for online surveillance bill


Initial cost estimates to implement the federal government's online surveillance bill run into the tens of millions of dollars, and experts say those costs will be passed on to Canadians by either the government, or the companies forced to upgrade their technology to comply with the legislation's requirements.

Public Safety Canada is estimating it could cost $80 million over four years for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Telecommunications Service Providers (TSPs) to acquire the necessary hardware and software to engage in the type of surveillance allowed for in Bill C-30. The legislation is also known as the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act.

The bill would require TSPs and ISPs to hand over basic information about their clients at the request of law enforcement or spy agencies, including the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), without a warrant. It would also allow that data to be duplicated without proper oversight.



Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20 ... z1nCRE59I0

Target set to alter Canadian retail landscape


The buzz surrounding Target Corporation's move into Canada could quickly turn into a backlash if the U.S. retailing giant can’t deliver quality goods at prices similar to what it charges south of the border, experts say.

On Thursday, a year ahead of the official launch of its 135 stores across Canada, Target will open a temporary store on King Street West in Toronto to give consumers a taste of what to expect. During the several hours it's open, the pop-up store will feature clothing by Vancouver designer Jason Wu, with 100 per cent of sales going to United Way Toronto.

Even today's soft launch is likely to be greeted with fanfare, predicts Detlev Zwick, a professor of marketing at York University. Many Canadians know the brand from U.S. shopping trips, and many expat Americans long for it. Target also fills a gap in this country, Zwick says.

“It’s going to be greeted with a lot of enthusiasm, especially by middle-class consumers in urban areas, where there is a gap in the retail landscape between the high end, with Harry Rosen and Holt Renfrew, and the low end, with Zellers and Wal-Mart,” he said.

“The prices are excellent and the quality of the stuff you can buy in Target would cost 30 to 40 per cent more in other stores, if you can even find those brands.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/201 ... ening.html

Obama to address rising gas prices, draw attention to his energy policies

President Barack Obama is confronting Americans' anxiety over rising gasoline prices by drawing attention to his energy policies and taking credit for rising oil and gas production, a greater mix of energy sources and decreased consumption.

Obama is heading to Florida on Thursday to promote an energy strategy that the administration says will reduce dependence on foreign oil in the long term. But Obama's pitch will also have a subtext: that the federal government can do little to halt the current rise in


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02 ... z1nCNfLjCA

Iran court convicts Christian pastor convert to death

A trial court in Iran has issued its final verdict, ordering a Christian pastor to be put to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, according to sources close to the pastor and his legal team.

Supporters fear Youcef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old father of two who was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, may now be executed at any time without prior warning, as death sentences in Iran may be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.

It is unclear whether Nadarkhani can appeal the execution order.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/22 ... z1nCNwKLyT

Want to Survive 2012? Be a 'Prepper'

When people ask me about investing in gold, I often reply that my two favorite sectors are canned food and ammunition.

When the young and unemployed ask me for career advice, I tell them to learn how to organize friends and neighbors into a militia and establish a perimeter.

Yes, I have been up late at night watching the National Geographic Channel, learning the many ways the world as we know it may soon end, from a global economic collapse to unfathomable horrors from outer space.

Nostradamus, the ancient Maya, the Book of Revelations -- I've heard it all on cable TV. But this month, Nat Geo is out with a new show called "Doomsday Preppers," featuring ordinary, everyday people who are actually doing something about it:

- Christopher Nyerges is prepping for an earthquake that might flatten Los Angeles. He's learned to live off shrubs and weeds and carries a flint to build fires.

- Megan Hurwitt is expecting an unusually nasty oil crisis. The Houston party girl built an impressive survival cache in her tiny apartment, and she practices a night-time backpacking route to get out of a city she expects to find completely blacked out.

- Paul Range foresees a polar shift, or the entire earth doing a backflip on its axis. He's constructed a home near San Antonio, Texas, using eight steel shipping containers, and he's loaded it up with enough food and ammo to last 20 years.

- Dennis McClung, who lives in a suburb of Phoenix, is expecting a coronal mass ejection, a huge bubble of gas threaded with magnetic field lines that's ejected from the sun, in 2012 that will take out the electrical grid and blast civilization back to the Stone Age. He's got 1,000 tilapia fish in his swimming pool, chickens and goats roaming in his backyard, and a Mayan calendar on his flat-screen TV, counting down to the predicted doomsday of Dec. 21.

We used to call these people whack-jobs or survivalists. Now they are called preppers. This upgraded nomenclature, by itself, is a manifestation of our grim times.

After years of sluggish economic recovery, endless wars, and a skyrocketing national debt, the national zeitgeist has gone "Apocalypse Now." Turn on the AM radio, or search the Internet, and you'll find scores of companies peddling emergency food supplies and anything else you can imagine needing after the big one hits.

Nat Geo says nearly 4.3 million viewers tuned in when its new 10-part series premiered Feb. 7 at 9 p.m. EST. This was the biggest Tuesday night in the channel's 11-year history, with two episodes titled "Bullets, Lots of Bullets" and "I Hope I Am Crazy."

I hope I am crazy, too, because this show has me singing a jingle: "I'm a prepper, he's a prepper, she's a prepper, we're a prepper. Wouldn't you like to be a prepper, too?"

(The National Geographic Channel is a joint venture between National Geographic Ventures and FOX Cable Networks, a unit of News Corp. (NWSA: 19.30, -0.24, -1.23%), which owns Dow Jones Newswires, The Wall Street Journal and the FOX Business Network.)

Nat Geo also paired up with Kelton Research to survey more than 1,000 people about the nation's growing doomsday hysteria. Among the results:

- 71% foresee a major disaster in their lifetime as an act of God, not man. (Yes, but doesn't God have to do this because of man?)

- 62% expect a global catastrophe in less than 20 years. And in the next 25 years, they expect the U.S. to experience: nuclear fallout (14%), a pandemic (29%), a significant blackout (37%), a financial collapse (51%), terrorism (55%), hurricanes (63%), earthquakes (64%). (Yes, but hasn't most of this stuff happened already?)

- 52% believe that if a Republican wins the White House, a man-made catastrophe is more likely. (Yes, but didn't George W. Bush already prove this? Why rub it in?)

- 40% say "to hell with a 401(k)," save money for catastrophes instead. (Yes, but why not stay in cash until the world ends, and then invest? The market always bounces back.)

- 27% think the Mayan calendar's prediction will be at least "somewhat true." (Yes, but isn't it "somewhat true" that Dec. 21 will be on a Friday?)

Despite all this anxiety, 85% say they are not ready for a devastating event. And of those who are prepping, 39% said they would not be able to survive more than two weeks with the supplies they've stored. (Yes, these are the people whom more advanced preppers may one day call slaves.)

The scariest results, however, come from a question about which movie most accurately predicts what will happen in the next 25 years: "The Day After Tomorrow" (37%), "Armageddon" (31%), "Water World" (9%) and "Planet of the Apes" (7%).

I go with "Planet of the Apes." After seeing who is most prepared to survive, I realize that evolution is a funny thing.


Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2 ... z1nCOao0aq

Iran talks failure sparks confrontation fears


The U.N. nuclear watchdog's latest mission to Iran failed to budge a defiant Tehran over its disputed nuclear program, sending oil prices to a nine-month high over fears of an increasing risk of confrontation with the West.

The United States criticized Iran on Wednesday over the collapse of the International Atomic Energy Agency's talks in Tehran, saying it again showed the Islamic Republic's refusal to abide by international obligations over its nuclear program.

Expressing defiance, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran's nuclear policies would not change despite mounting international pressure against what the West says are Tehran's plans to obtain nuclear bombs.

"With God's help, and without paying attention to propaganda, Iran's nuclear course should continue firmly and seriously," he said on state TV. "Pressures, sanctions and assassinations will bear no fruit. No obstacles can stop Iran's nuclear work."


http://ca.news.yahoo.com/iran-talks-fai ... 30464.html