North America -
United States President George Bush has asked congress for over $7
billion to fight the H5N1 virus. As of mid-May, 2006 about $3.5 billion of
that had actually been appropriated by the U.S. Congress. President
Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin were among the leaders
pledging unity in combating bird flu at the APEC summit in South Korea in
November.
One element of President Bush's plan is that sustained, confirmed, human-
human transmission of the bird flu or any other super-influenza strain
anywhere in the world could prompt the United States to implement travel
restrictions or other steps to block a brewing pandemic. If given
congressional approval, the plan would also begin producing 20 million
doses of bird flu vaccine (an insufficient amount), stockpiling antiviral
medications, and creating national and international surveillance network.
Cornelius Kiley, an official with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said
on November 22nd they found "multiple positives" for the H5N1 virus
when testing poultry for the flu near where a duck was found with the
virus last week. He did not say exactly how many birds were affected.
Canadian officials have destroyed some 60,000 birds in the wake of the
positive test results. On November 21st, the U.S. banned domestic
poultry imports from British Columbia in response to bird flu fears. The
outbreak of a different avian flu virus on U.S. farms led to the destruction
of 400,000 birds in 2004.
The presidential staff at the white house carried out a set of tests on
December 12th to assess its preparedness for what they warn is an
inevitable bird flu pandemic.
The four-hour drill, conducted in conference rooms, was, according to
officials, designed to assess the level of federal preparedness for a
possible outbreak of bird flu or another deadly virus.
Top Bush aides including cabinet secretaries, military leaders and other
top officials took part and according to federal agencies, and did quite well
according to white house sources.
Asia -
China
Many countries are sighting their sights on stopping the spread of the
disease in birds before it makes the mutation that will allow human -
human transmission. Millions of birds world wide have been destroyed
toward this end. Millions more have been vaccinated. China has an
extremely ambitious vaccination program, vaccinating hundreds of millions
of birds so far, but new outbreaks are reported almost every day. This
virus has proved very difficult to stop in birds.
Even with these tremendously ambitious programs, it continues its
worldwide spread. In a further effort to slow down the spread of the bird
flu, China has banned imports of poultry from 14 countries.
China has a policy of twice daily health checks for people living in the
vicinity of bird flu outbreaks. They are using over a million health workers
in the effort to stem the expansion of the virus.
At the beginning of December, Shanghai screening international
passengers for bird flu prevention. All passengers leaving or entering
China must fill in a health declaration form, specifying whether they have
had "close contact with poultry, birds, bird flu patient or suspect over the
past week" and whether they have "such symptoms as fever, coughing
and being short of breath."
A passenger who has a temperature of over 38 Celsius degrees will be
further examined; in case the person has been to a bird flu-hit area or
had contact with birds or poultry, treatment at a designated hospital is
required.
As of mid November, the Asian Development Bank has earmarked $53
million for containment of bird flu.
On December 9th, China was accused of hiding bird flu outbreaks by a
leading Hong Kong influenza expert. "I don't know if they are brave
enough to admit that they have the virus in every corner of the country,"
said Guan Yi of the University of Hong Kong, who the Globe said had
analyzed nearly 100,000 bird flu virus samples from across China. Chinese
health officials strongly deny this accusation.
Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group announced on December 12th, 2005 it
has reached a sublicensing deal with the Swiss pharma giant Roche for the
production of Tamiflu, a drug widely believed to be at least somewhat
effective in treating human cases of bird flu, in China.
Vietnam
Vietnam, hardest hit by the H5N1 flu strain so far, is by setting up an
early detection system. Vietnamese health authorities hope early detection
can stop the spread of a pandemic before it gets started. Ho Chi Min City
government has issued an urgent action plan to tighten management on
the raising, transport and slaughtering of poultry to prevent the re-
emergence of the bird flu epidemic and minimize deaths.
With this plan, small-scale poultry raising on family farms was stopped on
November 10th, and large-scale production from November 15, 2005. It is
unclear how long this will continue or how it will affect the economy.
According to the city's official website their plan for dealing with an
outbreak includes the following:
"The city also has plans to prevent bird flu in case it infects 1-50 persons.
If the disease takes place in the central and northern regions, the city will
publicize updated information, decontaminate vehicles used for poultry
and cattle and tighten control at quarantine points on main streets leading
to the city, ports and airport.
If the epidemic occurs in the south, HCM City will announce a state of
emergency, mobilize all people in the city to join the fight against bird flu,
close the poultry slaughtering and trading market and warn people not to
eat, raise, transport or kill poultry."
Japan
Japan’s international healthcare center is co-operating with Bach Mai
hospital in Hanoi to provide diagnosis and treatment for human flu
infections. Diagnosis and treatment, conducted through via the Internet ,
began on December 13, 2005.
Europe -
The confirmed spread of the H5N1 virus to Turkey, Italy, Greece and
Romania has caused Romanian officials to announce they are going to
begin destroying birds as well.
SCOTLAND announced on Decemeber 12th, 2005 they will appoint their
own bird flu minister to co-ordinate efforts to tackle an outbreak north of
the Border. The senior health official will be paid about £50,000-a-year.
This health authority will act as the main source of advice and expertise on
a pandemic in Scotland if, as experts fear, the bird flu virus mutates into a
form that spreads rapidly from human to human.
ITALIAN officials held an emergency meeting on Feb 12th, 2006 to decide
a course of action should the infection spread beyond wild birds into the
nations poultry stocks, or farther.
Joint Efforts -
World Bank, Food and Agricultural Organisation, World Health
Organisation (WHO) and World Organisation for Animal Health, held a joint
summit on November 7th - 9th, 2005. It was attended by more than 600
participants from about 100 countries. An official from the meeting said
the experts from these agencies emphasised the need for preparedness
to contain the outbreak at the start to prevent a human pandemic.
The World Health Organisation will regionally stockpile the necessary
version of a vaccine when one is developed, and the follow-up of the
meeting will be held in January in China.
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