Sunday, February 26, 2006
Next update
Really sorry abt not updating for at least 2 weeks.I'm having my exams next week..so I'll probably update next weekend thereafter. I've also thought of creating a new section at the side-bar for latest bird-flu articles/updates so I can talk about more interesting stuff or news ;) yeps.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Bird flu arrives in Italy, Bulgaria, Greece and Slovenia
This is an article from irishexaminer.com, I had already seen this in the news yesterday and it is that the deadly H5N1 has been detected in Greece, Italy Bulgaria and Slovenia. So far no human cases have been found in these places. For the full article this is the website: http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/world/Full_Story/did-sgynF8r3r4ybcsg0aewFBADppk.asp I will not be commenting too much on this because I would like to talk about something more interesting. Something called "The prisoner's dilemma" or another version of it: the "wolf's dilemma". This has got something to do with the evolution of cooperation. But I shall only discuss this in my next post. Going for dinner now and quite tired after running 10 rounds of the school track.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
H5N1 bird flu reaches Africa
This is quite a major news, I shall post the article first from NewScientist, 9th Feb: "The H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed in north-central Nigeria. Scientists had feared the virus would reach Africa, where human poverty and disease could combine with millions of highly susceptible backyard poultry to produce many human infections, and potentially a human pandemic virus.
But New Scientist can reveal that the location of Africa’s first reported outbreak should not come as a surprise. The region affected is right beside a major wintering ground for two relatively common species of duck. Those ducks shared breeding grounds in Siberia last summer with birds that winter in Turkey and around the Black Sea, where the virus also appeared recently.
“We are facing a serious international crisis,” said Samuel Jutzi, head of animal health at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, Italy. He is pleading for any further die-offs of poultry in the region to be reported immediately.
The World Animal Health Organization (OIE) in Paris, France, reported on Wednesday that 40,000 poultry, mainly laying hens, have died since 10 January at a commercial farm near Igabi in Kaduna state, a small town 150 kilometres south of the northern city of Kano. The owners initially tried antibiotics.
But the cause has now been confirmed as highly pathogenic H5N1 by the OIE’s collaborating centre for bird flu in Padua, Italy. Moreover, it is the same strain that appeared in wild birds at Qinghai Lake in China in spring 2005, and has since travelled across Siberia to Turkey and the Black Sea.
Summer breeding grounds
As it has everywhere it has gone, the virus is devastating poultry in the region, with Nigerian agricultural authorities reporting the death of 150,000 birds in Kano and Kaduna states, and more outbreaks reported in other parts of Nigeria.
Furthermore, Kano is near the Hadejia-Nguru inland river delta, which is a major wintering location for Northern pintail and garganey ducks. These species summer in breeding grounds across Siberia, where the Qinghai strain of H5N1 infected poultry and wild birds in summer 2005. They then winter in Turkey, around the Black Sea, and in West Africa. The Qinghai strain has already broken out in Turkey and around the Black Sea, apparently carried by migrants.
The authoritative 1996 Atlas of Anatidae [ducks, geese and swans] Populations of Africa and Western Europe says the Northern pintail wintering in the Black Sea and Mediterranean basins “are lumped with those wintering in West Africa as a single large population”. On average, 18,000 pintails winter each year at Hadejia-Nguru. Similar numbers of garganey ducks follow the same migration and 500,000 of each species winter at nearby Lake Chad.
Some of the Northern pintail wintering now in Britain and along Europe’s North Sea and Atlantic coasts also spent last summer on the same breeding grounds as the pintail that subsequently flew to the Black Sea, Turkey and West Africa."
I first heard, or rather, saw this news when I was having my break in the canteen. There was then, news being reported on the tv in the canteen and as I read the headlines scrolling across at the bottom I saw something like "the bird flu that has been spreading in Turkey has spread to Africa" and I was like omg...and I told my friends the news..but they don't seem to be worrying about the pandemic if it really happens. But I told another friend though and she got into the same worrying level as me. So, I guess we're both like scared..heh. Anyway, it seems the probability is really getting even higher, It's now a matter of how soon. I think the whole world should be on the alert mode now, so all of us better be prepared. Remember to wash your hands frequently with soap and to practise good hygiene. Oh, and also remember to cook any poultry or eggs thoroughly with high heat to ensure that any viruses or microorganisms will be killed.
But New Scientist can reveal that the location of Africa’s first reported outbreak should not come as a surprise. The region affected is right beside a major wintering ground for two relatively common species of duck. Those ducks shared breeding grounds in Siberia last summer with birds that winter in Turkey and around the Black Sea, where the virus also appeared recently.
“We are facing a serious international crisis,” said Samuel Jutzi, head of animal health at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, Italy. He is pleading for any further die-offs of poultry in the region to be reported immediately.
The World Animal Health Organization (OIE) in Paris, France, reported on Wednesday that 40,000 poultry, mainly laying hens, have died since 10 January at a commercial farm near Igabi in Kaduna state, a small town 150 kilometres south of the northern city of Kano. The owners initially tried antibiotics.
But the cause has now been confirmed as highly pathogenic H5N1 by the OIE’s collaborating centre for bird flu in Padua, Italy. Moreover, it is the same strain that appeared in wild birds at Qinghai Lake in China in spring 2005, and has since travelled across Siberia to Turkey and the Black Sea.
Summer breeding grounds
As it has everywhere it has gone, the virus is devastating poultry in the region, with Nigerian agricultural authorities reporting the death of 150,000 birds in Kano and Kaduna states, and more outbreaks reported in other parts of Nigeria.
Furthermore, Kano is near the Hadejia-Nguru inland river delta, which is a major wintering location for Northern pintail and garganey ducks. These species summer in breeding grounds across Siberia, where the Qinghai strain of H5N1 infected poultry and wild birds in summer 2005. They then winter in Turkey, around the Black Sea, and in West Africa. The Qinghai strain has already broken out in Turkey and around the Black Sea, apparently carried by migrants.
The authoritative 1996 Atlas of Anatidae [ducks, geese and swans] Populations of Africa and Western Europe says the Northern pintail wintering in the Black Sea and Mediterranean basins “are lumped with those wintering in West Africa as a single large population”. On average, 18,000 pintails winter each year at Hadejia-Nguru. Similar numbers of garganey ducks follow the same migration and 500,000 of each species winter at nearby Lake Chad.
Some of the Northern pintail wintering now in Britain and along Europe’s North Sea and Atlantic coasts also spent last summer on the same breeding grounds as the pintail that subsequently flew to the Black Sea, Turkey and West Africa."
I first heard, or rather, saw this news when I was having my break in the canteen. There was then, news being reported on the tv in the canteen and as I read the headlines scrolling across at the bottom I saw something like "the bird flu that has been spreading in Turkey has spread to Africa" and I was like omg...and I told my friends the news..but they don't seem to be worrying about the pandemic if it really happens. But I told another friend though and she got into the same worrying level as me. So, I guess we're both like scared..heh. Anyway, it seems the probability is really getting even higher, It's now a matter of how soon. I think the whole world should be on the alert mode now, so all of us better be prepared. Remember to wash your hands frequently with soap and to practise good hygiene. Oh, and also remember to cook any poultry or eggs thoroughly with high heat to ensure that any viruses or microorganisms will be killed.
Scientists had feared the virus would reach Africa, where human poverty and disease could combine with millions of highly susceptible backyard poultry to produce many human infections, and potentially a human pandemic virus.
“We are facing a serious international crisis,” said Samuel Jutzi, head of animal health at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, Italy.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Avian flu
I had an intuitive fear after watching the news yesterday and today. Yesterday, there were some bird flu cases discovered in Iraq; today, it seemed the bird flu has resurfaced in Hong Kong somehow.It seems to have gone from Turkey to Iraq to Hong Kong..where is it going next? Somehow as I listened and watched the news closely and carefully, it sparked a fear in me that I think the pandemic is getting nearer and nearer i.e. it's highly possible that it may happen quite soon....this year maybe. Of course I'm not some expert or anything, but seeing the news as it is.. it seemed possible. very possible. Just be on the alert... I hope I'm wrong of course..
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