Posted on 05/24/2006 9:09:33 AM PDT by OB1kNOb
1,000s quarantined in Bucharest
22/05/2006 22:54 - (SA)
Bucharest - About 13,000 people were quarantined in the Romanian capital on Monday as troops and police sealed off streets in response to the city's second bird-flu outbreak, said officials.
The mayor of the southern fourth district, Adrian Inimaroiu, said residents would be cut off and all businesses in the area would be closed during the quarantine period of up to three weeks.
The move came after the agriculture ministry earlier on Monday confirmed the presence of the H5 bird-flu virus in dead chickens found in the neighbourhood, the latest of dozens of outbreaks of avian flu in Romania this spring.
Inimaroiu said, urging residents to stay calm, that "about 40 streets have been blocked" in the Luica quarter.
He said the quarantine would last for "a period of a week to 21 days and all the institutions in this quarter will be closed".
"About 2,500 birds from this area will be slaughtered as rapidly as possible," said the mayor.
A neighbourhood on the northern outskirts of the capital was put under quarantine on Sunday evening with fences blocking a dozen streets and police preventing anyone from going in or out, except for medical emergencies.
H5N1 - Ping.
This is how the NWO is going to start its takeover!!!
If I am on your ping list, please remove me. Thank you.
Maybe just a touch overreaction? Bird flu isn't vampires: no need to panic.
Will do.
They had to find a reason to clear the area so the aliens could land.
Maybe just a touch ;-) .....unless all the details aren't being reported.
As long as they're legal ;-)
Thanks for the ping.
The stated level of infection is out of line with the government reaction. Romania has had multiple H5N1 outbreaks among birds during the last 12 months, with nothing like this in response. I wonder what is different this time?
In related news, Recombinomics.com has some good info in the "What's New" section of their web site. Indonesia, in particular, has some very "interesting" things going on.
Based on publicly reported information, H5N1 seems to be at a very solid stage IV, but not at stage V. However, the Romanian government is not taking actions consistent with stage IV.
What do you expect from a country that just legalized witchcraft. I kid you not.
My thoughts too. That's why I posted this. It seems so out of line from the details being given.
I've been watching the recent Indonesian family cluster infection real closely too. The WHO announced yesterday that this cluster showed no apparent mutation in the virus, but they didn't sound real convincing. I think they still haven't identified the animal source of the virus in this cluster.
This doesn't make sense. Either the whole story's not being reported or the Romanain government's out of control. They're quarantining 13000 people because of sick or dead birds? That's crazy. The only good reason for a quarantine, IMHO, is human to human infections.
It's legal here too.
Isn't Dracula from Romania???
If this is true..should be interesting...got your supplies yet? Actually today the stocks that are up are the bird flu stocks.....interesting
I agree, it doesn't add up. They are quarantining 13,000 people for 7 to 21 days to kill 2,500 birds? Either the reporting in this article is severely misleading or significant facts are not being reported.
ping
I doubt the translation for quaratine were correct. Probably limited movement...but not total quaratine. This will scare the heck out of the EU guys if they really did this. Germany has been quietly talking about how it will react....but won't discuss the matter in public. I can see mass hysteria if the plan comes out and suggest that entire towns would be shut down for 10 days. You'd destroy the economy overnight. You could watch stock markets crumble over an entire summer of rolling quartines.
re: supplies....not to the level that's needed, but we're working on it. The Indonesian family cluster infection is very interesting to me right now. WHO hasn't found the animal source of the infection yet, but yet they say their samples show that the virus hasn't mutated........interesting indeed.
I have read elsewhere that the number of streets quarantined has been reduced down to 14-15 streets, and that a few rural villages were also quarantined.
I think city people in Bucharest keep chickens, btw.
As do folks in many other countries, but I haven't noticed them quarantining the people like this article implies. That's what's striking me as so out of whack.
Quarantine might be seen as more effective than trying to confiscate and cull all the H5N1 infected chickens in the area...people would most likely (as in other countries) hide poultry, smuggle it out and sell it, etc.
Let me hasten to say I don't think quarantine will work, either, just that it might be the rationale.
PS, I have not heard of any human cases of H5N1 there, either.
UPDATE:
Romania reduces avian flu quarantines in Bucharest
May 23, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – Romanian officials today lifted quarantines that had sealed off more than 14,000 people in Bucharest over worries sparked by two outbreaks of avian influenza in birds, but one small area remained closed, according to news agencies.
Although Romania has had no human cases of H5N1 avian flu, troops and police yesterday sealed more than 13,000 people in Bucharest's southern fourth district, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). A smaller area on the northern outskirts of the capital had been closed off the night before, affecting more than 1,000 people, AFP reported.
Today the quarantine in the southern fourth district was reduced and the northern area was reopened. "We decided to isolate only five streets, or less than 500 people, so as not to distress the population," said Adrian Inimaroiu, the district mayor, as quoted by AFP.
Yesterday Inimaroiu had said the quarantine would last from a week to 21 days, during which "all institutions" would be closed, and 2,500 birds would be culled, the story said. But he reported today that only 230 birds in "high-risk streets" had been killed.
Inimaroiu was sharply criticized by Miorara Mantale, general administrator of Bucharest, over the quarantines. "There is no logical reason for putting 13,000 people under quarantine when only two farm yards have been contaminated," AFP quoted Mantale as saying. "If you had been a civil servant and not elected, you would have been fired."
The quarantines followed numerous outbreaks in poultry in recent days. According to AFP, Agriculture Minister Gheorge Flutur said today the virus had surfaced in 44 places, including the two in Bucharest, in the past 10 days.
Last week the government reported the discovery of avian flu on commercial poultry farms in three central counties. Previously the virus had been found in a number of backyard poultry flocks since October 2005.
Tests at the European Union reference laboratory in Weybridge, England, confirmed the H5N1 virus in seven samples from Brasov county in central Romania, AFP reported yesterday. Today's AFP story said Romanian officials have not been able to determine how the virus reached Bucharest.
In other recent developments, Canada announced last week that its surveillance for avian flu in wild birds this year will focus primarily on the north Atlantic region and will be coordinated with the US surveillance program.
The 2006 survey will cover all the main bird migration routes in Canada, but "it will place a greater focus on the north Atlantic region, which hosts birds that might come into contact with birds from Europe where the Asian H5N1 strain has been found in several countries," Canadian government agencies said in a joint news release. "This component will include sampling in Iceland, which hosts migratory birds from both North America and Europe.”
"Canada is coordinating its survey approach with the United States, which has announced plans to conduct extensive surveillance along the Pacific Flyway, which intersects with Asian migratory routes," the statement continued. US officials earlier announced plans to test as many as 100,000 birds, mostly in Alaska and along the West Coast.
This year's Canadian survey will include expanded testing of dead birds, starting in southern Canada in midsummer, officials said. They said they expect to find a variety of avian flu viruses, most of which have little effect on the birds' health or that of other animals.
Something tells me they have reason to fear that there is H2H transmission going on. They may not be sure, hence no official announcement.
Thanks for the ping OB1kNOb.
"The only good reason for a quarantine, IMHO, is human to human infections."
-------
Perhaps they are worried about folks taking their chickens out of town to avoid the slaughter. Or to minimize the risk of contaminanted stuff (chicken manure, etc.) leaving the area?
Another reason to be prepared for several weeks of "hunkering down" if you have to. Even without an ACTUAL problem, the officials may create a problem.
why has this flu been confined to domesticated poultry?
how about the obvious? its transmitted to the birds by humans.
humans have been the vector of the virus, but not diseased....but that
may be changing. the recent case of 6 members of one family now dead
in Sumatra is alarming. it indicates the possibility of a new
mutation that is not content to ride along in its host.
Forget it! They just haven't bathed in ten years!
Extended Human to Human H5N1 Transmission in North SumatraWe do not know yet what is actually going on in Bucharest. But the situation certainly appears ominous. But I am very happy the government took steps to quarantine the local area. Read more Bird Flu reports?
Recombinomics Commentary
May 23, 2006
The case occurred in a 32-year-old man. He developed symptoms on 15 May and died on 22 May.
The case is part of a family cluster in the Kubu Sembelang village, Karo District, of North Sumatra.
His 10-year-old son died of H5N1 infection on 13 May. The father was closely involved in caring for his son, and this contact is considered a possible source of infection.
Although the investigation is continuing, preliminary findings indicate that three of the confirmed cases spent the night of 29 April in a small room together with the initial case at a time when she was symptomatic and coughing frequently. These cases include the woman's two sons and a second brother, aged 25 years, who is the sole surviving case among infected members of this family. Other infected family members lived in adjacent homes.
The above WHO description of the North Sumatra familial cluster suggests that H5N1 bird flu was transmitted human-to-human (H2H) through three generations. Most H2H of H5N1 has a 2-4 day incubation period, which explains the 5-10 day gap between the index case and other family members in the vast majority of clusters since 2004. The incubation range would explain all of the transmissions in the above Indonesian cluster.
The index case developed symptoms on April 27 and was symptomatic and coughing on April 29 when she could have infected her two sons (19M and 18M) and one brother (25M) generating H2H.. Media reports indicated they developed symptoms at the beginning of May, consistent with a 2-4 day incubation period. Disease onset dates were not included in the earlier WHO update.
The index case died May 4 so additional family members could have been infected at that time by the members who developed symptoms at the beginning of May. The new infections would extend the chain to H2H2H. Included would have be the nephew of the index case (10M) who died May 13. The nephew could have then infected his father (32M) who developed symptoms on May 15. This last infection would extend the chain to H2H2H2H.
The above scenario requires no tortured logic or unusual incubation times. This is in marked contrast to WHO updates, which tried to explain clusters using common source and incubation times that fell outside of the 2-4 day period, which explains the extended chain above.
One earlier example was in late December of 2004. It also involved a family gathering and the cases were linked to duck blood pudding. However, the index case developed symptoms one day after the meal, which requires an unusually short incubation time. His brother developed symptoms 17 days after the meal, requiring an unusually long incubation. The brother-in-law who was the third person to eat the pudding developed no symptoms or detectable antibody. A third brother who did not eat the pudding did develop antibodies. The epidemiological data clearly pointed away from the duck blood pudding as a source, yet WHO subsequently used the 17 day incubation period as an outside value for incubation times.
The same logic was applied to another cluster that also involved duck blood pudding. The index case developed symptoms 5 days after the meal and his younger sister developed symptoms 10 days after the meal. The older sister who also had the pudding developed no symptoms or detectable antibody, but the grandfather who did not eat the pudding had antibodies and the nurse of the index case developed symptoms and was H5N1 positive. Another nurse also developed symptoms, but she tested negative.
These two clusters and almost all familial clusters from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, China, Turkey, Iraq, and Azerbaijan have the same 5-10 day gap and are readily explained using a 2-4 day incubation period coupled with transmission 2-6 days after symptoms.
The H5N1 transmission chain of H2H2H2H is among the longest reported, and generates yet another signal indicating the H2H transmission within families is common and several recent clusters are uncommonly large and have uncommonly long H2H transmission chains.
The H2H transmission placed the pandemic phase at four or higher over a year ago and the "proof" of H2H has been in the disease onset dates in the WHO updates since early 2004.
Media Link
Map
Those are my thoughts too...at this time.
A wise observation and a very important point that I see many of here in FR missing entirely when poo-pooing H5N1, or any other potential threat for that matter. Many of them will be screaming in the camera like a New Orleans welfare victim during Katrina when any such emergency hits and their daily supply chain is disrupted for any length of time.
This could be a big problem.
I expect we'll have a 'food/supplies' panic before we have a Bird Flu panic which will be the best way instead of having both at the same time.
Excellent detailed info about the Sumatra (Indonesia) cluster that WHO has been waffling about, ex-Tex! Many thanks for the insight, although I don't like what it seems to be indicating. And here, over the past few weeks I thought things were starting to calm down a little. These are disturbing developments. - OB1
See ex-Texan's excellent post #32. It seems to support your comment, although WHO contends that they cannot find any genetic change in the Sumatra H5N1 cluster case. I don't trust WHO to tell the complete truth.
Can't ping the list at the moment but there's a lot on the thread too.
(Sorry, blam, if you are already on the thread.)
The food/supply disruption will be a big problem. I got educated to that fact the day of 9/11 when I watched panic run from city to city here over gasoline and food supplies, with people getting into fistfights and the cops being stationed as fuel stations to keep things under control. That showed me all I needed to learn about the fragile nature of civility in this country. Watching New Orleans turn into Mogadishu within 24 hours of the levees breaking just drove the point home for me.
Yup. I got my 'taste' after Katrina. The gasoline tanker trucks were being escorted by armed troops, front and back, cruising down the highway.
What a stupid comment. Are you a liberal?
Pinging the list...thanks.
AAACk. That's another one...
getting closer.
Europe this summer/fall, the continental US next spring, y'reckon?
" possibility "?
Has it been confirmed as a human to human transmission?
as per some of the other posts on this thread, it seems that it has been shown to be NOT a mutation...thru some kind of DNA analysis (do viruses have DNA....i thought they just had RNA...maybe they have DNC)....ahem...anyway its HUGH and SERIES...
You know too much... youre going to have to be assimilated.
I'm still thinking they may find it in Alaska this summer, given the spring migration from Russia that just took place. They are testing in Alaska now, but so far no hits. The Russian peninsula close to Alaska had a bad outbreak early this year, so bad they cancelled hunting (goose?) season. If this happens, I'd suspect continental US cases could occur this coming fall, or next spring, JMO.
Post #32 above brings up some interesting observations re: the Sumatra cluster infection transmission. - OB1
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