Posted on 01/20/2006 6:32:31 PM PST by Mother Abigail
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The H5N1 avian influenza virus can survive for more than a month in bird droppings in cold weather and for nearly a week even in hot summer temperatures, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
When people become infected with bird flu, they get a high fever and pneumonia very quickly, according to an updated factsheet from the WHO, posted on the Internet at
The new factsheet incorporates the most recent findings on the avian flu virus, which WHO says is causing by far the worst outbreak among both birds and people ever recorded.
It has been found from South Korea, across Southeast Asia, into Turkey, Ukraine and Romania. It has infected 149 people and killed 80, according to the WHO figures, which do not include the most recent deaths and infections in Turkey.
Bird droppings may be a significant source of its spread to both people and birds, the WHO said.
"For example, the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus can survive in bird faeces for at least 35 days at low temperature (4 degrees C or 39 degrees F)," the WHO site reads.
"At a much higher temperature (37 degrees C or 98.6 degrees F), H5N1 viruses have been shown to survive, in faecal samples, for six days." Poultry, especially those kept in small backyard flocks, are the main source of the virus.
"These birds usually roam freely as they scavenge for food and often mingle with wild birds or share water sources with them. Such situations create abundant opportunities for human exposure to the virus, especially when birds enter households or are brought into households during adverse weather, or when they share areas where children play or sleep," WHO says. H5N1 has different qualities from seasonal flu, the WHO said.
LONG INCUBATION PERIOD
"The incubation period for H5N1 avian influenza may be longer than that for normal seasonal influenza, which is around 2 to 3 days. Current data for H5N1 infection indicate an incubation period ranging from 2 to 8 days and possibly as long as 17 days," it said.
"Initial symptoms include a high fever, usually with a temperature higher than 38 degrees C (100.4 degrees F), and influenza-like symptoms. Diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pain, chest pain, and bleeding from the nose and gums have also been reported as early symptoms in some patients."
And with H5N1 infection, all patients have developed pneumonia, and usually very early on the illness, the WHO said.
"On present evidence, difficulty in breathing develops around five days following the first symptoms. Respiratory distress, a hoarse voice, and a crackling sound when inhaling are commonly seen." There is bloody sputum, it said.
"Another common feature is multiorgan dysfunction, notably involving the kidney and heart," WHO said. The WHO recommends using Tamiflu, Roche AG's flu drug known generically as oseltamivir, as soon as possible to treat bird flu.
WHO stresses that H5N1 remains mostly a disease of birds, with tens of millions infected in two years.
"For unknown reasons, most cases have occurred in rural and periurban households where small flocks of poultry are kept. Again for unknown reasons, very few cases have been detected in presumed high-risk groups, such as commercial poultry workers, workers at live poultry markets, cullers, veterinarians, and health staff caring for patients without adequate protective equipment," it adds.
"Also lacking is an explanation for the puzzling concentration of cases in previously healthy children and young adults."
Five Children with Bird Flu
Symptoms Hospitalized in Turkey
20 January 2006 | 18:14 | FOCUS News Agency
Ankara. Five children that were suspected to have bird flu virus were hospitalised in Turkey today, ITAR TASS reports.
Anadol Agency informs that all the children, three of which are under 10 years, live in the eastern province of Agri, which borders Iran.
According to the received information about a week ago the children ate a chicken that might have been infected with the bird flu virus H5N1.
'low temperature 4 degrees C or 39 degrees F' That's low?
Hepatitis a,b,and c can 'live' in a 100% isopropyl solution for 30 days at whatever the freezing point of isopropyl alcohol is. This is a crappy report from the WHO.
You said: ..and patches of virus exist all over the place from migratory birds.
They can call this the "bird" flu all they want but it is more specifically a POULTRY flu. I don't think poultry migrates.
Some good, hard data here...
Do we have a ping list for avian flu?
Well, that's lovely. My son and I (math nerds) estimated 4000 Canada geese on the sod farm fields today.
The geese are not currently carriers. Only poultry.
I should clarify, so far only domesticated poultry.
Please see a comment in a ProMed posting from today
"[Dr Litvin's statement about the role of wild birds in the dissemination of H5N1 is probably based upon the results of virological investigations carried out in 2 laboratories, namely the Federal Centre for Animal Health (FGI-ARRIAH) in Vladimir (national reference laboratory for avian influenza) and the State Scientific Centre for Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk ('NPC Vector'). The data are included in Russia's follow-up report No 5, sent 27 Dec 2005 to the OIE (see )".
Phylogenetic trees constructed from fragments of the HA gene (nucleotides 801-1113 ) and NA gene (nucleotides 605-937 ) show that Russian isolates of the year 2005 exhibit greatest sequence similarity with the A/Qinghai/05 H5N1 group of isolates.
The HA gene homology was shown in the following isolates: A/mallard/Kalmykia/09/2005
A/swan/Astrakhan/04/05
A/wild duck/Kurgan/01/2005
A/wild duck/Omsk/01/2005
A/duck/Novosibirsk/04e1/2005
A/chicken/Crimea/06/2005
A/duck/Novosibirsk/02e1/2005
A/gull/Kurgan/02/2005
A/duck/Tumen/02/2005
A/Bar-headed Goose/Qinghai/5/05
A/chicken/Chelyabinsk/05/2005
A/wild duck/Tumen/01/2005
For the detailed dendograms, see:
Fig 1. Phylogenetic tree. HA gene
http://www.oie.int/cartes/TABA18_52RUS2.PDF
Fig 2. Phylogenetic tree. NA gene
http://www.oie.int/cartes/TABA18_52RUS3.PDF.
The inclusion of the Crimean (Ukraine) isolate underlines the claim that the virus has been transported by wild birds. - Mod.AS]
There is, indeed, evidence that migratory birds are spreading this disease.
Migratory ducks. I was thinking of your "regular birds".
All in all, still no reason to panic. It's happening in third world countries because of bad sanitation habits and not just falling from the sky.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/News/avian_flu.htm
Ah, so in post #10, when you wrote, "I should clarify, so far only domesticated poultry.", you were referring to 'domesticated migratory' ducks? Oxymoron alert.
And in post #9, when you wrote, "The geese are not currently carriers.", I guess you were implicitly excluding all of the geese from which HPAI H5N1 has been isolated, for example A/Bar-headed Goose/Qinghai/5/05 I mentioned in my earlier post?
Your bird-watcher's article lends nothing to my knowledge of H5N1. If that is your primary source of information then I can understand why you are uneducated about this disease.
I may be uneducated about the disease. What concerns me is that people seem to be ready to panic at any moment, here in the US. There is a run on tamiflu. This is really blown out of proportion imo.
I know it is in ducks and chickens and has even been spread to the caged birds in England when they came in contact with infected poultry.
My uneducated understanding is that the disease is being spread to humans in third world countries by folks using bad sanitation practices.
I really don't think the sky is falling.
Unfortunately, evidence indicates that migratory birds ARE spreading H5N1 - but unlike chickens, who die when infected, ducks can be carriers without evincing any symptoms of the disease...
So, your solution to what you see as irrational panic is to spew misinformation? Maybe if you knew more about the disease, you might be more concerned about what it could do to the world and a little less concerned about people blowing it out of proportion.
No $hit.
No dear. I think it started on farms in third world countries where people handle chickens and ducks. I truthfully hadn't thought about migratory ducks. I've already been corrected in that area, thank you.
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