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| Bird Flu Hype Daily News COMMENT: No one knows if the vaccine will work, yet countries are spending billions to stockpile it. Wish I had a product like that to sell! ;)
October 29, 2006: Stockpiling Glaxo's Bird Flu Vaccine In UK UK Prime MInister, Tony Blair, and Chancellor, Gordon Brown, had talks with J. P. Garnier, Glaxo's CEO, about building up a stockpile of H5N1 bird flu vaccines. Glaxo has signed a deal with Singapore, according to The Times (UK). Switzerland has ordered 8 million doses, the order provides enough doses for one per head of the entire Swiss population. The Glaxo vaccine is supposed to offer humans protection from the H5N1 bird flu strain. The company expects to submit its vaccine for approval with the European Medicines Agency at the end of this year. Even though the vaccine has been shown to offer some protection against H5N1, nobody really knows how effective it would be against a new, mutant strain. ___________________________________ COMMENT: We are such sheep...
October 26, 2006: Would Americans Panic In A Flu Pandemic? A large majority of Americans would comply with government orders to avoid work, school, or other public places in the event of a flu pandemic, according to a survey released Thursday. The results suggest public health officials could easily convince most people to temporarily alter their daily lives in a bid to stem the spread of influenza. More than 90 percent of the 1,700 U.S. adults surveyed said they would postpone air travel and avoid public venues like movie theaters and shopping centers if asked by public health officials. Ninety-four percent said they would stay home for 7 to 10 days to help authorities control disease spread. ___________________________________ COMMENT: GOOD GRIEF!!!! A statin drug to treat bird flu? Zocor went off patent in June, 2006 and was the world's most lucrative, with $18 billion in drug sales last year. Could recommending a statin for bird flu be the "perfect way" to position these blockbuster drugs to bring in billions more?
October 3, 2006: Conventional vaccines will be too little too late, and limited supplies of antiviral medications will be available in only a few countries. However, we have recently learnt that statins (the drugs used to treat high cholesterol) decrease mortality due to pneumonia by 40-60 per cent, suggesting that, by modifying the influenza “cytokine storm”, statins could be life-saving.
While statin drugs were found to reduce the risk for an undesirable cardiovascular event (stroke, heart attack) by a relative 26% (less than 3% in hard numbers), 1000 patients would have to take statin drugs for 37 people to avoid a non-fatal heart attack or a stroke. This means 97% of statin drug users derive no benefit. More cholesterol-lowering drugs are being used than ever, but the rate of heart attacks never changes. Lipitor, currently the world's best-selling prescription drug, at $12.2 billion in sales globally, including $7.4 billion in the United States.
___________________________________ COMMENT: Yea! We're making headway and they're losing ground. A big disappointment that all the "hype" to generate fear about the flu is wasted dollars. Give the general public a "high-five" for waking up and ignoring the brainwashing of the drug companies.
October 4, 2006: Americans doubt need for flu vaccine: survey. Fewer than half of Americans plan to get the flu vaccine this year, mostly because they do not worry about flu, according to a survey published on Wednesday. And Americans do not know they can take drugs when they have the flu that will help them recover more quickly, the survey found.
Flu experts called the findings disappointing, because they have been scrambling to make sure enough vaccine is available for the flu season, which is just starting in North America. "We are going to have more vaccine available this year than ever before --more than 100 million doses -- and we hope this is not going to be an embarrassment of riches," Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University in Nashville and vice president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases told a news conference. The survey of 1,000 adults found that fewer than half -- just 48 percent -- plan to get immunized this year. Of those who did not plan to get the vaccine, 43 percent said they did not think influenza was serious enough to warrant vaccination and 38 felt they were not at risk. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Another Tamiflu competitor is trying to elbow its way into the money trough. Peramivir, a neuraminadase inhibitor, failed trials in 2005 for oral use of the drug. But the September, 2005 issue of Medical technology Stock Letter, it was shown that "a single intramuscular (IM) injection of peramivir was comparable to, or better than, five days of oral treatment with Tamiflu in preventing death from the avian flu virus." The current study, which used the drug in an IV format, called the drud "safe." It would be interesting to read the entire study to see what side effects were present that were not considered "serious." September 29, 2006: High doses of new bird flu drug safe in U.S. study. "We demonstrated that you can go to very high levels of peramivir in humans," Dr. Charles Bugg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BioCryst, said in a telephone interview. "We did escalating doses — starting at a low dose and showing it's safe and going until we have a dose way, way above what we think it takes to inhibit the virus. We can go to very high levels," Bugg added. They gave more than 60 healthy volunteers intravenous peramivir each day for up to 10 days in doses ranging from about 30 mg to 600 mg. All doses were well tolerated with no serious adverse effects, researchers independent of the company told a meeting in San Francisco of the American Society for Microbiology. ___________________________________ COMMENT: This a very interesting article...but once again, the MDs have it all wrong. Advocating stronger antibiotics is the wrong way to go. Advocating massive cleaning to remove bacteria will not help. But massive cleaning of environmental toxins and detoxification of humans (ie their internal terraine) WILL make a differenc in the long run. See chapter 17 of my book, FOWL!, for full information.
September 17, 2006: Pioneering research during the 1918 influenza epidemic clearly identified a virus component as the initiating cause of illness. Yet there are ample indications that bacteria were responsible for "the gravity of the secondary pulmonary complications," and the "common causes of death." The idea of a mixed infection is contained in the oft quoted letter written by a military physician in 1919.
“Camp Devens is near Boston, and has about 50,000 men, or did have before this epidemic broke loose…. This epidemic started about four weeks ago, and has developed so rapidly that the camp is demoralized and all ordinary work is held up till it has passed….. These men start with what appears to be an ordinary attack of LaGrippe or Influenza, and when brought to the Hosp. they very rapidly develop the most viscous type of Pneumonia that has ever been seen. Two hours after admission they have the Mahogany spots over the cheek bones, and a few hours later you can begin to see the Cyanosis extending from their ears and spreading all over the face, until it is hard to distinguish the coloured men from the white. It is only a matter of a few hours then until death comes, and it is simply a struggle for air until they suffocate. It is horrible. One can stand it to see one, two or twenty men die, but to see these poor devils dropping like flies sort of gets on your nerves. We have been averaging about 100 deaths per day, and still keeping it up. There is no doubt in my mind that there is a new mixed infection here, but what I don’t know.” .....What should be done? Foremost is an all out attack on the emergence of toxin producing and/or multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria. ___________________________________ Dick Thompson, spokes person for the WHO commented "The CFR [case-fatality rate] had to be overstated. The cases we are sure of were those which were sick enough to go to a hospital and these extreme cases have very poor outcomes. Surely others were infected and either not getting sick or not getting sick enough to seek treatment at a hospital. Factoring those into the CFR has been impossible. We simply don't know the denominator." Recent reports from South Korea and Indonesia of after-the-fact discovery of a handful of mild human cases of H5N1 avian flu have again raised questions about whether the disease's extraordinarily high death rate is being inflated because mild cases are being missed. ___________________________________ COMMENT: It's starting again.....in February, 2006 at the National Bird Flu Summit in Washington DC, Dr. Nabarro made the same strong statements. Since it is impossible to predict a random event, it seems ast though this type of predictive statement means that "they know something we don't know." September 17, 2006: World Bank, UN warn of possible bird flu pandemic The World Bank and the United Nations officials warned the possible occurrence of pandemic of avian influenza here on Sunday. "There will be a world animal and human influenza pandemic one day, but we don't know when," said David Nabarro, Senior United Nations System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, at a press conference held here. According to World Bank estimate, a severe flu pandemic among humans could cost the global economy up to about 3.1 to 4.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), which is between 1.25 trillion and 2 trillion U.S. dollars of a world GDP. ___________________________________ COMMENT. Move over Tamiflu, the new nose gel is on the way.....gesh! The gel, which could be in the market by the end of the year, has been developed by DermaSalve Sciences for the prevention of the disease among health workers, consumers and agricultural workers. It kills the virus within 30 seconds, claims the company ___________________________________ COMMENT: It looks like the assumption is that everyone will WANT this vaccine.....what if you are on the "priority list" and you don't want the junk injected into your body? September 9. 2006: State Formula Determines Who Gets Shots During Bird Flu Pandemic California health officials have settled on a formula for resolving a wrenching question that would arise if a bird flu pandemic strikes the state: who gets doses of scarce vaccine. The state did not draw up a hierarchy of Californians who would most need inoculation, though it hints at groups most vulnerable. "Very young persons, elderly adults, and persons with underlying disease are at high risk of complications during interpandemic influenza outbreaks," it states. Instead of setting out a list of likely candidates, the state developed a scoring system that the report says "produces a rank-ordered list of target groups prioritized for influenza vaccination." The formula is designed to be flexible enough to accommodate variables in a pandemic. ___________________________________ COMMENT: "Suitable vaccines" from Italy and China have been used in poultry across the continent. In an attempt to eradicate a virus, what will be the condition of the birds? Will they be fit to eat? September 7, 2006: Vietnam to vaccinate white-winged ducks against bird flu. Vietnam will decide whether to vaccinate white-winged ducks against bird flu virus or not by the end of this week after successful trial use of Italian vaccination, local media reported Wednesday. Over 80 percent of white-winged ducks being vaccinated against bird flu virus strain H5N9 in the trial vaccination have developed immunity ability....The result is of importance since Vietnam, which has already vaccinated chickens and ducks nationwide, currently has yet to find suitable products to vaccinate its white-winged duck population of nearly 10 million. If deciding to vaccinate white-winged ducks nationwide, Vietnam will import vaccines of Italian firm Merial, the newspaper said. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Will they EVER "get" that vaccinations are not going to stop the problem? The birds will get sicker, the food supply will become more contaminated...and the toxic environment will persist, recycling the problem. When will the media WAKE UP to the fact that this is an environmental problem? Everyone should buy a copy of my book, FOWL! Bird Flu: It's Not What You Think and donate a copy to their favorite journalist and editor!
September 5, 2006: Indonesia to vaccinate 300 million poultry The Indonesian government will press ahead with plans to vaccinate some 300 million poultry from the bird flu virus despite fears by some health officials that vaccines are not effective, a local report said Tuesday. The plan will be done in stages with 60 million doses being prepared for vaccinations beginning this month and running through December, The Jakarta Post reported. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Everyone is dancing around the cause: a toxic environment. The virus is less important than the health of the ducks...why would a flock die all at once? September 4, 2006: New bird flu outbreak suspected in Vietnam after 100 ducks die suddenly. More than 100 ducks have died suddenly in southern Vietnam in a suspected new bird flu outbreak, an official said Monday. Another 400 ducks were culled and samples were sent to the Ho Chi Minh City Regional Veterinary Center for testing to determine whether the H5N1 strain of bird flu was responsible for the deaths discovered on Friday, said Tran Van Quang, deputy director of the animal health bureau in Dong Nai province. "When more than 100 ducks died suddenly, we treated it as a bird flu outbreak," Quang said. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The evidence keeps mounting---this is NOT an aggressive virus and is NOT going to become a pandemic. September 1, 2006: H5N1 Flu Does Not Pass Easily to Humans, Study Finds Hundreds of Cambodian villagers tended sick birds around their homes, but showed no evidence of infection with the H5N1 virus when tested by an international team of researchers, according to a study published in the October edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “This study provides evidence of the low transmissibility of the H5N1 virus from infected poultry to humans, even in circumstances in which human-poultry interactions are regular and intense,” says the study conducted by researchers at the Institut Pasteur in Cambodia, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the World Health Organization, Australia National University, CDC and others. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Even though bird flu news hasn't been "front and center" for the last few months, it is hovering in the background. Here is a recent report that, once again, states the inevitability of a pandemic....interestingly, it corresponds with the planned arrival of the "pandemic vaccine." August 31, 2006: http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/aug/083106birdflu.html Bird flu expected to hit U.S. in 2 years. The world's most deadly flu epidemic is expected by the best guesses currently available to hit the U.S. within two years. This was the warning given to the Grants-Milan Rotary Club on Tuesday by a University of New Mexico specialist helping organize pilot projects in two of the state's 33 counties, Cibola and Grant. Meetings in the area will take place from September to November, Margo White said. The sessions are aimed at "turning a paper plan into a community effort... You don't know how many talents you have to share from the group itself, (talents) which will be needed. We won't have the system as usual; we won't have life as usual." ___________________________________ COMMENT: This technology will be really good news for sorting out who has allergies, who has "garden variety influenza" and who has a more aggressive form of influenza virus. It could keep people from being quarantined for an extended period of time if they are not infected. August 30, 2006: FluChip can spot bird flu in under 12 hours Scientists in the United States have developed a new technology that reduces the time it takes to achieve a detailed diagnosis of avian flu, from one week or more down to less than 12 hours. A joint team from the University of Colorado and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a microchip-based test that will enable more laboratories across the United States to carry out basic tests to determine the type and subtype of an influenza virus within several hours. Because the FluChip technology is able to be used in lower level biosafety facilities. ___________________________________ COMMENT: This is not an unreasonable proposition. It is similar to an injection of tetanus immune globulin (TIG)--a dose of immunoglobulins. August 30, 2006: Why blood of bird flu survivors is a lifesaver Blood products taken from people who have recovered from bird flu could be useful for treating other patients in the event of a pandemic, research has suggested. An analysis of how such transfusions were used in hospitals during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 has indicated that they reduced the risk of death and eased symptoms, raising the prospect that a similar approach could be used against H5N1 influenza.
Blood is removed from a patient who has recovered and the liquid plasma part is mixed with alcohol and separated into its components by fractionation. One of the resulting fractions is rich in immunoglobulins and these can then be given to other patients exposed to the disease. Research in mice, however, suggests that immunoglobulins would be an effective way of alleviating symptoms ___________________________________ COMMENT: This would make a great cartoon! Hard to believe that people are concerned about this....... August 27, 2006: Wildlife officials will be checking gamebirds this fall for signs of avian flu. More than a million gamebirds are expected to be killed in Kansas over the next five months, with wildlife officials expected to take samples from some to test for avian flu. Odds are extremely long that hunters could catch a deadly strain of the disease that has killed about 140 people in Asia and Africa. "I would say the odds are much higher something will happen driving to your hunting spot than getting bird flu," said Helen Hands, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks biologist. "There's no need to really worry about it unless you're looking for an excuse to not go hunting." Hunters needn't worry about hunting dogs contracting the disease, even if they retrieve an infected bird. The deadly strain of avian flu has never been found in canines. ___________________________________
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COMMENT: This comment leaves me speechless....symptoms of bird flu are no different than symptoms of "regular flu" or typcial pneumonia. It would not be uncommon to have any people test negative for H5N1 but have flu-like symptoms. Why were the "experts" surprised? August 18, 2006: Tests provide only proof of bird flu infection HANOI - Laboratory tests still provide the only guaranteed confirmation of bird-flu infection, scientists and physicians agreed yesterday. The experts were responding to questions from Viet Nam News about patients who died from symptoms of the H5N1 virus but whose samples tested negative. Patients with pneumonia suffer a serious illness; some are more ill than others and their deaths can come from a variety of causes, said National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology director Nguyen Tran Hien. "It's normal." The relationship between the deaths and the tests was not a cause for alarm. ___________________________________ COMMENT: It may be a good for people living in Wisconsin that these businesses are putting time and money into their local economy instead of global planning. August 13, 2006. Threat of bird flu ruffles few businesses' feathers. Despite dire predictions that an influenza pandemic is possible, the majority of business leaders in Northeastern Wisconsin don't believe this area is vulnerable and aren't prepared for such an outbreak. In a recent survey conducted for the Nicolet Bank Business Pulse, 52 percent of business executives say that such an outbreak striking Northeastern Wisconsin is "not likely" in the near future. Only 1 percent believe a flu pandemic is "very likely." When Business Pulse asked CEOs what they were doing to prepare for an outbreak, the answer was little or nothing. Fewer than than 10 percent describe their business as "moderately or very well prepared" for influenza pandemic. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Pharma doesn't want to hear this....that herbs can heal and the people can recover! August 12, 2006: Bird Flu patient cured with herbs. Beijing: Chinese traditional medicine experts succeeded in curing a bird flu patient after 50 days of therapy. Jiang, 31 years old, was given a ginseng and medical herb soup in early stages of therapy to get rid of 'poisonous heat' in his body, said the director of the hospital where Jiang was treated. The second stage of the therapy involved using Chinese herb 'herudu' to stimulate the patient's blood circulation, he said. A Chinese mushroom was also used to stimulate the functioning of his lungs. Jiang's state started improving towards the end of June and later check-ups showed that he no longer carried the virus H5N1. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Brings to mind school drills where children hid underneath their desk during a "nuclear drill." August 11, 2006: Schools told to prepare for flu IRVINE – Local health and school officials doubt a bird-flu pandemic will hit Orange County anytime soon, if at all. About 75 administrators and principals from dozens of area school districts and community colleges attended the workshop aimed at raising awareness of the illness."It's highly unlikely a pandemic will happen here in Orange County," said William Habermehl, the county superintendent of schools. "Just in case it does, we want to make sure Orange County's schools are very prepared for the bird flu." Attendees received a "Pandemic Planning for Schools" tool kit and DVD with information on how to monitor attendance records to check for unusual spikes in flu-related absences. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The use of religion to promote the plans of the government is becoming pervasive. In May, 2006, the US government started its own plan to use churches in the event of Martial Law---which could be instituted in the event of a pandemic.
See: Secret FEMA Plan To Use Pastors as Pacifiers in Preparation For Martial Law A Pastor has come forward to blow the whistle on a nationwide FEMA program which is training Pastors and other religious representatives to become secret police enforcers who teach their congregations to "obey the government" in preparation for a declaration of martial law, property and firearm seizures, and forced relocation.
August 10, 2006 TODAYonline Cambodia enlists Buddhist monks to help fight bird flu. Cambodia has enlisted the help of Buddhist monks and teachers in its drive to prevent a fresh outbreak of bird flu, the UN children's agency and government officials said. "Buddhist monks play an important role in helping to prevent bird flu by educating people about its danger," said Yim Voeunthan, secretary of state at the ministry of agriculture. "Cambodian people respect monks the most and they will follow the monks' advice," he said, adding that monks have strong spiritual influence on people in rural areas. ___________________________________ Blood from 39 hunters was tested for antibodies that would reveal prior infection to any of about a dozen types of bird-based influenza. Several hunters had antibodies to H1, H2 and H3 forms of bird flu, which have adapted to humans and are now routinely seen in people. But one hunter also tested positive for H11N9, which is not seen in humans. ___________________________________ COMMENT: No bird is safe anywhere in the world....would they eliminate the food in the Seychelles too?
June 17, 2006: Seychelles : FAO aids bird flu readiness, brought to you by African News Dimension Food and Agriculture Organization has donated equipment added to local measures in place to guard against a possible Bird Flu outbreak in Seychelles. The donation, consisting mainly of protective clothing and disinfecting equipment, was handed over to staff from the Department of Natural resources, who would be on the front line of efforts to control a local outbreak. The donation from the FAO comes as part of a 14 country-wide East African project to make preparations against the spread of Bird Flu, a project which Seychelles was not initially part of. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The villagers are probably right! The birds that don't die are developing immunity to the virus, just like the migratory birds. This is the best way to stop an infection: TRUE HERD IMMUNITY. As discovered in the 1930s, when 60% of a population has experienced the infection, the rest become immune. THIS IS NOT HOW VACCINATION WORKS!
Disbelieving promises of compensation, many people from North Sumatra to Jakarta to South Sulawesi are refusing to support the government's bird flu containment program. Thousands of chickens are dying daily in Gowa regency, South Sulawesi, with random testing suggesting most are succumbing to bird flu. While villagers incinerate the bodies of the dead birds, they leave the living birds untouched, allowing the disease to spread further. "I don't want to kill the rest of my chickens because the government has not promised me any compensation," one resident said. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The article doesn't say how the chip is used; is a drop of blood placed on it or is it inserted into a human or animal than then the information is transmitted?
June 13, 2006: MTB Europe - Avian flu virus detector on a chip Unlike other diagnostic and sensor technologies that take between 20 minutes and 20 hours to work, a SmartSense detector is a real-time sensor. It uses a microchip to capture the electronic "signature" produced when the avian flu (H5N1) surface contacts the sensor. Like a lock and key, this SmartSense detector is triggered only by the H5N1 target. The detector then automatically transmits the identifying information to users. ___________________________________ June 9, 2006: Irish Examiner> Breaking News> Sport The United Nation's bird flu chief said yesterday that the three-year estimate of funds needed to stem the deadly virus in Africa could be as high as $1bn (€782m). David Nabarro (from the UN) noted that funds pledged at a donor's conference in Beijing in January “ when the disease was primarily in Asia and entering eastern Europe - totalled around $1.9bn. ___________________________________ COMMENT: It will be interesting to see how many of the farmers become employed by CP, the Thai multinational chicken mogul......
___________________________________ COMMENT: 1. They really don't know; many scientists say the migratory birds have nothing to do with it; they are REACHING for an answer...and migratory birds are a convenient scapegoat. 2. Scientists have been warning that the bird flu virus will get stronger and just ship; now they say it may die off. 3. The Missing Link is the effect of the environment. They should read my book, FOWL!
June 2, 2006: The Hindu : National : "Wild migratory birds have role in spread of bird flu" The participants at the conference did not agree on the key issue of the role of wild birds in the spread of HPAI to more than 50 countries in three continents, and whether wild birds should now be considered a permanent reservoir of the virus. If they are such a reservoir, there is a strong likelihood they will carry the virus with them in subsequent migrations. Alternatively H5N1 may subside naturally as infected animals die off, or it may mutate to a less aggressive form. "This was one of the main gaps identified in our present scientific knowledge. We must intensify our investigations,'' said FAO's chief veterinary officer Joseph Domenech. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Crucell is the cell line using retina cells from aborted fetal tissues....It would be interesting to see the consent form people signed to be in this study!! Also, notice that this is NOT H5N1 but H9N2....not even close to the bird flu virus. The CDC says the virus has to be an "exact match" to be effective.
___________________________________ COMMENT: Hope the US Congress doesn't see this bill any time soon!! If they do, we might be adding "property and land grab" to the agenda behind the bird flu!
May 29, 2006: New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz: Bird-flu bill lets medical officers seize land, cars The bill proposes significantly extending the powers of medical officers. They would be able to [seize] any land or buildings “ publicly or privately owned “ for a wide range of reasons, including the treatment of patients or storing or disposal of bodies. Vehicles could also be taken if they were needed to transport patients, doctors or medical equipment, or to carry food, tents or other temporary facilities. Medical officers would also have the authority to close any premises in their district, except private homes, courts and prisons, and to insist on certain infection-control measures. Police would have the power to "do anything reasonably necessary, including the use of force", to help medical officers exercise their powers. ___________________________________ May 24, 2006: Chron.com | Skeptics say bird flu threat overblown "It's a great story, a disease that can wipe out mankind as we know it," says Dr. Gary Butcher, a University of Florida veterinarian specializing in avian diseases. "Fortunately, the facts are contrary to what's being reported. This disease is going to fizzle out, be forgotten in the near future and be replaced by another 'potential worldwide threat.' " ___________________________________ May 24, 2006: United Press International - NewsTrack - Some scientists rebut bird flu estimates "It's a great story, a disease that can wipe out mankind as we know it," Dr. Gary Butcher, a University of Florida veterinarian specializing in avian diseases, told the newspaper. "Fortunately, the facts are contrary to what's being reported. This disease is going to fizzle out, be forgotten in the near future and be replaced by another 'potential worldwide threat.'" ___________________________________ COMMENT: The signs of "bird flu" are upper respiratory infection, cough, fever.....How could the separate the "signs of bird flu" from any other type of lung infection, including pneumonia? And if they have died in the presence of H5N1, did that mean the virus caused their demise? Or was it due to the lack of a robust immune system?
___________________________________ COMMENT: Replacing a high-level official is always unnerving. Could be better...but could be much worse. General Lee was called the "king of vaccination." Watch for his replacement and his back ground.
The World Health Assembly took a long time to get down to business following the untimely death of World Health Organization's Director-General Lee Jong-wook. ___________________________________ COMMENT: I can't imagine why it is so critical...wonder if there are many poultry farms in Michigan to protect? May 19, 2006: WWMT - Digital Channel 3 (NEWS 3) - There have been no reported cases of bird flu in the U.S., but state leaders have stepped up surveillance. They want to know within hours if the deadly bird flu lands in Michigan.... "We can identify the bird flu, avian influenza virus, H5N1 in about three hours or less. That is vitally important because every minute counts," said center director Dr. Willie Reed. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Talk about mind control and mental conditioning. We need to STOP perpetuating the fear.
May 18, 2006 - Students 'ill' in avian flu drill - The practice was a way to exercise emergency preparedness, maximize efficiency and practice with new equipment at Huntington Beach Hospital. - The Orange County Register - "Thirty-five Westminster High School students coughed, clutched their stomachs and wheezed, feigning bird flu-like symptoms. The students were playing the part of high school band members returning from an overseas competition in Southeast Asia." ___________________________________ COMMENT: These folks are truly "mad" scientists, but every definition of the word! What will they think of next? SCAREY!
May 17, 2006: CTV.ca | Officials mull using poultry vaccine on people The World Health Organization and others are studying whether it would be possible to tap into the global agricultural vaccine production capacity to help bridge the enormous gap between the amount of human flu vaccine the world can produce and how much would be needed in a severe pandemic. While the idea of giving people vaccine produced for poultry may seem, well, for the birds, the proposal - advanced by eager agricultural vaccine-makers - hasn't been dismissed out of hand. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Bird flu is caused by back yard chickens; no wait! It must be spread by migratory birds.....no wait!! It's spread by pigs. They don't have a clue...so why all the hoopla?
May 17, 2006: Xinhua - English JAKARTA, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Pigs are blamed for having spread the bird flu virus that recently killed five people in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, according to a senior government official Thursday ___________________________________ COMMENT: Remember, sick birds don't fly far, and dead birds don't fly at all! In thousands of samples collected in Africa this winter, the bird flu virus, A(H5N1), was not detected in a single wild bird, health officials and scientists said. In Europe, only a few cases have been detected in wild birds since April 1, at the height of the migration north. The number of cases in Europe has fallen off so steeply compared with February, when dozens of new cases were found daily, that specialists contend that the northward spring migration played no role. ___________________________________ COMMENT: So the death rate from "garden variety" influenza is now at 45, 000?? They exaggerated the death rate at 30,000. Guess they can do anything they want with numbers.
May 10, 2006 - Bird Flu Drama - Can It Happen? - The TV movie "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America " raised questions about the U.S. ability to handle a pandemic. C. Ed Hsu , an expert in public health emergency preparedness for disease and bioterrorism and assistant professor of public and community health looks at some of the issues the movie raised. Hsu has prepared a number of studies on public health preparedness and response and bioterrorism and surveillance databases on minority health, including Asian Americans. - www.physorg.com - "Hsu: We are not really well prepared. America is not ready even for annual seasonal flu that kills 45,000 every year." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Wonder how many chickens were culled because they were "thought" to be infected?
May 7, 2006: Daily Times - Site Edition ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Health announced on Saturday that all 109 samples collected from people living in and around 18 poultry farms in the NWFP, Punjab and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) had tested negative for the virus. The samples were collected from four poultry farms of Punjab, two NWFP farms and 12 ICT farms, APP reported. The ministry also confirmed that all the suspected people who were hospitalised in the isolation wards had been tested negative by the National Institute of Health and were discharged from the hospitals. ___________________________________ COMMENT: They can't have it both ways!! Guess this is a way to shore up the poultry industry....right before the bird flu movie!! Lobbyists for Tyson, et al, have been pounding the pavement!
May 6, 2006: TV ads: Don't sweat bird flu | IndyStar.com An announcer lists four steps for food safety: Clean hands and cooking surfaces. Separate raw and cooked foods. Cook poultry to at least 165 degrees. Chill leftovers promptly.The Agriculture Department on Thursday began sending out a series of commercials, interview excerpts, video footage and photos to television and radio stations with the goal of easing people's minds and clearing up misconceptions about bird flu. ___________________________________ May 6, 2006: Bird flu thriller only a movie - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ABC's made-for-TV movie, "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" will be broadcast at 8 p.m Tuesday, sending some public health experts and chicken producers into crisis mode as they try to help the public distinguish between science and entertainment. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Last year they were projected that the flu would get worse in the summer as the birds returned to SE Asia......more "guessing." Reinforces that all this hype is about trying to predict a Random Event. We're not "due" for an outbreak. How silly!
May 6, 2006 - Warm-up slows avian flu spread - Newsday - Five outbreaks of the lethal H5N1 avian flu strain in poultry were reported to the World Organization for Animal Health in the week ended April 27, compared with an average of more than 40 a week in March. "Maybe one of the more positive possibilities is that the summer is coming and the heat of Africa may be in our advantage," Webster told reporters in Singapore, where he addressed an avian flu forum this week sponsored by the Lancet medical journal. "Maybe we will have a summer before it starts spreading more." ___________________________________ COMMENT: If they weren't taking themselves so seriously, this would be funny!
___________________________________ Jean-Pierre Garnier, GSK's chief executive, will meet President George Bush in the next fortnight to brief him about progress in developing a vaccine that would offer protection against the deadly strain of bird flu virus H5N1. Western governments have placed advance orders for the vaccine, which could be produced in factories in Europe and the United States by the end of the year. France and Britain alone have ordered 60 million doses. ___________________________________ COMMENT: PRE-emptive strike by KFC, largest purchaser of factory farmed chickens in the world!!
April 26, 2006: At Kentucky Fried Chicken, Colonel Harland Sanders' face remains a staple on company signs and food containers. Now the goateed image of the restaurant chain's founder appears on a sticker meant to head off any concerns about eating chicken if bird flu spreads to the United States. The small stickers are being put on the lid of every bucket of chicken that KFC sells in the U.S. The seal is a pre-emptive campaign assuring customers that the chicken is "rigorously inspected, thoroughly cooked, quality assured." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Killing chickens and eliminating food sources.....and still not enough human cases to warrant this.
April 26. 2006: Daily Times - Site Edition 57 suspected human cases test negative for bird flu. ISLAMABAD: Although nine poultry farms have been confirmed for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus strain near Islamabad and over 46,000 birds have been culled to check the spread of disease, the tests of the 57 suspected human bird flu cases have all come back negative, the Health Ministry said on Monday ___________________________________ COMMENT: People cannot get sick from eating eggs and chicken with the virus if the foods are cooked. There are 6 million in Kenya dying of starvation from the worst draught in 20 years ( ABC News: Worst Drought in 20 Years Hits East Africa ) and food is being destroyed that "might" be infected? The sad state of the world we live in.....
April 24, 2006: The Tide Online Bird flu: Task force destroys 123 crates of eggs in Bayelsa, Niger. The Bayelsa State Taskforce on Bird Flu says it has destroyed more than 123 crates of eggs suspected to be infected by the Avian Influenza in a bid to check the spread of the disease. He stated that the taskforce has started an aggressive inspection of poultry farms, birds and poultry products such as eggs so as not to allow the deadly disease infect the state. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Is this a sign of times to come?
April 23, 2006: Plane Quarantined in Denmark Due to Bird Flu Scare A Singapore Airlines aircraft was quarantined after the Captain warned the airport that a passenger was showing Bird Flu symptoms. 20 crew members and 275 passengers including the 31 year old Swedish woman showing the symptoms were directed to an isolated area in Kastrup airport. After a medical team examined the woman, she was found to be suffering from an upset stomach. This was the second scare in Denmark this week regarding the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus. ___________________________________ COMMENT: With a population of more than 1.3 BILLION, why would 12 deaths make the news? The most common cause of death in China is respiratory illnesses; read the complete story in FOWL! Bird Flu: It's Not What You Think.
Beijing (dpa) - A 21-year-old man in the central province of Hubei died from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza on Wednesday, the 12th human death from bird flu officially recorded in China, state media said on Wednesday. ___________________________________ COMMENT: People cannot get sick from eating eggs and chicken with the virus if the foods are cooked. There are 6 million in Kenya dying of starvation from the worst draught in 20 years ( ABC News: Worst Drought in 20 Years Hits East Africa ) and food is being destroyed that "might" be infected? The sad state of the world we live in.....
April 24, 2006: The Tide Online Bird flu: Task force destroys 123 crates of eggs in Bayelsa, Niger. The Bayelsa State Taskforce on Bird Flu says it has destroyed more than 123 crates of eggs suspected to be infected by the Avian Influenza in a bid to check the spread of the disease. He stated that the taskforce has started an aggressive inspection of poultry farms, birds and poultry products such as eggs so as not to allow the deadly disease infect the state. ___________________________________ COMMENT: With a population of more than 1.3 BILLION, why would 12 deaths make the news? The most common cause of death in China is respiratory illnesses; read the complete story in FOWL! Bird Flu: It's Not What You Think.
Beijing (dpa) - A 21-year-old man in the central province of Hubei died from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza on Wednesday, the 12th human death from bird flu officially recorded in China, state media said on Wednesday. ___________________________________ April 23, 2006: Skeptics warn bird flu fears are overblown - Bird Flu - MSNBC.com Skeptics warn bird flu fears are overblown. Chicken Little alert? Hysteria could sap money from worse health threats, There's no guarantee bird flu will become a pandemic, and if it does there's no guarantee it will kill millions of people. The real trouble, these skeptics say, is that bird flu hysteria is sapping money and attention away from more important health threats. ___________________________________
___________________________________ COMMENT: They are not testing for the correct thing. A positive antibody is indicative of EXPOSURE, not immunity. The blood samples of the patients who died should have been tested for dioxin.
April 22, 2006: The Hindu News Update Service In one of the largest studies of its kind, scientists in Cambodia took blood samples from 351 people in a small village, where one of the country's six bird flu deaths traced to the H5N1 virus was confirmed. They found no antibodies for H5N1 in any of the specimens, indicating nobody became infected but recovered after falling only mildly ill or displaying no symptoms whatsoever. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The "arrival" of the bird flu virus is eminent.
April 16, 2006: North Jersey Media Group providing local news, sports & classifieds for Northern New Jersey! WASHINGTON -- President Bush is expected to approve a national influenza pandemic response plan that identifies more than 300 specific tasks for federal agencies.The Treasury Department is poised to sign agreements with other nations to produce currency if its facilities cannot operate. The Pentagon, anticipating difficulties acquiring supplies from the Far East, is considering stockpiling millions of latex gloves. And the Department of Veterans Affairs has developed a drive-through medical exam to quickly assess patients who suspect they have been infected...."Any community that fails to prepare -- with the expectation that the federal government can come to the rescue -- will be tragically wrong," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a speech last Monday. ___________________________________ April 12, 2006: Expert says bird flu no imminent threat "It is entirely conceivable that this virus is inherently programmed that it will never be able to go efficiently from human to human," Fauci said. "Hopefully the epidemic (in birds) will burn itself out, which epidemics do, before the virus evolves the capability of being more efficient in going from human to human."
___________________________________ COMMENT: This is pure hype! From the UK....
April 9, 2006: Telegraph | News | Bird flu 'could kill 100,000 children' The Government's most senior medical adviser has warned that 100,000 schoolchildren could die if a bird flu pandemic strikes Britain. Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, said in a letter leaked to The Sunday Times that school closures could help keep the death toll down, but 50,000 children could still be expected to die. ___________________________________ COMMENT: I can only imagine the types of drugs planned for this when it gets to humans!
___________________________________ COMMENT: Good grief!! will they make up their minds? The CDC has maintained for YEARS that if a virus is not a "match" the vaccine is "ineffective." This means that changing the viruses in the annual flu shot is NOT NECESSARY as the "drifts" should be "close enough" to be have an "effect," by their definition. Hopefully, this type of mixed rhetoric will be useful to stop the flu vaccine program all together. --Dr. Sherri
San Jose Mercury News/Associated Press Even bird flu becomes a pandemic, an assertive vaccination campaign at the beginning of an outbreak would still be the most effective response, a study concludes. A vaccine that is a poor match as well as treatment with an antiviral could help slow the spread of the disease, researchers said after studying computer models of flu spread. ___________________________________ April 4...Daily Times - Site Edition Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m from bird flu drug. US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has made more than $5 million from selling shares in the biotechnology firtm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive amounts by governments to treat a possible human pandemic of bird flu, reports British newspaper the Independent. ___________________________________ COMMENT: What do they know that we don't know?
Story in full: The death toll from a bird flu pandemic in Britain could be more than 700,000, according to a confidential government report seen by The Scotsman. ___________________________________ April 2, 2006: 'Mass burials' plan for bird flu Mass burials could be held if bird flu reaches Britain and causes a 'worst case' epidemic among the population, it has been reported. The assessment warns that 'there are likely to be substantially more deaths than can be managed within current time scales', and that there could be delays of up to 17 weeks in disposing of bodies. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Building the case for adding the M-59 toxic adjuvant....
The vaccine, made by a unit of Sanofi-Aventis and based on an H5N1 virus that killed a Vietnamese man in 2004, only produced a satisfactory immune response in volunteers at two doses of 90 micrograms each. That is 12 times what is needed for the annual seasonal flu shot. ___________________________________ COMMENT: This is the best advice that I've seen to date about preparing for a flu pandemic!
March 29, 2006: Bird Flu Woes: Flying This Way? "You have more important things to worry about than bird flu," he says. "If you are in a high-risk group for flu complications, it's better to worry about getting your normal flu shot this year. If you're worried about your health, you'll do better to watch what you eat and to lose some weight than to worry about a flu pandemic. Bird flu is out there. As a nation we should be prepared. But whether it will happen this year or in 10 years: Who knows? ___________________________________ March 29, 2006: IOL: Congo bird flu outbreak would be 'catastrophic' An outbreak of bird flu in Congo would be 'catastrophic,' but more attention is needed for other diseases which are killing thousands every day in the war-ravaged country, a senior UN humanitarian official said today. ___________________________________ March 28, 2006: On the Front: A Pandemic Is Worrisome but 'Unlikely' - New York Times "I think you have to say we really don't know the odds of pandemic, and people are not comfortable with that," Dr. Farrar said. "It could fizzle out and kill 98 people one more than the number dead today. Or it could be something like 200 million," closer to an estimate once made by Dr. David Nabarro, chief avian flu coordinator for the United Nations. "It's terrifying if it happens, but it is very, very unlikely, I think and it is difficult to balance those facts." ___________________________________ COMMENT: I disagree. As one of the top flu experts in the world, Webster's role is to track influenza in the test tube, not to make sweeping speculations that are not based on science and do far more harm than good. By his estimatation, we should be destroying every bird in the world right now before we all perish in a pool of pathogens,
March 17, 2006: The cost of bird flu hysteria - The Boston Globe RENOWNED bird flu expert Robert Webster told ABC News this week that there were ''about even odds at this time for the virus to learn how to transmit human to human," and ''society just can't accept the idea that 50 percent of the population could die. . . . I'm sorry if I'm making people a little frightened, but I feel it's my role." ______________________________________ March 15, 2006: Top Russian Communist Blames U.S. of Using Bird Flu as Biological Weapon - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM Top Russian Communist Blames U.S. of Using Bird Flu as Biological Weapon. It's strange that not a single duck has yet died in America - they are all dying in Russia and European countries. This makes one seriously wonder why, Gennady Zyuganov was quoted by UPI as saying. Asked whether he believes the bird flu outbreak could be a deliberate attack by the United States, Zyuganov said not only suggest this, "I know very well how this can be arranged. There is nothing strange here." ________________________________________ COMMENT: "The sky is falling...the sky is falling...."
March 15,2006: ABC News: Renowned Bird Flu Expert Warns: Be Prepared "Society just can't accept the idea that 50 percent of the population could die. And I think we have to face that possibility," Webster said. "I'm sorry if I'm making people a little frightened, but I feel it's my role." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Our tax dollars at work.....
March 15,2006: Bloomberg.com: U.S. Bird Flu Plans Require $30.5M More for 2007, U.S. FDA Says. The FDA also would use the money to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity and lengthen the shelf life of treatments for the influenza virus now circulating in birds, von Eschenbach told a U.S. Senate subcommittee at a hearing in Washington today. Von Eschenbach briefed the panel on the agency's requests, included in President George W. Bush's $2.77 trillion budget proposal for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. ___________________________________ COMMENT: This is a must read....this Bird Flu Hype gets more bizzare every day!
When local resident Austen Ng complained to department officials about wild pigeons at her housing estate, they "suggested that residents could use this glue on the walls," she said. The residents found the advice confusing, however. "They asked, 'If the birds have avian flu, why would we want to stick them to our buildings?'" Ng said. The spokesman had to explain that the gel was "a kind of bird repellent" and would not keep birds from flying away. Last week the department had said it had no objections to citizens killing wild birds provided they did not use a slingshot. It later said the advice was a "misunderstanding." ___________________________________ March 6, 2006: Planet Ark An Austrian cat which has twice tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus did not show the virus in a third probe on Tuesday, Austria's health ministry said, adding to uncertainty about the infection in cats. "Apparently cats are more resistant than chicken," the spokeswoman said. "That you find the virus in the mouth apparently doesn't mean that it reaches the other end too." ___________________________________ March 4,2006: Agenzia Giornalistica Italia - News In English A CHIICKEN LEG LESS BAD THAN A CIGARETTE - La Spezia, March 4 - "Bird flu exists. It's hard to stop the virus from spreading. We must avoid infection of farms and sensitive spots. We haven't had problems at farms as yet, but this doesn't mean that it will never happen. We have however a very strong bio-security network that can give certainty and safety to citizens. So this psychosis is not justified. My health is very delicate. I have not smoked for three weeks and have been on a chicken diet for ten days because I want to show that a chicken drumstick does less harm than a cigarette." Thus said Health Minister, Francesco Storace, today in La Spezia, on the sidelines of an A.N. election meeting. (AGI) ___________________________________ March 4, 2006 - Bird flu in India: profits override public health concerns - World Socialist Web Site via Asian Tribune - "India's poultry giants are making concerted efforts to minimise the risks. Reports of bird flu sent Indian poultry sales plunging by 80-90 percent and halted exports to neighbouring countries, the Middle East and Japan." ___________________________________ COMMENT: No surprise, not migratory birds after all...
March 2, 2006: AlertNet - Nigeria suspects illegal imports brought bird flu "There is a very strong basis to believe that avian flu may have been introduced into Nigeria through illegally imported day-old chicks," he said in a statement. The government knows of no humans in Nigeria infected with the virus. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The locals distrust the government more than they fear the flu...and with good reason.
___________________________________ COMMENT: This is almost funny! I could make a great cartoon.
March 1, 2006: Fifa says bird flu spread may damage World Cup Gerrmany has been gripped by bird flu panic, with pets ordered to be kept indoors, after the discovery of a dead cat contaminated with the disease. The head of world football also raised the possibility that the World Cup could be cancelled. ___________________________________ COMMENT: This may be why the UN and WHO saying, repeated, "bird flu WILL happen....it is in the plan." The Police State Road Map, March 2005 edition. Chapter 14 Bertrand Russell, one of the twentieth century's most eminent philosophers, said the same in his book, The Impact of Science on Society: "At present the population of the world is increasing ... War so far has had no great effect on this increase ... I do not pretend that birth control is the only way in which population can be kept from increasing. There are others ... If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation, survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full....." ___________________________________ COMMENT: The government did the same thing in Thailand, to support Agribusiness and the poultry industry.
February 26, 2006: Chennai Online News Service - View News About 500 kg of chicken and 5,000 eggs were cooked for the feast, being served with chicken 65 to chicken tikka, egg bonda to egg biryani, in which more than 2,500 people participated. The mela was purely "a confidence-building measure", to counter reports about safety of eating chicken in the wake of avian flu threat. ___________________________________ February 24, 2006 - Americans worry about the bird flu - AP via Deseret News - "It's the first public, in-depth survey to ask Americans what they know about bird flu and how they might respond if the virus evolves to spread among people, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The results show that U.S. bird flu outbreaks could have severe economic effects. About 46 percent of respondents who eat chicken said they would stop eating it if bird flu hits the U.S. poultry industry. If human outbreaks occurred, 75 percent said they would reduce or avoid travel, 71 percent said they would skip public events and 68 percent said they would stay home and keep their children at home while the outbreak lasted." ___________________________________ February 24, 2006 - South Korea Says 4 People Infected with Avian Flu Never Became Ill - South Korean officials have announced that four poultry workers were infected with avian flu more than two years ago, but have never become ill. These are the first known cases in South Korea of the virus spreading to humans. - Voice of America ___________________________________ COMMENT: What's in store...
February 23, 2006 - Why we need a robust vaccine market - Bird Flu: Be Wary, Not Panicked - Centre Daily - "Yearly flu shots for most Americans would help create the infrastructure we need to prepare for pandemics, with the added advantage of providing immediate health benefits." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Now, THIS is stating the truth!!
February 22, 2006: Bangkok Post Breaking news The greatest risk to Europe is still not to people but to its poultry industries, which could suffer great financial losses if H5N1 becomes endemic. ___________________________________ COMMENT: They are riding on big assumptions: 1) the vaccine will protect the chickens; 2) the vaccine has a correct strain and 3) without the vaccine, the chickens will get sick. What will the vaccines do to the health of the chickens? - ___________________________________ COMMENT: Killing birds is going to eliminate the independent farmers throughout India, China and Southeast Asia; they will become indentured servants called 'employees' or 'independent contractors,'beholding to global agribusiness.
kilometer (1.5-mile) radius to check the spread of the virus in the area, more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of Bombay. "We are looking at a very difficult future. All of us will have to start again from scratch, and I don"t know how many of us will survive," said Ghulam Vhora, a member of a Navapur poultry farmers" association. ___________________________________ COMMENT: You can't find what you are not looking for. Now that "experts" are looking at every dead bird for H5N1, they are finding it. Which begs the question: HAS THE VIRUS BEEN THERE ALL ALONG?
February 20, 2006: Health Experts Surprised at Rapid Spread of Bird Flu - New York Times "After several years in one place, why is it now moving so rapidly?" asked Dr. Samuel Jutzi, director of the Animal Production and Health Division at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. "There is a lot about this that we just don't know." ___________________________________ COMMENT: AGRIBUSINESS and PHARMA, working together, strike again...
FEBRUARY 19, 2006: Bird flu scare crashes chicken prices by 60% A day after bird flu cases were reported from Nandurbar and Dhule districts, sale of chicken and poultry products in the city witnessed a sharp drop of 60-70 per cent. Small time poultry farm owners are the worst-affected. Traders and sellers spoke of a conspiracy and claimed that it was done by the multinational companies to create a scare to sell their flu vaccines. ˜They have invested a lot of money into their medicines and sell it for over Rs 1,000. This is a way of selling their product," a shopkeeper said. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The government's advice on Bird flu....good grief!
system. That was one piece of advice offered on Wednesday to a business conference on preparing for a potentially lethal bird flu epidemic. ___________________________________ COMMENT: It would be funny if it weren't so gross! Carrying away dead birds and testing them for viruses....would make a good cartoon.
February 18, 2006 : German Military Joins Fight Against Bird Flu | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 18.02.2006 Meanwhile, the entire island of Rügen has been declared an "observation zone." Every reported bird carcass must be collected and sent off to laboratories for testing. The job of collecting the dead birds is enormous: Every year several hundred migratory birds die on the shores of the island when they return west after winter. However, the contagious nature of the disease prohibits a simple collection of the carcasses, Kassner told reporters. ___________________________________ Comment: This is a HUGE amount of power; There is a very thin line standing between mandatory, government-enforced vaccination and our rights to refuse.
February 16, 2006: Bird-Flu Vaccine Makers to Get Protection WASHINGTON -- The government won't wait for bird flu to hit U.S. shores before granting liability protections to vaccine manufacturers and others that make products needed to battle a pandemic. In December, Congress gave Health and Human Services Secretary, Mike Leavitt, the authority to declare when products are necessary "countermeasures" for a public health emergency. The manufacturers and distributors of such products will have sweeping liability protections. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Truth is, they may all know something they aren't saying: FLU SHOTS DON'T KEEP YOU FROM GETTING THE FLU and the CAN CAUSE HARM. In addition, this is EXACTLY the same as those who have tested positive for H5N1 and have been symptomatic. H5N1 will be no different.
February 14, 2006: US News Article | Reuters.com US urges hospitals to vaccinate workers for flu. One recent study found that 23 percent of health care workers had antibodies to influenza in their blood after a mild flu season but 59 percent of these could not recall having had flu and 28 percent did not remember having been ill at all.When asked, health care workers give the same reasons as most people for not getting flu shots -- a lack of time, the belief that they will not get flu, fear of needles, and a belief that the shot carries risks. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ COMMENT: Another sad day for the people of the world....
potentially hazardous "Frankenfoods" worldwide and further erosion of local protections, say environmental and advocacy groups. "It's disappointing that the WTO would seek to override democratic decisions at literally all levels of government," said Dennis Olson of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ___________________________________ COMMENT: He should read the scientific information that wild birds do NOT spread the viruses.
February 7, 2006: Ducks carry big potential risk in bird-flu fight Virologist Richard Webster considers the duck to be the main culprit. He considers the duck to be "the most dangerous animal in the world" ducks carry avian flu viruses and transmit them to other waterfowl, often without becoming sick themselves. Ducks have wings. Ducks migrate. Ducks can mix with chickens, but while the chickens die at the rate of almost 100%, many ducks don't get sick at all, and fly off carrying the virus to other parts of the world. ___________________________________
___________________________________ COMMENT: This is simply not true.
xtvworld.com- "Industrial scale chicken farms owned by large corporations are not high risk because they house chickens in buildings protected from possible infection from migratory birds. This is not the case with small-scale backyard operations, especially in rural areas, where chickens and other domestic birds often roam freely or are in open cages. While these backyard chickens are most easily exposed to migratory birds, they are largely unmonitored and uncontrolled." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Why not pay down the National debt or fund Super fund clean up projects or put people back to work in New Orleans.
January 31, 2006 - Congress urged to spend more money on flu - USA Today - "Drug company chiefs urged Congress to appropriate more money to prepare for a flu pandemic, saying they could not supply needed drugs and vaccines without a guaranteed market." ___________________________________ Jan. 30, 2006 issue - Hunting Bird Flu - Newsweek: International Editions - MSNBC.com The appearance of bird flu in Europe, and particularly the outbreak in Turkey, has created several scientific mysteries. Why, for instance, did the disease infect birds almost simultaneously in 13 provinces scattered around the country? Why were more people infected (21 so far) than in any other outbreak since the disease first began infecting humans in 2003? And why have so few of the Turkish victims died four, perhaps five compared with previous outbreaks, in which half the human cases proved fatal?The most evocative mystery concerns the relative mildness of the virus in Turkey compared to Asia. Turks who have contracted the disease have fared relatively well. ___________________________________ QATAR periodically shoots migratory birds to check for any avian flu virus, a senior official said. It is part of efforts to keep a close watch on the bird flu threat and ensure that birds infected with the disease do not enter the country, Ghanem Abdullah Mohamed, director, Wildlife Protection and Development Department at the Supreme Council for Environment and Natural Reserves (SCENR), said. ___________________________________ governments, leading to research on 28 possible pandemic flu vaccines and speedier and more efficient production methods. ___________________________________ January 27, 2006: New bird flu shot took just a month to make -study. Stock Market News and Investment Information | Reuters.com The genetically engineered vaccine appears to fulfill the promise of modern influenza vaccine technology being pushed by public health experts who want to improve the slow, old-fashioned methods now used to fight the flu. "This is a very potent vaccine," Dr. Andrea Gambotto of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who led the study, said in a phone interview. "It took roughly about 30 days to make the vaccine from when we received the sequence information from CDC in Atlanta." Experts agree the way to go is cell-based production -- growing the vaccine in batches of human cells grown in the lab instead of in eggs. ___________________________________ January 23, 2006: STOP BLAMING THE MIGRATORY BIRDS. Wetlands . Although there is no proof yet, there is a clear pattern of legal and illegal poultry trade between old and newly infected areas; for instance between China and Turkey. After this winter period, there is enough reason to stop the unbalanced focus on wild birds and to give more attention to the global legal and illegal transport of poultry. This sector is likely be the real threat. ___________________________________ COMMENT: From hype to hysteria, amazing that the public is so naive.
January 22, 2006: WorldNetDaily: Scientists blast anti-bird-flu kits A British company selling anti-bird flu kits stocked with items ranging from gloves to surgical masks to full biohazard suits. A "family pack" offers protection for four people at a price of $750. The deluxe kit includes four "multi-layer polymer laminate" bio-suits in varying sizes, four pairs of overshoes, four sets of protective eyewear, 65 protective masks, 400 latex gloves and a rucksack for each person. The single-use suits offer eight hours of protection. ___________________________________ January 20, 2006 - Civera legislation to target flu-shot distribution - After hearing testimony from doctors, health departments, hospitals, retailers and nursing homes Wednesday, state Rep. Mario Civera, R-164, of Upper Darby, said he is introducing legislation that would help lawmakers tackle flu-shot distribution problems. - The Delaware County Daily Times via www.zwire.com - "In special hearings he called this week in Harrisburg, Civera said that offices fortunate enough to receive doses reported instances of price gouging...Pharmaceutical companies that manufacture flu shots could not answer to the allegations, however, because none attended. Civera said they were all invited." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Sambucol is available at your healthfood store or through OsteoMed II.
Januray 18, 2006: WHAT TO DO FOR THE BIRD FLU: channel4.com - News A study looked at whether the food supplement Sambucol could combat the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu when added to canine cells in laboratory tests. The team, from research institute Retroscreen Virology, found that the elderberry-based product was at least 99 per cent effective at reducing the virus in the cells. ___________________________________ COMMENT: One has to wonder: is this a statement about the virus, or a way to further drive Tamiflu sale?
January 15, 2006: KYW Newsradio 1060 - News "Clinicians should not use rimantadine and amantadine ... because the drugs will not be effective," said CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding. The two drugs have been used for years to combat type-A influenza. Gerberding said the lab data, which CDC scientists had been analyzing since Friday, surprised health officials and the health agency rushed to get the word out Saturday. ___________________________________ January 14,2006: Four Vietnamese officials arrested over alleged bird flu fraud Four Vietnamese officials arrested over alleged bird flu fraud Four village officials in northern Vietnam were arrested for allegedly inflating the number of poultry they culled while trying to stop the spread of bird flu _ a scheme that would have bilked the government of US$206,000, an official said Saturday. ___________________________________ January 10, 2006 - Free USDA bird biosecurity calendar available - USDA via www.americanfarm.com- 'Biosecurity for the Birds' is an important USDA outreach campaign to inform people who raise their own poultry or have exotic birds about the signs associated with diseases such as AI and END." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Dr Fauci is the director of that National Instititue of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He and Dr Julie Gerberding (head of the CDC) have been spearheading the phama agent; now, they may be chaning their collective minds.
January 10, 2006 - Study questions bird-flu paranoia - The Washington Times - "The verified human cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Vietnam may represent only a selection of the most severely ill patients," the study says. Dr. Anthony Fauci said that without blood tests it is impossible to know whether the people had influenza, much less avian influenza. "There isn't enough sufficient specific data to draw any conclusions as to the prevalence of bird flu in that community," Dr. Fauci said." ___________________________________ COMMENT: It's exactly what I've been saying all along...THIS IS A MILD ILLNESS, as mild as a cold in thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people in China. It has never been reported and is only found now because they are looking for it. Most aren't sick enough to go to the doctor. And yet Pharma got Billions and First gave them protection forever.
January 9, 2006 - Avian Flu in People May Be More Common Than Thought - "Our results are consistent with H5N1 among humans being a lot more common than has previously been recognized," said study author Dr. Anna Thorson, of the Division of International Health at the Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm. "In addition, they suggest that the symptoms of H5N1 in humans most often are relatively mild, and that close, direct contact with sick or dead poultry is needed for transmission to humans." ___________________________________ January 7, 2005 WorldNetDaily: Lock them up to die: Prison bird-flu plan If you're serving time in a New Zealand prison for a serious crime, pray hard no one else in the facility becomes infected by the deadly bird-flu virus because, if that happens, the prison is going to be sealed for six weeks, mass graves will be dug in the compound and the disease will be allowed to run its course. ___________________________________ January 5, 2006: AP Wire | 01/05/2006 | U.S. issues tips for possible flu pandemic Bracing for a possible flu pandemic, the government is urging people to prepare to teach their kids at home, chart family members' blood types and allergies and find out in advance if they will be able to work from their house. "For example, plan for the possible reduction or loss of income if you're unable to work or your place of employment is closed. My response to that is, 'Great. That's hard to plan for, for the average American.'" ___________________________________ Comment: Dr. Nancy Cox, Chief, Influenza Branch at the CDC has been quoted as saying that the influenza vaccine must be an exact match to be "effective." Nonetheless,Vietnam imported 220 million doses of vaccines, including 125 million doses of H5N1 vaccine and 95 million doses of H5N2 vaccines from China, supposedly to give "partial protection" because the vaccine contains the H5 antigen. It is well established that, if the virus doesn't match, the vaccine will ultimately not be effective, as in the A/Fujian fiasco in 2003.
January 5, 2005: Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily Over 150 million birds had been given two shots each since the campaign began late July. Two thirds of the vaccinated fowls were chicken and the rest ducks. Vietnam has culled almost 4 million birds since the epidemic re- emerged in October 2005. ___________________________________ scourge of the bird flu would pass with in several weeks. What family wants to take a chance with an unproven drug that has developed deadly complications?" ___________________________________ COMMENT: If you have had the flu sometime in your life, you have immunity, once again showing the vaccination compromises long term health of the immune system by not letting it "do its thing" to keep you health.
___________________________________ COMMENT: Yea! We're making headway and they're losing ground. A big disappointment that all the "hype" to generate fear about the flu is wasted dollars. Give the general public a "high-five" for waking up and ignoring the brainwashing of the drug companies.
October 4, 2006: Americans doubt need for flu vaccine: survey. Fewer than half of Americans plan to get the flu vaccine this year, mostly because they do not worry about flu, according to a survey published on Wednesday. And Americans do not know they can take drugs when they have the flu that will help them recover more quickly, the survey found.
Flu experts called the findings disappointing, because they have been scrambling to make sure enough vaccine is available for the flu season, which is just starting in North America. "We are going to have more vaccine available this year than ever before --more than 100 million doses -- and we hope this is not going to be an embarrassment of riches," Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University in Nashville and vice president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases told a news conference. The survey of 1,000 adults found that fewer than half -- just 48 percent -- plan to get immunized this year. Of those who did not plan to get the vaccine, 43 percent said they did not think influenza was serious enough to warrant vaccination and 38 felt they were not at risk. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Another Tamiflu competitor is trying to elbow its way into the money trough. Peramivir, a neuraminadase inhibitor, failed trials in 2005 for oral use of the drug. But the September, 2005 issue of Medical technology Stock Letter, it was shown that "a single intramuscular (IM) injection of peramivir was comparable to, or better than, five days of oral treatment with Tamiflu in preventing death from the avian flu virus." The current study, which used the drug in an IV format, called the drud "safe." It would be interesting to read the entire study to see what side effects were present that were not considered "serious." September 29, 2006: High doses of new bird flu drug safe in U.S. study. "We demonstrated that you can go to very high levels of peramivir in humans," Dr. Charles Bugg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BioCryst, said in a telephone interview. "We did escalating doses — starting at a low dose and showing it's safe and going until we have a dose way, way above what we think it takes to inhibit the virus. We can go to very high levels," Bugg added. They gave more than 60 healthy volunteers intravenous peramivir each day for up to 10 days in doses ranging from about 30 mg to 600 mg. All doses were well tolerated with no serious adverse effects, researchers independent of the company told a meeting in San Francisco of the American Society for Microbiology. ___________________________________ COMMENT: This a very interesting article...but once again, the MDs have it all wrong. Advocating stronger antibiotics is the wrong way to go. Advocating massive cleaning to remove bacteria will not help. But massive cleaning of environmental toxins and detoxification of humans (ie their internal terraine) WILL make a differenc in the long run. See chapter 17 of my book, FOWL!, for full information.
September 17, 2006: Pioneering research during the 1918 influenza epidemic clearly identified a virus component as the initiating cause of illness. Yet there are ample indications that bacteria were responsible for "the gravity of the secondary pulmonary complications," and the "common causes of death." The idea of a mixed infection is contained in the oft quoted letter written by a military physician in 1919.
“Camp Devens is near Boston, and has about 50,000 men, or did have before this epidemic broke loose…. This epidemic started about four weeks ago, and has developed so rapidly that the camp is demoralized and all ordinary work is held up till it has passed….. These men start with what appears to be an ordinary attack of LaGrippe or Influenza, and when brought to the Hosp. they very rapidly develop the most viscous type of Pneumonia that has ever been seen. Two hours after admission they have the Mahogany spots over the cheek bones, and a few hours later you can begin to see the Cyanosis extending from their ears and spreading all over the face, until it is hard to distinguish the coloured men from the white. It is only a matter of a few hours then until death comes, and it is simply a struggle for air until they suffocate. It is horrible. One can stand it to see one, two or twenty men die, but to see these poor devils dropping like flies sort of gets on your nerves. We have been averaging about 100 deaths per day, and still keeping it up. There is no doubt in my mind that there is a new mixed infection here, but what I don’t know.” .....What should be done? Foremost is an all out attack on the emergence of toxin producing and/or multiple antibiotic resistant bacteria. ___________________________________ Dick Thompson, spokes person for the WHO commented "The CFR [case-fatality rate] had to be overstated. The cases we are sure of were those which were sick enough to go to a hospital and these extreme cases have very poor outcomes. Surely others were infected and either not getting sick or not getting sick enough to seek treatment at a hospital. Factoring those into the CFR has been impossible. We simply don't know the denominator." Recent reports from South Korea and Indonesia of after-the-fact discovery of a handful of mild human cases of H5N1 avian flu have again raised questions about whether the disease's extraordinarily high death rate is being inflated because mild cases are being missed. ___________________________________ COMMENT: It's starting again.....in February, 2006 at the National Bird Flu Summit in Washington DC, Dr. Nabarro made the same strong statements. Since it is impossible to predict a random event, it seems ast though this type of predictive statement means that "they know something we don't know." September 17, 2006: World Bank, UN warn of possible bird flu pandemic The World Bank and the United Nations officials warned the possible occurrence of pandemic of avian influenza here on Sunday. "There will be a world animal and human influenza pandemic one day, but we don't know when," said David Nabarro, Senior United Nations System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza, at a press conference held here. According to World Bank estimate, a severe flu pandemic among humans could cost the global economy up to about 3.1 to 4.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), which is between 1.25 trillion and 2 trillion U.S. dollars of a world GDP. ___________________________________ COMMENT. Move over Tamiflu, the new nose gel is on the way.....gesh! The gel, which could be in the market by the end of the year, has been developed by DermaSalve Sciences for the prevention of the disease among health workers, consumers and agricultural workers. It kills the virus within 30 seconds, claims the company ___________________________________ COMMENT: It looks like the assumption is that everyone will WANT this vaccine.....what if you are on the "priority list" and you don't want the junk injected into your body? September 9. 2006: State Formula Determines Who Gets Shots During Bird Flu Pandemic California health officials have settled on a formula for resolving a wrenching question that would arise if a bird flu pandemic strikes the state: who gets doses of scarce vaccine. The state did not draw up a hierarchy of Californians who would most need inoculation, though it hints at groups most vulnerable. "Very young persons, elderly adults, and persons with underlying disease are at high risk of complications during interpandemic influenza outbreaks," it states. Instead of setting out a list of likely candidates, the state developed a scoring system that the report says "produces a rank-ordered list of target groups prioritized for influenza vaccination." The formula is designed to be flexible enough to accommodate variables in a pandemic. ___________________________________ COMMENT: "Suitable vaccines" from Italy and China have been used in poultry across the continent. In an attempt to eradicate a virus, what will be the condition of the birds? Will they be fit to eat? September 7, 2006: Vietnam to vaccinate white-winged ducks against bird flu. Vietnam will decide whether to vaccinate white-winged ducks against bird flu virus or not by the end of this week after successful trial use of Italian vaccination, local media reported Wednesday. Over 80 percent of white-winged ducks being vaccinated against bird flu virus strain H5N9 in the trial vaccination have developed immunity ability....The result is of importance since Vietnam, which has already vaccinated chickens and ducks nationwide, currently has yet to find suitable products to vaccinate its white-winged duck population of nearly 10 million. If deciding to vaccinate white-winged ducks nationwide, Vietnam will import vaccines of Italian firm Merial, the newspaper said. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Will they EVER "get" that vaccinations are not going to stop the problem? The birds will get sicker, the food supply will become more contaminated...and the toxic environment will persist, recycling the problem. When will the media WAKE UP to the fact that this is an environmental problem? Everyone should buy a copy of my book, FOWL! Bird Flu: It's Not What You Think and donate a copy to their favorite journalist and editor!
September 5, 2006: Indonesia to vaccinate 300 million poultry The Indonesian government will press ahead with plans to vaccinate some 300 million poultry from the bird flu virus despite fears by some health officials that vaccines are not effective, a local report said Tuesday. The plan will be done in stages with 60 million doses being prepared for vaccinations beginning this month and running through December, The Jakarta Post reported. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Everyone is dancing around the cause: a toxic environment. The virus is less important than the health of the ducks...why would a flock die all at once? September 4, 2006: New bird flu outbreak suspected in Vietnam after 100 ducks die suddenly. More than 100 ducks have died suddenly in southern Vietnam in a suspected new bird flu outbreak, an official said Monday. Another 400 ducks were culled and samples were sent to the Ho Chi Minh City Regional Veterinary Center for testing to determine whether the H5N1 strain of bird flu was responsible for the deaths discovered on Friday, said Tran Van Quang, deputy director of the animal health bureau in Dong Nai province. "When more than 100 ducks died suddenly, we treated it as a bird flu outbreak," Quang said. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The evidence keeps mounting---this is NOT an aggressive virus and is NOT going to become a pandemic. September 1, 2006: H5N1 Flu Does Not Pass Easily to Humans, Study Finds Hundreds of Cambodian villagers tended sick birds around their homes, but showed no evidence of infection with the H5N1 virus when tested by an international team of researchers, according to a study published in the October edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “This study provides evidence of the low transmissibility of the H5N1 virus from infected poultry to humans, even in circumstances in which human-poultry interactions are regular and intense,” says the study conducted by researchers at the Institut Pasteur in Cambodia, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the World Health Organization, Australia National University, CDC and others. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Even though bird flu news hasn't been "front and center" for the last few months, it is hovering in the background. Here is a recent report that, once again, states the inevitability of a pandemic....interestingly, it corresponds with the planned arrival of the "pandemic vaccine." August 31: http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/aug/083106birdflu.html Bird flu expected to hit U.S. in 2 years. The world's most deadly flu epidemic is expected by the best guesses currently available to hit the U.S. within two years. This was the warning given to the Grants-Milan Rotary Club on Tuesday by a University of New Mexico specialist helping organize pilot projects in two of the state's 33 counties, Cibola and Grant. Meetings in the area will take place from September to November, Margo White said. The sessions are aimed at "turning a paper plan into a community effort... You don't know how many talents you have to share from the group itself, (talents) which will be needed. We won't have the system as usual; we won't have life as usual." ___________________________________ COMMENT: This technology will be really good news for sorting out who has allergies, who has "garden variety influenza" and who has a more aggressive form of influenza virus. It could keep people from being quarantined for an extended period of time if they are not infected. August 30, 2006: FluChip can spot bird flu in under 12 hours Scientists in the United States have developed a new technology that reduces the time it takes to achieve a detailed diagnosis of avian flu, from one week or more down to less than 12 hours. A joint team from the University of Colorado and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a microchip-based test that will enable more laboratories across the United States to carry out basic tests to determine the type and subtype of an influenza virus within several hours. Because the FluChip technology is able to be used in lower level biosafety facilities. ___________________________________ COMMENT: This is not an unreasonable proposition. It is similar to an injection of tetanus immune globulin (TIG)--a dose of immunoglobulins. August 30, 2006: Why blood of bird flu survivors is a lifesaver Blood products taken from people who have recovered from bird flu could be useful for treating other patients in the event of a pandemic, research has suggested. An analysis of how such transfusions were used in hospitals during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 has indicated that they reduced the risk of death and eased symptoms, raising the prospect that a similar approach could be used against H5N1 influenza.
Blood is removed from a patient who has recovered and the liquid plasma part is mixed with alcohol and separated into its components by fractionation. One of the resulting fractions is rich in immunoglobulins and these can then be given to other patients exposed to the disease. Research in mice, however, suggests that immunoglobulins would be an effective way of alleviating symptoms ___________________________________ COMMENT: This would make a great cartoon! Hard to believe that people are concerned about this....... August 27, 2006: Wildlife officials will be checking gamebirds this fall for signs of avian flu. More than a million gamebirds are expected to be killed in Kansas over the next five months, with wildlife officials expected to take samples from some to test for avian flu. Odds are extremely long that hunters could catch a deadly strain of the disease that has killed about 140 people in Asia and Africa. "I would say the odds are much higher something will happen driving to your hunting spot than getting bird flu," said Helen Hands, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks biologist. "There's no need to really worry about it unless you're looking for an excuse to not go hunting." Hunters needn't worry about hunting dogs contracting the disease, even if they retrieve an infected bird. The deadly strain of avian flu has never been found in canines. ___________________________________
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COMMENT: This comment leaves me speechless....symptoms of bird flu are no different than symptoms of "regular flu" or typcial pneumonia. It would not be uncommon to have any people test negative for H5N1 but have flu-like symptoms. Why were the "experts" surprised? August 18, 2006: Tests provide only proof of bird flu infection HANOI - Laboratory tests still provide the only guaranteed confirmation of bird-flu infection, scientists and physicians agreed yesterday. The experts were responding to questions from Viet Nam News about patients who died from symptoms of the H5N1 virus but whose samples tested negative. Patients with pneumonia suffer a serious illness; some are more ill than others and their deaths can come from a variety of causes, said National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology director Nguyen Tran Hien. "It's normal." The relationship between the deaths and the tests was not a cause for alarm. ___________________________________ COMMENT: It may be a good for people living in Wisconsin that these businesses are putting time and money into their local economy instead of global planning. August 13, 2006. Threat of bird flu ruffles few businesses' feathers. Despite dire predictions that an influenza pandemic is possible, the majority of business leaders in Northeastern Wisconsin don't believe this area is vulnerable and aren't prepared for such an outbreak. In a recent survey conducted for the Nicolet Bank Business Pulse, 52 percent of business executives say that such an outbreak striking Northeastern Wisconsin is "not likely" in the near future. Only 1 percent believe a flu pandemic is "very likely." When Business Pulse asked CEOs what they were doing to prepare for an outbreak, the answer was little or nothing. Fewer than than 10 percent describe their business as "moderately or very well prepared" for influenza pandemic. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Pharma doesn't want to hear this....that herbs can heal and the people can recover! August 12, 2006: Bird Flu patient cured with herbs. Beijing: Chinese traditional medicine experts succeeded in curing a bird flu patient after 50 days of therapy. Jiang, 31 years old, was given a ginseng and medical herb soup in early stages of therapy to get rid of 'poisonous heat' in his body, said the director of the hospital where Jiang was treated. The second stage of the therapy involved using Chinese herb 'herudu' to stimulate the patient's blood circulation, he said. A Chinese mushroom was also used to stimulate the functioning of his lungs. Jiang's state started improving towards the end of June and later check-ups showed that he no longer carried the virus H5N1. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Brings to mind school drills where children hid underneath their desk during a "nuclear drill." August 11, 2006: Schools told to prepare for flu IRVINE – Local health and school officials doubt a bird-flu pandemic will hit Orange County anytime soon, if at all. About 75 administrators and principals from dozens of area school districts and community colleges attended the workshop aimed at raising awareness of the illness."It's highly unlikely a pandemic will happen here in Orange County," said William Habermehl, the county superintendent of schools. "Just in case it does, we want to make sure Orange County's schools are very prepared for the bird flu." Attendees received a "Pandemic Planning for Schools" tool kit and DVD with information on how to monitor attendance records to check for unusual spikes in flu-related absences. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The use of religion to promote the plans of the government is becoming pervasive. In May, 2006, the US government started its own plan to use churches in the event of Martial Law---which could be instituted in the event of a pandemic.
See: Secret FEMA Plan To Use Pastors as Pacifiers in Preparation For Martial Law A Pastor has come forward to blow the whistle on a nationwide FEMA program which is training Pastors and other religious representatives to become secret police enforcers who teach their congregations to "obey the government" in preparation for a declaration of martial law, property and firearm seizures, and forced relocation.
August 10, 2006 TODAYonline Cambodia enlists Buddhist monks to help fight bird flu. Cambodia has enlisted the help of Buddhist monks and teachers in its drive to prevent a fresh outbreak of bird flu, the UN children's agency and government officials said. "Buddhist monks play an important role in helping to prevent bird flu by educating people about its danger," said Yim Voeunthan, secretary of state at the ministry of agriculture. "Cambodian people respect monks the most and they will follow the monks' advice," he said, adding that monks have strong spiritual influence on people in rural areas. ___________________________________ Blood from 39 hunters was tested for antibodies that would reveal prior infection to any of about a dozen types of bird-based influenza. Several hunters had antibodies to H1, H2 and H3 forms of bird flu, which have adapted to humans and are now routinely seen in people. But one hunter also tested positive for H11N9, which is not seen in humans. ___________________________________ COMMENT: No bird is safe anywhere in the world....would they eliminate the food in the Seychelles too?
June 17, 2006: Seychelles : FAO aids bird flu readiness, brought to you by African News Dimension Food and Agriculture Organization has donated equipment added to local measures in place to guard against a possible Bird Flu outbreak in Seychelles. The donation, consisting mainly of protective clothing and disinfecting equipment, was handed over to staff from the Department of Natural resources, who would be on the front line of efforts to control a local outbreak. The donation from the FAO comes as part of a 14 country-wide East African project to make preparations against the spread of Bird Flu, a project which Seychelles was not initially part of. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The villagers are probably right! The birds that don't die are developing immunity to the virus, just like the migratory birds. This is the best way to stop an infection: TRUE HERD IMMUNITY. As discovered in the 1930s, when 60% of a population has experienced the infection, the rest become immune. THIS IS NOT HOW VACCINATION WORKS!
Disbelieving promises of compensation, many people from North Sumatra to Jakarta to South Sulawesi are refusing to support the government's bird flu containment program. Thousands of chickens are dying daily in Gowa regency, South Sulawesi, with random testing suggesting most are succumbing to bird flu. While villagers incinerate the bodies of the dead birds, they leave the living birds untouched, allowing the disease to spread further. "I don't want to kill the rest of my chickens because the government has not promised me any compensation," one resident said. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The article doesn't say how the chip is used; is a drop of blood placed on it or is it inserted into a human or animal than then the information is transmitted?
June 13, 2006: MTB Europe - Avian flu virus detector on a chip Unlike other diagnostic and sensor technologies that take between 20 minutes and 20 hours to work, a SmartSense detector is a real-time sensor. It uses a microchip to capture the electronic "signature" produced when the avian flu (H5N1) surface contacts the sensor. Like a lock and key, this SmartSense detector is triggered only by the H5N1 target. The detector then automatically transmits the identifying information to users. ___________________________________ June 9, 2006: Irish Examiner> Breaking News> Sport The United Nation's bird flu chief said yesterday that the three-year estimate of funds needed to stem the deadly virus in Africa could be as high as $1bn (€782m). David Nabarro (from the UN) noted that funds pledged at a donor's conference in Beijing in January “ when the disease was primarily in Asia and entering eastern Europe - totalled around $1.9bn. ___________________________________ COMMENT: It will be interesting to see how many of the farmers become employed by CP, the Thai multinational chicken mogul......
___________________________________ COMMENT: 1. They really don't know; many scientists say the migratory birds have nothing to do with it; they are REACHING for an answer...and migratory birds are a convenient scapegoat. 2. Scientists have been warning that the bird flu virus will get stronger and just ship; now they say it may die off. 3. The Missing Link is the effect of the environment. They should read my book, FOWL!
June 2, 2006: The Hindu : National : "Wild migratory birds have role in spread of bird flu" The participants at the conference did not agree on the key issue of the role of wild birds in the spread of HPAI to more than 50 countries in three continents, and whether wild birds should now be considered a permanent reservoir of the virus. If they are such a reservoir, there is a strong likelihood they will carry the virus with them in subsequent migrations. Alternatively H5N1 may subside naturally as infected animals die off, or it may mutate to a less aggressive form. "This was one of the main gaps identified in our present scientific knowledge. We must intensify our investigations,'' said FAO's chief veterinary officer Joseph Domenech. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Crucell is the cell line using retina cells from aborted fetal tissues....It would be interesting to see the consent form people signed to be in this study!! Also, notice that this is NOT H5N1 but H9N2....not even close to the bird flu virus. The CDC says the virus has to be an "exact match" to be effective.
___________________________________ COMMENT: Hope the US Congress doesn't see this bill any time soon!! If they do, we might be adding "property and land grab" to the agenda behind the bird flu!
May 29, 2006: New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz: Bird-flu bill lets medical officers seize land, cars The bill proposes significantly extending the powers of medical officers. They would be able to [seize] any land or buildings “ publicly or privately owned “ for a wide range of reasons, including the treatment of patients or storing or disposal of bodies. Vehicles could also be taken if they were needed to transport patients, doctors or medical equipment, or to carry food, tents or other temporary facilities. Medical officers would also have the authority to close any premises in their district, except private homes, courts and prisons, and to insist on certain infection-control measures. Police would have the power to "do anything reasonably necessary, including the use of force", to help medical officers exercise their powers. ___________________________________ May 24, 2006: Chron.com | Skeptics say bird flu threat overblown "It's a great story, a disease that can wipe out mankind as we know it," says Dr. Gary Butcher, a University of Florida veterinarian specializing in avian diseases. "Fortunately, the facts are contrary to what's being reported. This disease is going to fizzle out, be forgotten in the near future and be replaced by another 'potential worldwide threat.' " ___________________________________ May 24, 2006: United Press International - NewsTrack - Some scientists rebut bird flu estimates "It's a great story, a disease that can wipe out mankind as we know it," Dr. Gary Butcher, a University of Florida veterinarian specializing in avian diseases, told the newspaper. "Fortunately, the facts are contrary to what's being reported. This disease is going to fizzle out, be forgotten in the near future and be replaced by another 'potential worldwide threat.'" ___________________________________ COMMENT: The signs of "bird flu" are upper respiratory infection, cough, fever.....How could the separate the "signs of bird flu" from any other type of lung infection, including pneumonia? And if they have died in the presence of H5N1, did that mean the virus caused their demise? Or was it due to the lack of a robust immune system?
___________________________________ COMMENT: Replacing a high-level official is always unnerving. Could be better...but could be much worse. General Lee was called the "king of vaccination." Watch for his replacement and his back ground.
The World Health Assembly took a long time to get down to business following the untimely death of World Health Organization's Director-General Lee Jong-wook. ___________________________________ COMMENT: I can't imagine why it is so critical...wonder if there are many poultry farms in Michigan to protect? May 19, 2006: WWMT - Digital Channel 3 (NEWS 3) - There have been no reported cases of bird flu in the U.S., but state leaders have stepped up surveillance. They want to know within hours if the deadly bird flu lands in Michigan.... "We can identify the bird flu, avian influenza virus, H5N1 in about three hours or less. That is vitally important because every minute counts," said center director Dr. Willie Reed. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Talk about mind control and mental conditioning. We need to STOP perpetuating the fear.
May 18, 2006 - Students 'ill' in avian flu drill - The practice was a way to exercise emergency preparedness, maximize efficiency and practice with new equipment at Huntington Beach Hospital. - The Orange County Register - "Thirty-five Westminster High School students coughed, clutched their stomachs and wheezed, feigning bird flu-like symptoms. The students were playing the part of high school band members returning from an overseas competition in Southeast Asia." ___________________________________ COMMENT: These folks are truly "mad" scientists, but every definition of the word! What will they think of next? SCAREY!
May 17, 2006: CTV.ca | Officials mull using poultry vaccine on people The World Health Organization and others are studying whether it would be possible to tap into the global agricultural vaccine production capacity to help bridge the enormous gap between the amount of human flu vaccine the world can produce and how much would be needed in a severe pandemic. While the idea of giving people vaccine produced for poultry may seem, well, for the birds, the proposal - advanced by eager agricultural vaccine-makers - hasn't been dismissed out of hand. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Bird flu is caused by back yard chickens; no wait! It must be spread by migratory birds.....no wait!! It's spread by pigs. They don't have a clue...so why all the hoopla?
May 17, 2006: Xinhua - English JAKARTA, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Pigs are blamed for having spread the bird flu virus that recently killed five people in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, according to a senior government official Thursday ___________________________________ COMMENT: Remember, sick birds don't fly far, and dead birds don't fly at all! In thousands of samples collected in Africa this winter, the bird flu virus, A(H5N1), was not detected in a single wild bird, health officials and scientists said. In Europe, only a few cases have been detected in wild birds since April 1, at the height of the migration north. The number of cases in Europe has fallen off so steeply compared with February, when dozens of new cases were found daily, that specialists contend that the northward spring migration played no role. ___________________________________ COMMENT: So the death rate from "garden variety" influenza is now at 45, 000?? They exaggerated the death rate at 30,000. Guess they can do anything they want with numbers.
May 10, 2006 - Bird Flu Drama - Can It Happen? - The TV movie "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America " raised questions about the U.S. ability to handle a pandemic. C. Ed Hsu , an expert in public health emergency preparedness for disease and bioterrorism and assistant professor of public and community health looks at some of the issues the movie raised. Hsu has prepared a number of studies on public health preparedness and response and bioterrorism and surveillance databases on minority health, including Asian Americans. - www.physorg.com - "Hsu: We are not really well prepared. America is not ready even for annual seasonal flu that kills 45,000 every year." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Wonder how many chickens were culled because they were "thought" to be infected?
May 7, 2006: Daily Times - Site Edition ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Health announced on Saturday that all 109 samples collected from people living in and around 18 poultry farms in the NWFP, Punjab and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) had tested negative for the virus. The samples were collected from four poultry farms of Punjab, two NWFP farms and 12 ICT farms, APP reported. The ministry also confirmed that all the suspected people who were hospitalised in the isolation wards had been tested negative by the National Institute of Health and were discharged from the hospitals. ___________________________________ COMMENT: They can't have it both ways!! Guess this is a way to shore up the poultry industry....right before the bird flu movie!! Lobbyists for Tyson, et al, have been pounding the pavement!
May 6, 2006: TV ads: Don't sweat bird flu | IndyStar.com An announcer lists four steps for food safety: Clean hands and cooking surfaces. Separate raw and cooked foods. Cook poultry to at least 165 degrees. Chill leftovers promptly.The Agriculture Department on Thursday began sending out a series of commercials, interview excerpts, video footage and photos to television and radio stations with the goal of easing people's minds and clearing up misconceptions about bird flu. ___________________________________ May 6, 2006: Bird flu thriller only a movie - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ABC's made-for-TV movie, "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" will be broadcast at 8 p.m Tuesday, sending some public health experts and chicken producers into crisis mode as they try to help the public distinguish between science and entertainment. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Last year they were projected that the flu would get worse in the summer as the birds returned to SE Asia......more "guessing." Reinforces that all this hype is about trying to predict a Random Event. We're not "due" for an outbreak. How silly!
May 6, 2006 - Warm-up slows avian flu spread - Newsday - Five outbreaks of the lethal H5N1 avian flu strain in poultry were reported to the World Organization for Animal Health in the week ended April 27, compared with an average of more than 40 a week in March. "Maybe one of the more positive possibilities is that the summer is coming and the heat of Africa may be in our advantage," Webster told reporters in Singapore, where he addressed an avian flu forum this week sponsored by the Lancet medical journal. "Maybe we will have a summer before it starts spreading more." ___________________________________ COMMENT: If they weren't taking themselves so seriously, this would be funny!
___________________________________ Jean-Pierre Garnier, GSK's chief executive, will meet President George Bush in the next fortnight to brief him about progress in developing a vaccine that would offer protection against the deadly strain of bird flu virus H5N1. Western governments have placed advance orders for the vaccine, which could be produced in factories in Europe and the United States by the end of the year. France and Britain alone have ordered 60 million doses. ___________________________________ COMMENT: PRE-emptive strike by KFC, largest purchaser of factory farmed chickens in the world!!
April 26, 2006: At Kentucky Fried Chicken, Colonel Harland Sanders' face remains a staple on company signs and food containers. Now the goateed image of the restaurant chain's founder appears on a sticker meant to head off any concerns about eating chicken if bird flu spreads to the United States. The small stickers are being put on the lid of every bucket of chicken that KFC sells in the U.S. The seal is a pre-emptive campaign assuring customers that the chicken is "rigorously inspected, thoroughly cooked, quality assured." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Killing chickens and eliminating food sources.....and still not enough human cases to warrant this.
April 26. 2006: Daily Times - Site Edition 57 suspected human cases test negative for bird flu. ISLAMABAD: Although nine poultry farms have been confirmed for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus strain near Islamabad and over 46,000 birds have been culled to check the spread of disease, the tests of the 57 suspected human bird flu cases have all come back negative, the Health Ministry said on Monday ___________________________________ COMMENT: People cannot get sick from eating eggs and chicken with the virus if the foods are cooked. There are 6 million in Kenya dying of starvation from the worst draught in 20 years ( ABC News: Worst Drought in 20 Years Hits East Africa ) and food is being destroyed that "might" be infected? The sad state of the world we live in.....
April 24, 2006: The Tide Online Bird flu: Task force destroys 123 crates of eggs in Bayelsa, Niger. The Bayelsa State Taskforce on Bird Flu says it has destroyed more than 123 crates of eggs suspected to be infected by the Avian Influenza in a bid to check the spread of the disease. He stated that the taskforce has started an aggressive inspection of poultry farms, birds and poultry products such as eggs so as not to allow the deadly disease infect the state. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Is this a sign of times to come?
April 23, 2006: Plane Quarantined in Denmark Due to Bird Flu Scare A Singapore Airlines aircraft was quarantined after the Captain warned the airport that a passenger was showing Bird Flu symptoms. 20 crew members and 275 passengers including the 31 year old Swedish woman showing the symptoms were directed to an isolated area in Kastrup airport. After a medical team examined the woman, she was found to be suffering from an upset stomach. This was the second scare in Denmark this week regarding the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus. ___________________________________ COMMENT: With a population of more than 1.3 BILLION, why would 12 deaths make the news? The most common cause of death in China is respiratory illnesses; read the complete story in FOWL! Bird Flu: It's Not What You Think.
Beijing (dpa) - A 21-year-old man in the central province of Hubei died from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza on Wednesday, the 12th human death from bird flu officially recorded in China, state media said on Wednesday. ___________________________________ COMMENT: People cannot get sick from eating eggs and chicken with the virus if the foods are cooked. There are 6 million in Kenya dying of starvation from the worst draught in 20 years ( ABC News: Worst Drought in 20 Years Hits East Africa ) and food is being destroyed that "might" be infected? The sad state of the world we live in.....
April 24, 2006: The Tide Online Bird flu: Task force destroys 123 crates of eggs in Bayelsa, Niger. The Bayelsa State Taskforce on Bird Flu says it has destroyed more than 123 crates of eggs suspected to be infected by the Avian Influenza in a bid to check the spread of the disease. He stated that the taskforce has started an aggressive inspection of poultry farms, birds and poultry products such as eggs so as not to allow the deadly disease infect the state. ___________________________________ COMMENT: With a population of more than 1.3 BILLION, why would 12 deaths make the news? The most common cause of death in China is respiratory illnesses; read the complete story in FOWL! Bird Flu: It's Not What You Think.
Beijing (dpa) - A 21-year-old man in the central province of Hubei died from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza on Wednesday, the 12th human death from bird flu officially recorded in China, state media said on Wednesday. ___________________________________ April 23, 2006: Skeptics warn bird flu fears are overblown - Bird Flu - MSNBC.com Skeptics warn bird flu fears are overblown. Chicken Little alert? Hysteria could sap money from worse health threats, There's no guarantee bird flu will become a pandemic, and if it does there's no guarantee it will kill millions of people. The real trouble, these skeptics say, is that bird flu hysteria is sapping money and attention away from more important health threats. ___________________________________
___________________________________ COMMENT: They are not testing for the correct thing. A positive antibody is indicative of EXPOSURE, not immunity. The blood samples of the patients who died should have been tested for dioxin.
April 22, 2006: The Hindu News Update Service In one of the largest studies of its kind, scientists in Cambodia took blood samples from 351 people in a small village, where one of the country's six bird flu deaths traced to the H5N1 virus was confirmed. They found no antibodies for H5N1 in any of the specimens, indicating nobody became infected but recovered after falling only mildly ill or displaying no symptoms whatsoever. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The "arrival" of the bird flu virus is eminent.
April 16, 2006: North Jersey Media Group providing local news, sports & classifieds for Northern New Jersey! WASHINGTON -- President Bush is expected to approve a national influenza pandemic response plan that identifies more than 300 specific tasks for federal agencies.The Treasury Department is poised to sign agreements with other nations to produce currency if its facilities cannot operate. The Pentagon, anticipating difficulties acquiring supplies from the Far East, is considering stockpiling millions of latex gloves. And the Department of Veterans Affairs has developed a drive-through medical exam to quickly assess patients who suspect they have been infected...."Any community that fails to prepare -- with the expectation that the federal government can come to the rescue -- will be tragically wrong," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a speech last Monday. ___________________________________ April 12, 2006: Expert says bird flu no imminent threat "It is entirely conceivable that this virus is inherently programmed that it will never be able to go efficiently from human to human," Fauci said. "Hopefully the epidemic (in birds) will burn itself out, which epidemics do, before the virus evolves the capability of being more efficient in going from human to human."___________________________________ COMMENT: This is pure hype! From the UK....
April 9, 2006: Telegraph | News | Bird flu 'could kill 100,000 children' The Government's most senior medical adviser has warned that 100,000 schoolchildren could die if a bird flu pandemic strikes Britain. Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, said in a letter leaked to The Sunday Times that school closures could help keep the death toll down, but 50,000 children could still be expected to die. ___________________________________ COMMENT: I can only imagine the types of drugs planned for this when it gets to humans!
___________________________________ COMMENT: Good grief!! will they make up their minds? The CDC has maintained for YEARS that if a virus is not a "match" the vaccine is "ineffective." This means that changing the viruses in the annual flu shot is NOT NECESSARY as the "drifts" should be "close enough" to be have an "effect," by their definition. Hopefully, this type of mixed rhetoric will be useful to stop the flu vaccine program all together. --Dr. Sherri
San Jose Mercury News/Associated Press Even bird flu becomes a pandemic, an assertive vaccination campaign at the beginning of an outbreak would still be the most effective response, a study concludes. A vaccine that is a poor match as well as treatment with an antiviral could help slow the spread of the disease, researchers said after studying computer models of flu spread. ___________________________________ April 4...Daily Times - Site Edition Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m from bird flu drug. US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has made more than $5 million from selling shares in the biotechnology firtm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive amounts by governments to treat a possible human pandemic of bird flu, reports British newspaper the Independent. ___________________________________ COMMENT: What do they know that we don't know?
Story in full: The death toll from a bird flu pandemic in Britain could be more than 700,000, according to a confidential government report seen by The Scotsman. ___________________________________ April 2, 2006: 'Mass burials' plan for bird flu Mass burials could be held if bird flu reaches Britain and causes a 'worst case' epidemic among the population, it has been reported. The assessment warns that 'there are likely to be substantially more deaths than can be managed within current time scales', and that there could be delays of up to 17 weeks in disposing of bodies. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Building the case for adding the M-59 toxic adjuvant....
The vaccine, made by a unit of Sanofi-Aventis and based on an H5N1 virus that killed a Vietnamese man in 2004, only produced a satisfactory immune response in volunteers at two doses of 90 micrograms each. That is 12 times what is needed for the annual seasonal flu shot. ___________________________________ COMMENT: This is the best advice that I've seen to date about preparing for a flu pandemic!
March 29, 2006: Bird Flu Woes: Flying This Way? "You have more important things to worry about than bird flu," he says. "If you are in a high-risk group for flu complications, it's better to worry about getting your normal flu shot this year. If you're worried about your health, you'll do better to watch what you eat and to lose some weight than to worry about a flu pandemic. Bird flu is out there. As a nation we should be prepared. But whether it will happen this year or in 10 years: Who knows? ___________________________________ March 29, 2006: IOL: Congo bird flu outbreak would be 'catastrophic' An outbreak of bird flu in Congo would be 'catastrophic,' but more attention is needed for other diseases which are killing thousands every day in the war-ravaged country, a senior UN humanitarian official said today. ___________________________________ March 28, 2006: On the Front: A Pandemic Is Worrisome but 'Unlikely' - New York Times "I think you have to say we really don't know the odds of pandemic, and people are not comfortable with that," Dr. Farrar said. "It could fizzle out and kill 98 people one more than the number dead today. Or it could be something like 200 million," closer to an estimate once made by Dr. David Nabarro, chief avian flu coordinator for the United Nations. "It's terrifying if it happens, but it is very, very unlikely, I think and it is difficult to balance those facts." ___________________________________ COMMENT: I disagree. As one of the top flu experts in the world, Webster's role is to track influenza in the test tube, not to make sweeping speculations that are not based on science and do far more harm than good. By his estimatation, we should be destroying every bird in the world right now before we all perish in a pool of pathogens,
March 17, 2006: The cost of bird flu hysteria - The Boston Globe RENOWNED bird flu expert Robert Webster told ABC News this week that there were ''about even odds at this time for the virus to learn how to transmit human to human," and ''society just can't accept the idea that 50 percent of the population could die. . . . I'm sorry if I'm making people a little frightened, but I feel it's my role." ______________________________________ March 15, 2006: Top Russian Communist Blames U.S. of Using Bird Flu as Biological Weapon - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM Top Russian Communist Blames U.S. of Using Bird Flu as Biological Weapon. It's strange that not a single duck has yet died in America - they are all dying in Russia and European countries. This makes one seriously wonder why, Gennady Zyuganov was quoted by UPI as saying. Asked whether he believes the bird flu outbreak could be a deliberate attack by the United States, Zyuganov said not only suggest this, "I know very well how this can be arranged. There is nothing strange here." ________________________________________ COMMENT: "The sky is falling...the sky is falling...."
March 15,2006: ABC News: Renowned Bird Flu Expert Warns: Be Prepared "Society just can't accept the idea that 50 percent of the population could die. And I think we have to face that possibility," Webster said. "I'm sorry if I'm making people a little frightened, but I feel it's my role." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Our tax dollars at work.....
March 15,2006: Bloomberg.com: U.S. Bird Flu Plans Require $30.5M More for 2007, U.S. FDA Says. The FDA also would use the money to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity and lengthen the shelf life of treatments for the influenza virus now circulating in birds, von Eschenbach told a U.S. Senate subcommittee at a hearing in Washington today. Von Eschenbach briefed the panel on the agency's requests, included in President George W. Bush's $2.77 trillion budget proposal for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. ___________________________________ COMMENT: This is a must read....this Bird Flu Hype gets more bizzare every day!
When local resident Austen Ng complained to department officials about wild pigeons at her housing estate, they "suggested that residents could use this glue on the walls," she said. The residents found the advice confusing, however. "They asked, 'If the birds have avian flu, why would we want to stick them to our buildings?'" Ng said. The spokesman had to explain that the gel was "a kind of bird repellent" and would not keep birds from flying away. Last week the department had said it had no objections to citizens killing wild birds provided they did not use a slingshot. It later said the advice was a "misunderstanding." ___________________________________ March 6, 2006: Planet Ark An Austrian cat which has twice tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus did not show the virus in a third probe on Tuesday, Austria's health ministry said, adding to uncertainty about the infection in cats. "Apparently cats are more resistant than chicken," the spokeswoman said. "That you find the virus in the mouth apparently doesn't mean that it reaches the other end too." ___________________________________ March 4,2006: Agenzia Giornalistica Italia - News In English A CHIICKEN LEG LESS BAD THAN A CIGARETTE - La Spezia, March 4 - "Bird flu exists. It's hard to stop the virus from spreading. We must avoid infection of farms and sensitive spots. We haven't had problems at farms as yet, but this doesn't mean that it will never happen. We have however a very strong bio-security network that can give certainty and safety to citizens. So this psychosis is not justified. My health is very delicate. I have not smoked for three weeks and have been on a chicken diet for ten days because I want to show that a chicken drumstick does less harm than a cigarette." Thus said Health Minister, Francesco Storace, today in La Spezia, on the sidelines of an A.N. election meeting. (AGI) ___________________________________ March 4, 2006 - Bird flu in India: profits override public health concerns - World Socialist Web Site via Asian Tribune - "India's poultry giants are making concerted efforts to minimise the risks. Reports of bird flu sent Indian poultry sales plunging by 80-90 percent and halted exports to neighbouring countries, the Middle East and Japan." ___________________________________ COMMENT: No surprise, not migratory birds after all...
March 2, 2006: AlertNet - Nigeria suspects illegal imports brought bird flu "There is a very strong basis to believe that avian flu may have been introduced into Nigeria through illegally imported day-old chicks," he said in a statement. The government knows of no humans in Nigeria infected with the virus. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The locals distrust the government more than they fear the flu...and with good reason.
___________________________________ COMMENT: This is almost funny! I could make a great cartoon.
March 1, 2006: Fifa says bird flu spread may damage World Cup Gerrmany has been gripped by bird flu panic, with pets ordered to be kept indoors, after the discovery of a dead cat contaminated with the disease. The head of world football also raised the possibility that the World Cup could be cancelled. ___________________________________ COMMENT: This may be why the UN and WHO saying, repeated, "bird flu WILL happen....it is in the plan." The Police State Road Map, March 2005 edition. Chapter 14 Bertrand Russell, one of the twentieth century's most eminent philosophers, said the same in his book, The Impact of Science on Society: "At present the population of the world is increasing ... War so far has had no great effect on this increase ... I do not pretend that birth control is the only way in which population can be kept from increasing. There are others ... If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation, survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full....." ___________________________________ COMMENT: The government did the same thing in Thailand, to support Agribusiness and the poultry industry.
February 26, 2006: Chennai Online News Service - View News About 500 kg of chicken and 5,000 eggs were cooked for the feast, being served with chicken 65 to chicken tikka, egg bonda to egg biryani, in which more than 2,500 people participated. The mela was purely "a confidence-building measure", to counter reports about safety of eating chicken in the wake of avian flu threat. ___________________________________ February 24, 2006 - Americans worry about the bird flu - AP via Deseret News - "It's the first public, in-depth survey to ask Americans what they know about bird flu and how they might respond if the virus evolves to spread among people, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The results show that U.S. bird flu outbreaks could have severe economic effects. About 46 percent of respondents who eat chicken said they would stop eating it if bird flu hits the U.S. poultry industry. If human outbreaks occurred, 75 percent said they would reduce or avoid travel, 71 percent said they would skip public events and 68 percent said they would stay home and keep their children at home while the outbreak lasted." ___________________________________ February 24, 2006 - South Korea Says 4 People Infected with Avian Flu Never Became Ill - South Korean officials have announced that four poultry workers were infected with avian flu more than two years ago, but have never become ill. These are the first known cases in South Korea of the virus spreading to humans. - Voice of America ___________________________________ COMMENT: What's in store...
February 23, 2006 - Why we need a robust vaccine market - Bird Flu: Be Wary, Not Panicked - Centre Daily - "Yearly flu shots for most Americans would help create the infrastructure we need to prepare for pandemics, with the added advantage of providing immediate health benefits." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Now, THIS is stating the truth!!
February 22, 2006: Bangkok Post Breaking news The greatest risk to Europe is still not to people but to its poultry industries, which could suffer great financial losses if H5N1 becomes endemic. ___________________________________ COMMENT: They are riding on big assumptions: 1) the vaccine will protect the chickens; 2) the vaccine has a correct strain and 3) without the vaccine, the chickens will get sick. What will the vaccines do to the health of the chickens? - ___________________________________ COMMENT: Killing birds is going to eliminate the independent farmers throughout India, China and Southeast Asia; they will become indentured servants called 'employees' or 'independent contractors,'beholding to global agribusiness.
kilometer (1.5-mile) radius to check the spread of the virus in the area, more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of Bombay. "We are looking at a very difficult future. All of us will have to start again from scratch, and I don"t know how many of us will survive," said Ghulam Vhora, a member of a Navapur poultry farmers" association. ___________________________________ COMMENT: You can't find what you are not looking for. Now that "experts" are looking at every dead bird for H5N1, they are finding it. Which begs the question: HAS THE VIRUS BEEN THERE ALL ALONG?
February 20, 2006: Health Experts Surprised at Rapid Spread of Bird Flu - New York Times "After several years in one place, why is it now moving so rapidly?" asked Dr. Samuel Jutzi, director of the Animal Production and Health Division at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. "There is a lot about this that we just don't know." ___________________________________ COMMENT: AGRIBUSINESS and PHARMA, working together, strike again...
FEBRUARY 19, 2006: Bird flu scare crashes chicken prices by 60% A day after bird flu cases were reported from Nandurbar and Dhule districts, sale of chicken and poultry products in the city witnessed a sharp drop of 60-70 per cent. Small time poultry farm owners are the worst-affected. Traders and sellers spoke of a conspiracy and claimed that it was done by the multinational companies to create a scare to sell their flu vaccines. ˜They have invested a lot of money into their medicines and sell it for over Rs 1,000. This is a way of selling their product," a shopkeeper said. ___________________________________ COMMENT: The government's advice on Bird flu....good grief!
system. That was one piece of advice offered on Wednesday to a business conference on preparing for a potentially lethal bird flu epidemic. ___________________________________ COMMENT: It would be funny if it weren't so gross! Carrying away dead birds and testing them for viruses....would make a good cartoon.
February 18, 2006 : German Military Joins Fight Against Bird Flu | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 18.02.2006 Meanwhile, the entire island of Rügen has been declared an "observation zone." Every reported bird carcass must be collected and sent off to laboratories for testing. The job of collecting the dead birds is enormous: Every year several hundred migratory birds die on the shores of the island when they return west after winter. However, the contagious nature of the disease prohibits a simple collection of the carcasses, Kassner told reporters. ___________________________________ Comment: This is a HUGE amount of power; There is a very thin line standing between mandatory, government-enforced vaccination and our rights to refuse.
February 16, 2006: Bird-Flu Vaccine Makers to Get Protection WASHINGTON -- The government won't wait for bird flu to hit U.S. shores before granting liability protections to vaccine manufacturers and others that make products needed to battle a pandemic. In December, Congress gave Health and Human Services Secretary, Mike Leavitt, the authority to declare when products are necessary "countermeasures" for a public health emergency. The manufacturers and distributors of such products will have sweeping liability protections. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Truth is, they may all know something they aren't saying: FLU SHOTS DON'T KEEP YOU FROM GETTING THE FLU and the CAN CAUSE HARM. In addition, this is EXACTLY the same as those who have tested positive for H5N1 and have been symptomatic. H5N1 will be no different.
February 14, 2006: US News Article | Reuters.com US urges hospitals to vaccinate workers for flu. One recent study found that 23 percent of health care workers had antibodies to influenza in their blood after a mild flu season but 59 percent of these could not recall having had flu and 28 percent did not remember having been ill at all.When asked, health care workers give the same reasons as most people for not getting flu shots -- a lack of time, the belief that they will not get flu, fear of needles, and a belief that the shot carries risks. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ COMMENT: Another sad day for the people of the world....
potentially hazardous "Frankenfoods" worldwide and further erosion of local protections, say environmental and advocacy groups. "It's disappointing that the WTO would seek to override democratic decisions at literally all levels of government," said Dennis Olson of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ___________________________________ COMMENT: He should read the scientific information that wild birds do NOT spread the viruses.
February 7, 2006: Ducks carry big potential risk in bird-flu fight Virologist Richard Webster considers the duck to be the main culprit. He considers the duck to be "the most dangerous animal in the world" ducks carry avian flu viruses and transmit them to other waterfowl, often without becoming sick themselves. Ducks have wings. Ducks migrate. Ducks can mix with chickens, but while the chickens die at the rate of almost 100%, many ducks don't get sick at all, and fly off carrying the virus to other parts of the world. ___________________________________
___________________________________ COMMENT: This is simply not true.
xtvworld.com- "Industrial scale chicken farms owned by large corporations are not high risk because they house chickens in buildings protected from possible infection from migratory birds. This is not the case with small-scale backyard operations, especially in rural areas, where chickens and other domestic birds often roam freely or are in open cages. While these backyard chickens are most easily exposed to migratory birds, they are largely unmonitored and uncontrolled." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Why not pay down the National debt or fund Super fund clean up projects or put people back to work in New Orleans.
January 31, 2006 - Congress urged to spend more money on flu - USA Today - "Drug company chiefs urged Congress to appropriate more money to prepare for a flu pandemic, saying they could not supply needed drugs and vaccines without a guaranteed market." ___________________________________ Jan. 30, 2006 issue - Hunting Bird Flu - Newsweek: International Editions - MSNBC.com The appearance of bird flu in Europe, and particularly the outbreak in Turkey, has created several scientific mysteries. Why, for instance, did the disease infect birds almost simultaneously in 13 provinces scattered around the country? Why were more people infected (21 so far) than in any other outbreak since the disease first began infecting humans in 2003? And why have so few of the Turkish victims died four, perhaps five compared with previous outbreaks, in which half the human cases proved fatal?The most evocative mystery concerns the relative mildness of the virus in Turkey compared to Asia. Turks who have contracted the disease have fared relatively well. ___________________________________ QATAR periodically shoots migratory birds to check for any avian flu virus, a senior official said. It is part of efforts to keep a close watch on the bird flu threat and ensure that birds infected with the disease do not enter the country, Ghanem Abdullah Mohamed, director, Wildlife Protection and Development Department at the Supreme Council for Environment and Natural Reserves (SCENR), said. ___________________________________ governments, leading to research on 28 possible pandemic flu vaccines and speedier and more efficient production methods. ___________________________________ January 27, 2006: New bird flu shot took just a month to make -study. Stock Market News and Investment Information | Reuters.com The genetically engineered vaccine appears to fulfill the promise of modern influenza vaccine technology being pushed by public health experts who want to improve the slow, old-fashioned methods now used to fight the flu. "This is a very potent vaccine," Dr. Andrea Gambotto of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who led the study, said in a phone interview. "It took roughly about 30 days to make the vaccine from when we received the sequence information from CDC in Atlanta." Experts agree the way to go is cell-based production -- growing the vaccine in batches of human cells grown in the lab instead of in eggs. ___________________________________ January 23, 2006: STOP BLAMING THE MIGRATORY BIRDS. Wetlands . Although there is no proof yet, there is a clear pattern of legal and illegal poultry trade between old and newly infected areas; for instance between China and Turkey. After this winter period, there is enough reason to stop the unbalanced focus on wild birds and to give more attention to the global legal and illegal transport of poultry. This sector is likely be the real threat. ___________________________________ COMMENT: From hype to hysteria, amazing that the public is so naive.
January 22, 2006: WorldNetDaily: Scientists blast anti-bird-flu kits A British company selling anti-bird flu kits stocked with items ranging from gloves to surgical masks to full biohazard suits. A "family pack" offers protection for four people at a price of $750. The deluxe kit includes four "multi-layer polymer laminate" bio-suits in varying sizes, four pairs of overshoes, four sets of protective eyewear, 65 protective masks, 400 latex gloves and a rucksack for each person. The single-use suits offer eight hours of protection. ___________________________________ January 20, 2006 - Civera legislation to target flu-shot distribution - After hearing testimony from doctors, health departments, hospitals, retailers and nursing homes Wednesday, state Rep. Mario Civera, R-164, of Upper Darby, said he is introducing legislation that would help lawmakers tackle flu-shot distribution problems. - The Delaware County Daily Times via www.zwire.com - "In special hearings he called this week in Harrisburg, Civera said that offices fortunate enough to receive doses reported instances of price gouging...Pharmaceutical companies that manufacture flu shots could not answer to the allegations, however, because none attended. Civera said they were all invited." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Sambucol is available at your healthfood store or through OsteoMed II.
Januray 18, 2006: WHAT TO DO FOR THE BIRD FLU: channel4.com - News A study looked at whether the food supplement Sambucol could combat the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu when added to canine cells in laboratory tests. The team, from research institute Retroscreen Virology, found that the elderberry-based product was at least 99 per cent effective at reducing the virus in the cells. ___________________________________ COMMENT: One has to wonder: is this a statement about the virus, or a way to further drive Tamiflu sale?
January 15, 2006: KYW Newsradio 1060 - News "Clinicians should not use rimantadine and amantadine ... because the drugs will not be effective," said CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding. The two drugs have been used for years to combat type-A influenza. Gerberding said the lab data, which CDC scientists had been analyzing since Friday, surprised health officials and the health agency rushed to get the word out Saturday. ___________________________________ January 14,2006: Four Vietnamese officials arrested over alleged bird flu fraud Four Vietnamese officials arrested over alleged bird flu fraud Four village officials in northern Vietnam were arrested for allegedly inflating the number of poultry they culled while trying to stop the spread of bird flu _ a scheme that would have bilked the government of US$206,000, an official said Saturday. ___________________________________ January 10, 2006 - Free USDA bird biosecurity calendar available - USDA via www.americanfarm.com- 'Biosecurity for the Birds' is an important USDA outreach campaign to inform people who raise their own poultry or have exotic birds about the signs associated with diseases such as AI and END." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Dr Fauci is the director of that National Instititue of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He and Dr Julie Gerberding (head of the CDC) have been spearheading the phama agent; now, they may be chaning their collective minds.
January 10, 2006 - Study questions bird-flu paranoia - The Washington Times - "The verified human cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Vietnam may represent only a selection of the most severely ill patients," the study says. Dr. Anthony Fauci said that without blood tests it is impossible to know whether the people had influenza, much less avian influenza. "There isn't enough sufficient specific data to draw any conclusions as to the prevalence of bird flu in that community," Dr. Fauci said." ___________________________________ COMMENT: It's exactly what I've been saying all along...THIS IS A MILD ILLNESS, as mild as a cold in thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people in China. It has never been reported and is only found now because they are looking for it. Most aren't sick enough to go to the doctor. And yet Pharma got Billions and First gave them protection forever.
January 9, 2006 - Avian Flu in People May Be More Common Than Thought - "Our results are consistent with H5N1 among humans being a lot more common than has previously been recognized," said study author Dr. Anna Thorson, of the Division of International Health at the Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm. "In addition, they suggest that the symptoms of H5N1 in humans most often are relatively mild, and that close, direct contact with sick or dead poultry is needed for transmission to humans." ___________________________________ January 7, 2005 WorldNetDaily: Lock them up to die: Prison bird-flu plan If you're serving time in a New Zealand prison for a serious crime, pray hard no one else in the facility becomes infected by the deadly bird-flu virus because, if that happens, the prison is going to be sealed for six weeks, mass graves will be dug in the compound and the disease will be allowed to run its course. ___________________________________ January 5, 2006: AP Wire | 01/05/2006 | U.S. issues tips for possible flu pandemic Bracing for a possible flu pandemic, the government is urging people to prepare to teach their kids at home, chart family members' blood types and allergies and find out in advance if they will be able to work from their house. "For example, plan for the possible reduction or loss of income if you're unable to work or your place of employment is closed. My response to that is, 'Great. That's hard to plan for, for the average American.'" ___________________________________ Comment: Dr. Nancy Cox, Chief, Influenza Branch at the CDC has been quoted as saying that the influenza vaccine must be an exact match to be "effective." Nonetheless,Vietnam imported 220 million doses of vaccines, including 125 million doses of H5N1 vaccine and 95 million doses of H5N2 vaccines from China, supposedly to give "partial protection" because the vaccine contains the H5 antigen. It is well established that, if the virus doesn't match, the vaccine will ultimately not be effective, as in the A/Fujian fiasco in 2003.
January 5, 2005: Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily Over 150 million birds had been given two shots each since the campaign began late July. Two thirds of the vaccinated fowls were chicken and the rest ducks. Vietnam has culled almost 4 million birds since the epidemic re- emerged in October 2005. ___________________________________ scourge of the bird flu would pass with in several weeks. What family wants to take a chance with an unproven drug that has developed deadly complications?" ___________________________________ COMMENT: If you have had the flu sometime in your life, you have immunity, once again showing the vaccination compromises long term health of the immune system by not letting it "do its thing" to keep you health.
___________________________________ December 29, 2005: Wild birds not major cause of flu's spread, scientists say Scientists have been unable to link the spread of the virus to migratory patterns, suggesting that the thousands of wild birds that have died, mostly waterfowl and shore birds, are not primary transmitters of bird flu. But since early fall, there have been only scattered reports of more outbreaks. The disease has been glaringly absent, for example, from western Europe and the Nile delta, where many presumed it would crop up as migrating birds returned to winter roosts ___________________________________ COMMENT: There is a reason that so many deaths have been in Vietnam...answer coming soon! respective numbers in the country since December 2003 to 93 and 42. __________________________________________ PLEASE JOIN THE FIGHT. WRITE, CALL, FAX YOUR CONGRESSMAN TODAY!
leading autism advocacy organization joined consumer watchdogs and medical associations in asking lawmakers to drop the provision before the bill becomes law. ___________________________________ Comment: this is the IV form of Tamiflu....I've been wondering when they would put this on the front burner?
collaboration with the National Institutes of Health. ___________________________________ December 23, 2005: Winston-Salem Journal | Elements of Burr bill get House, Senate OK Liability protection for drug-makers who make products for biodefense and to treat victims during pandemics and epidemics. " The only ones protected by this legislation are big drug companies. Ordinary citizens are offered no protection from the Avian flu and other biological threats," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who did not vote on the defense bill. ___________________________________ syndrome (a rate seven times normal), a disease that can cause permanent paralysis, others contracted transverse myelitis, a neurological disorder, a reports of death associated with the vaccine range from 30-60. The government paid some $90 million in damages and the cost of the program was about $400 (both in 1976 dollars). The difference between making a vaccine in 1976 and the current rush to create an avian flu vaccine is that in 1976 they knew what strain of flu the vaccine was supposed to prevent." ___________________________________ December. 18, 2005: Today - 999 Today : Wild birds 'victims not vectors', say experts "The most obvious explanation is that migrating wild birds are not spreading the disease," said Dr Michael Rands, chief executive of BirdLife International. "Migratory wild birds were blamed for spreading bird flu west from Asia, yet there's been no spread back eastwards, nor to South Asia and Africa this Autumn. ___________________________________ breaking down the virus. The team experimented with a cotton-based hybrid fabric that contained 5 to 7 percent copper zeolite. After the cloth was in contact with avian flu virus for 10 minutes, 99 percent of the virus was destroyed, according to the researchers. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Forget the flu shot; it doesn't work, it's risky and you don't need the mercury and viruses injected into your body to keep you "healthy."
December 12: FLU SEASON IS SLOW...http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/During week 47 (Nov 20 - Nov 26, 2005), influenza activity occurred at a low level. 22 (1.8%) specimens tested by U.S. WHO and collaborating laboratories were positive for influenza. The proportion of patient visits to sentinel providers for influenza-like illness (ILI) were below baseline levels. 23 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico reported sporadic influenza activity, and 27 states reported no influenza activity. ___________________________________ to the drug industry without providing any means for victims or their families to get compensation for serious injury or death is unconscionable," said Jillian Aldebron, civil justice counsel for Public Citizen's Congress Watch division. It looks like Christmas will come early for the drug industry, but consumers will only get a lump of coal. ___________________________________ December 7, 2005 - Editorial: Tort shield is wrong defense against flu - Star Tribune - "The premise behind the liability shield is familiar, even plausible: American drugmakers have been pulling out of the vaccine business for the last 20 years, and fear of lawsuits must be one reason. But that argument falls apart on close examination. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found only 10 lawsuits in the last 20 years over flu vaccines; the authors have concluded that drug companies withdrew from the vaccine business mainly because of low-profit margins and unpredictable demand." ___________________________________ December. 1, 2005 MercuryNews.com | 12/01/2005 | Critics lambaste bird-flu bill A bill moving through Congress to speed production of bird-flu vaccines and other drugs has ignited alarm from critics who claim it would not only shield manufacturers from lawsuits, but also prevent the public from learning if the medicines hurt people more than help. ___________________________________ in partnership with Chiron Vaccines, a leading manufacturer of influenza vaccine, is encouraging communities nationwide to increase awareness of the need for flu vaccination during this flu season. Called "THRIVE" (Tackling Health Risk of Influenza with Vaccination & Education), this initiative aims to increase flu vaccination rates by helping educate those at high risk from complications from the flu, including young children, the elderly and the chronically ill. ___________________________________ November 28, 2005 - Prophet Talk: Bird Flu is for the Birds! (Part 2) - Free-Market News Network - "Oh, yes - I do want to repeat myself. Please pick up your phone right now and call your Congressperson. Tell 'em no bird flu vaccine. They can't produce it anyway - not now - because they haven't any human variant of bird flu. And if they do, it's one they developed themselves. ...Tell 'em no more "experiments" in hidden military laboratories to produce lethal recombinations of vaccines - how does that kind of "scientific inquiry" really help? No vaccine - no way, no how, no thanks!" ___________________________________ November 26, 2005 - Some health officials try to avoid undue worry - Rocky Mountain News - "...That's because many more people, particularly in remote areas, may have been infected with the virus and shown few signs or the disease, or sickened and recovered, without ever reporting the event to authorities. "I think that's a real legitimate possibility,"said Calonge. ___________________________________ COMMENT: PROOF! from a mainstream medical journal, that antibodies do NOT correlate with protection.
ARTICLE: What are the limits of adjuvanticity? "...Finally, adjuvanticity is more often evaluated in terms of antigen-specific antibody titers induced after parenteral immunization. It is known that, in many instances, antigen-specific antibody titers do not correlate with protection." Del Giudice G, Podda A, Rappuoli R. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Talk about hype!!
November 22, 2005 - ASU researchers tackling avian flu - Team working on 'holy grail' of flu vaccines - Arizona State University Web Devil - "And if that pandemic were to occur today, there would be only one way to deal with the situation -- "learn to dig graves," Curtiss said. ___________________________________ COMMENT: Is this hinting at mandatory vaccination?
SEC'Y LEAVITT: I have met directly with all of the vaccine manufacturers, as has the president, and they basically made clear we need to do three things. The first is we need to resolve the issue of liability......The second thing is that we have to assure that we have regulatory flexibility. That is to say, when we're building these facilities, we need the FDA to help provide the adequate protection but do it in a streamlined and efficient way....And the third thing is to assure that there's a market for the vaccines that are ultimately developed. ___________________________________ Comment: Thank you Everyone for contacting your Congressional Representatives! Be vigilant; Frist is still trying to get the S 1873 passed before the holiday recess.
___________________________________ COMMENT: This is the most TRUTHFUL statement I have seen regarding the "potential" pandemic
transmissible from human-to- human, yet hasn't done so. Thus, it is unlikely that it will do so soon-if ever. The idea that we are overdue for a pandemic is mere superstition.
The first two flu pandemics had 39 years between them, while the second and third had only 11. There is no cycle or pattern." ___________________________________ COMMENT: That's what we've been saying for months!! November 15, 2005 - Pandemic jitters (commentary) - The Washington Times - "Avian flu has been grossly exaggerated and it's time someone said so. There have been all of 60 deaths, worldwide. The same virus infected 18 people in Hong Kong in 1997. Then, two years ago, there were a handful of cases in both Vietnam (population 83 million) and Thailand (population 66 million). In both countries combined, 20 people, known to have been working with chickens, contracted influenza symptoms. All this is from the New England Journal of Medicine." ___________________________________ COMMENT: How much is 15 tons of vaccines? wow!
___________________________________ protections. Mold and slime grow in the shadows where there is no accountability. The Senate should keep biomedical research in the light. ___________________________________ Comment: With no evidence of avian flu virus in wild birds in that part of the country, it is sad to see so many people buying into the hype.
November 13, 2005: Taipei Times - archives Taipei Birdwatching Fair kicked off yesterday at Guandu Nature Park, as birdwatching groups and conservationists from 10 countries worldwide joined the two-day event to promote the joys of birdwatching and assure the public of the safety of such activities. The panic over the avian flu, however, has dissuaded many bird lovers from participating in the event this year and caused a 70-percent slump in the crowd from last year. ___________________________________ November 13, 2005 - What to do about avian flu - El Universal, MX - "The concern escalates to public fear because authorities have to prepare for this worst-case scenario, and be open about it to the public as they proceed. They tend to use apocalyptic language to help people take the danger seriously, such as "it is only a matter of time".... ___________________________________ Comment: The virus continues to weaken..
November 11, 2005 - Baby Contracts Avian Flu - All Headline News - "Tests confirm that the boy has the virus. He is, however, expected to make a full recovery." ___________________________________ November 11, 2005 - Top Official Is Assuring on Flu Vaccine (requires registration or subscription) - The New York Times - "Among those affected by the delay is Dr. Gerberding's mother, Bette Gerberding, of Brookings, S.D., who asked her daughter if she should go to a neighboring state to get a flu shot, Dr. Gerberding said." ___________________________________ November 9, 2005 - Nor-Cal Flu Clinics Running Out Of Vaccine - http://cbs13.com - "Pharmacist Art Whitney runs Pacific West, a company that gets the flu vaccine to more than 20 facilities like McKinley. They've only received half so far, and there's no guarantee more are coming....In Vallejo it's a totally different story. County health officials were actually giving free flu shots to volunteers. It's all part of a mass vaccination drill Solano County is doing to help them be prepared for any kind of public emergency." ___________________________________ November 7, 2005 - Bird flu hysteria - letter (requires registration or subscription) - Los Angeles Times - "Once again, President Bush is misinforming the American public: (1) There is no effective vaccine against bird flu" the cornerstone of Bush's 'plan'; (2) There is no proven therapy either. Tamiflu is a drug of no proven value in bird flu; (3) There is no proof that the present bird flu virus can be transmitted from person to person. Right now, it is an infection of birds that can be transmitted from very sick birds to humans who handle them or eat them...It is time to stop misinforming the public and time to stop fanning mass hysteria....Daniel Hollander MD Professor of Medicine, UCLA" ___________________________________ COMMENT: Remember the *drills* to mass innoculate everyone with the smallpox vaccine? This is recycled from the Play Book. When will people wake up to what the government is attempting to do to them in the name of "protection"?
November 7, 2005: Vallejo Times Herald - Home County wants to inoculate 1,000 during 3-hour drill. Federal funds are paying for the drill and the flu vaccines. Solano County Office of Emergency Services, Solano County Sheriff's Office and Vallejo Police Department also are planning to help coordinate the drill and provide security. ___________________________________ November 7, 2005 - The politics of panic: President Bush and avian flu - The Moderate Voice - "Senator Frist, a hack and possibly a crook, referred to Bush's "bold and decisive leadership," but this was clearly an attempt by the president to look presidential and to change the subject yet again after a particularly disastrous period of his generally disastrous presidency." ___________________________________ November 2, 2005 - PM Khai urges ministries to step up bird flu efforts - Viet Nam News - "The telegram advised people not to eat poultry during the 28 days following its first vaccination shot, 56 days following the two vaccination shots, or during an outbreak." ___________________________________ November 2, 2005 - Scientists Track Avian Flu - The Cornell Daily Sun - "Live bird markets, like ones located in the five boroughs of New York City, are places where people can purchase and have birds slaughtered on site," Chittenden said. "In these conditions it is much more probable for the virus to get spread and infect other birds." Locations and practices such as these have led to laws being introduced to govern the purchase and exchange of birds. One such rule is that the birds cannot be sold alive, according to Chittenden. With these precautionary regulations in place combined with rigorous testing of the bird locations and farms, it is very unlikely to have a large spread of the virus infect birds in New York, let alone people. "We require quarterly testing of the bird facilities, but most sites usually get tested six to eight times a year,"Chittenden said." ___________________________________ Comments: If you are not a member of RedFlagsDaily, please join and support their great efforts to get the truth out. Annual membership is $49 and well worth the investment...that's less than $5/month! To read my latest article, use the link below.
Eliminating Bird Flu Fears: 10 Facts You Need To Know ___________________________________ November 1, 2005 - UPMC doctor warns on avian flu - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review via www. pittsburghlive.com - "Dr. John Messmer, a physician at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Dauphin County, said he doesn't think there's cause for alarm yet. Even if H5N1 jumps into the pool of human hosts, medical science is far more advanced than it was in 1918, when doctors didn't even know viruses existed, Messmer said." ___________________________________ November 1, 2005 - Experts dismiss scare over bird flu - The Gainesville Sun - "Butcher has been an extension veterinarian at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine since 1988. He was trained as a veterinarian specializing in avian diseases, and has a Ph.D. in poultry virology. "The emphasis of all my work has changed to dealing with this madness," Butcher said Friday, while briefly back at his office on the UF campus in Gainesville. "Realistically, avian influenza is not a threat to people, but everywhere you go, it has turned into a circus." ___________________________________ meeting in Brisbane today to consider the region's capacity to combat a bird flu outbreak." ___________________________________ COMMENT: It is amazing to me that they can get away with these bold-faced lies. Neither Relenza nor Tamiflu are "preventative OR curative". Where is the FTC when we need them?
October 28, 2005 - Biota expects bird flu Relenza orders - The Age, AU - "The world is rediscovering Relenza," Biota chief executive Peter Molloy told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting on Friday. Mr Molloy said Relenza was effective against the latest strain of Avian flu both as a preventative and curative measure." ___________________________________ case avian flu becomes a human pandemic." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Everyone wants in on the gravy train: "Even if the drug doesn't work, buy it!"
October 26, 2005 - Don't hoard flu drug, doctor urges (requires registration or subscription) - The Globe And Mail - "He said he expected that the federal government would also purchase Relenza, another antiviral, and amantadine, an older drug that has not been effective against bird flu but may be useful if the virus mutates and becomes transmittable between human beings." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Now instead of eggs, the "new technology" is back to growing viruses on animal cells. Looks like one choice for the Pandemic vaccine will be dog kidney cells.
investigational new drug application (IND) for flu cell culture vaccine in the United States last year, after regaining its U.S. rights to the technology. The investigational vaccine is produced at Chiron's state-of-the-art flu cell culture vaccine manufacturing facility in Marburg, Germany." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Those who have recovered uneventfully are not included in the statistics.
Saturday, adding that the boy has fully recovered." ___________________________________ October 20, 2005 - CDC chief treads lightly with flu news (requires registration or subscription) - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - "Gerberding told the business gathering that if avian flu turns out to be a repeat of the 1977 swine flu scare --- or if it becomes the medical equivalent of the "millennium bug" that was widely expected to paralyze the world's computer networks at the end of 1999 --- the world may ignore other warnings and fail to prepare for future pandemics. The swine flu controversy cost the job of Gerberding's predecessor at CDC, Dr. David Sencer, after influenza vaccine developed for the virus --- and urged upon the public by then-President Gerald Ford --- caused paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome in more than 500 people, killing 32." ___________________________________ "When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we, in essence, accept that the state owns our bodies." ~U.S.Representative Ron Paul, MD ___________________________________ October 19, 2005 - The frontline fight against avian flu - The flat, watery wilds of the Isle of Sheppey do not look much like a battleground. - BBC - "If there is one thing that all sides of the debate agree on - the nation should not panic. Mr Gunther says: "Millions of chickens have been slaughtered in China and in Asia where they drink duck's blood and only a handful of people have become infected. "The reality is more people will die from smoking." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Create a demand...get people to demand the product...and then they will be ready for the mandatory vaccination when it comes.
___________________________________ October 18, 2005 - Early push for flu shots (requires registration or subscription) - Experts worry that last year's shortage will deter some from seeking the vaccine. - The Sacramento Bee - "Children with parental permission to get the Flu Mist dosage Monday seemed to be oblivious to the immunization concept - or prevention of a disease that can make a person at any age feel miserable. "I got it because my teacher said I had to come and get the flu," said a cheerful but confused Makayla McGill, a 6-year-old first-grader. What was clear to Makayla and the other children was that they didn't feel a thing as they breathed the mist into their noses and that when it was over, they had a lollipop and a coupon for a free ice cream cone." ___________________________________ avian flu virus mutates that there will be a shift in its virulence and in its infectiousness. It is thought that it will be likely to become less lethal." ___________________________________ be pushed through the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, without hearings. The Bill Would Wipe Out Both Regulatory and Legal Safeguards Against Certain Unsafe Vaccines, Drugs and Devices, Leaving the Industry Completely off the Hook for Hurting American Citizens - Center For Justices & Democracy ___________________________________ October 17, 2005 The Telegraph - Calcutta : Opinion It would be funny if it were not so serious. As migratory birds carry the avian influenza virus west across Europe, Britain is following in the footsteps of Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Turkey and asking hunters to shoot down as many incoming ducks and geese as possible. They have been issued with bird-flu testing kits to see if their victims are carrying the dreaded virus, but they really have little to worry about: all the cases of direct bird-to-human infection have occurred on family farms in southeast Asia. ___________________________________ October 15, 2005 - Florida turns to chickens for avian flu alert - Palm Beach Post - "The people who volunteer to have sentinel chickens in their back yard or on their farm usually do so as a public service, plus they get a lot of free eggs from these hens," he said. "The county pays for the feed, water containers and feeders, and builds the coops." ___________________________________ October 15, 2005 - Cornell checking for avian flu in NYC - The Ithaca Journal - "Everyone speculates that H5N1 will be the next big issue, but I'd be surprised if it's the next big pandemic -- the next big break in flu probably won't be from what we expect, because viruses simply don't play by the rules."
But of the people who contracted this avian flu virus, scientists suspect that only one case, in Thailand, was the direct result of human contact. Both the carrier and the infected person died, and the virus went no further. All the other human infections have been contracted from chickens and so far haven't been contagious to other humans. ___________________________________ Comment: They are pushing the Annual flu shot even though it would offer NO protection against H5N1. The reason: get veryone use to being in line so that when H5N1 vaccine is ready, the mechanism will be in place. Beware!
October 14, 2005 - Bird flu alert: one million children need jabs- The London Times - "More than a million children in Britain must be vaccinated against flu as soon as possible, senior health officials said last night as the deadly avian form of the virus reached Europe." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Remember follow the money. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for pharma's vaccine industry...a vaccine for every person on earth.
October 14, 2005 - Investors See Bird-Flu Impact - Will It Affect Roche, Sanofi, Or Smaller Firms Biota, Pulmuone? - The Wall Street Journal - "One of the larger companies, Chiron Corp., of Emeryville, Calif., is betting it has an edge on rival Sanofi in making a bird-flu vaccine, even though Sanofi's clinical trials are ahead of Chiron's. Chiron is hoping to get approval to market what it says is a unique vaccine supplement in the U.S. that would allow for inoculations with a smaller amount of vaccine -- a key concern of health officials worried about supply." ___________________________________ October 11, 2005 - An epidemic of overreaction (requires registration or subscription) - By Marc Siegel, MD. MARC SIEGEL is an internist and associate professor at the New York University School of Medicine. He is the author of "False Alarm: The Truth about the Epidemic of Fear" (Wiley, 2005). - Los Angeles Times - "Unfortunately, public health alarms are sounded too often and too soon. SARS was broadcast as a new global killer to which we had zero immunity, and yet it petered out long before it killed a single person in the United States. SARS was something to be taken seriously, but the real lessons of SARS, smallpox, West Nile virus, anthrax and mad cow disease weren't learned by our leaders” that potential health threats are more effectively examined in the laboratory than at a news conference." ___________________________________ October 13, 2005 - City participates in avian flu drill - Cambridge Chronicle via www2.townonline.com - "In this fictional scenario, a man arrived at a Boston area hospital with flu-like symptoms. The man had recently returned from a business trip to Asia, and had potentially infected several hundred passengers on his flight home. He had also attended a large awards dinner in Cambridge directly following his trip. Over the next 11 days, hospitals were flooded with patients, including their own medical staff." ___________________________________ October 12, 2005 - Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Scientists Receive $8 M to Study Flu Vaccine- Journal Record - " The five-year project will examine why the vaccine does not protect certain individuals with compromised immune systems." ___________________________________ October 12, 2005 - Let pros handle health problems (opinion) - Seattle Post-Intelligencer - "It is time for us to mandate a federally funded program of influenza vaccination with financial guarantees to the pharmaceutical industry. The same may be said for anti-virals. We can bring down the price of these products through appropriate negotiation for large quantities. Let us place emphasis squarely on the target -- the assurance of adequate production and stockpiling of necessary vaccines and anti-virals." ___________________________________ COMMENT: GAURANTEED PURCHASE. NEW CONTRACTS. TAX INCENTIVES. NO PRODUCT LIABILITY. It doesn't get any better than that for a drug company.
October 12, 2005. http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/101205_vaccine.html Immunity sought as avian flu shadow approaches The Senate already has approved an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) that added $3.9 billion to the military spending measure to prepare for the flu. The money will be used to stockpile medications to combat the flu. This month, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded Sanofi-Aventis a $97 million contract to develop a new type of flu vaccine.Lobbyists from pharmaceutical companies say a critical component of any effort is immunity from lawsuits if a vaccination causes harm. Without new legal safeguards, pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to produce vaccines, a business that offers little reward but a lot of risk, lobbyists say. "We need to provide incentives to companies to bring drugs and vaccines to the marketplace," said Doug Heye, a spokesperson for Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Health Committee's Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness Subcommittee. ___________________________________ September 29, 2005 - UN ratchets up preparedness for expected human avian flu pandemic- AFP via Yahoo! - "UN chief Kofi Annan appointed David Nabarro, a Briton who is one of the leading World Health Organization (WHO)' spublic health experts, as senior UN coordinator for avian and human influenza." ___________________________________ COMMENT: This means that resistance to the virus is very high....most people will not contract the infection when exposed.
Sept. 29, 2005: "The relatively low frequencies of influenza A (H5N1) illness in humans despite widespread exposure to infected poultry indicate that the species barrier to acquisition of this avian virus is substantial." Beigel JH, Avian influenza A (H5N1) infection in humans. N Engl J Med. Sept 29, 2005; 353 (13):1374-85. ___________________________________ September 28, 2005 - NIAID and MedImmune Join Forces to Develop Potential Pandemic Influenza Vaccines- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - "NIAID and MedImmune will develop at least one vaccine for each of the 16 variations of a key influenza surface protein known as hemagglutinin (represented by the letter "H" in the names of influenza strains, suchas H5N1). NIAID and MedImmune will develop vaccines for the highest priority hemagglutinin subtypes first. The researchers say it will take years to systematically develop vaccines for all the hemagglutinin subtypes. Having effective vaccines against all subtypes will help us prepare for influenza pandemics in the future, explains NIAID's Dr.Subbarao." ___________________________________ COMMENT: Note this was said in 2003.....
"A pandemic strain will certainly appear, will spread widely and will be lethal," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson told The Scientist. However, "there have been a half dozen pandemic 'false alarms' in the last 30 years," Thompson says. A false alarm is an outbreak in which a novel strain has jumped the species barrier but has been confined to one or two people and often has not been lethal."
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