Jakarta: Victims' neighborhood H5N1-free

Via The Jakarta Post: Victims' neighborhood H5N1-free. The story has more information about Istiqomah and her brothers. Excerpt:

The city's husbandry, fishery and maritime agency said Friday it did not find the H5N1 virus in any fowls found in the neighborhood of the latest suspected bird flu victims.

Agency head Edy Setiarto said samples taken from poultry in the Gandaria Utara, South Jakarta, showed negative results.

"We took the samples Thursday and had them examined in our lab in Ragunan, South Jakarta, after scanning an area in the subdistrict with a radius of 100 meters," he said.

"We found out later that day the tests were negative," he said.

The agency also culled backyard poultry in the area during the inspection, he said.

"We have finished culling poultry on the subdistrict level," said Edy.

"The Jakarta husbandry, fishery and maritime agency will continue culling poultry in the whole Kebayoran Baru district."

The procedure, he said, would be finished by the end of this month.

Edy said the agency is trying to determine where the virus might have come from.

Jakarta Health Agency head Wibowo Sukijat said his agency was testing blood samples taken from people who had contact with the suspects before they died.

"We don't know when the tests will be finished," he said at City Hall.

Sixteen-year-old Istiqomah died Wednesday after being treated at Persahabatan Hospital, East Jakarta, for having respiratory problems, a cough and a fever.

Her nails on both her hands and feet had turned blue.

Doctors confirmed Istiqomah died of bird flu, Koran Tempo reported Friday.

On May 4, Istiqomah's brother Ahmad Rizki, 15, died at Prikasih Hospital in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta, after showing similar symptoms.

Doctors at the hospital, however, said Ahmad was suffering from typhoid.

Wibowo said blood samples from Ahmad showed he was not infected by the bird flu virus and thus confirmed the doctors' claim.

A family member of the victims, Alamsyah, 24, is now being treated at Persahabatan Hospital with bird flu-like symptoms.

We still have no confirmation from WHO.

Comments

[mary in hawaii]

Sometimes you got to wonder. They find no evidence of bf in the areas around the siblings that died of confirmed or suspect bf, but they blindly go on killing poultry anyway. No mention of testing other potential carriers such as cats, rats, dogs, pigs etc. Just say "duh" and keep killing the healthy birds, that ought to take care of it.

I have no clue how the human race has done as well as it has over the few millenia of its existence, but I'd be willing to give you pretty good odds on a wager that the species won't make it anywhere near as long as the dinosaurs, and most of these had brains the size of walnuts.

[Jonathon Singleton]

Howdy Mary, hope you are well and in good health. I read your fascinating posting and am also rather interested to know how on earth our species has actually gotten as far as it has given the limitations of our form. Whilst I understand the frustration, I think you are being a wee bit harsh 'bout these limitations... Hey, we are both academics and sorta write our own scripts in the moment. And this is the point, Mary. Many folk require "scriptwriters" to tell them what to do ie. [testing other potential transgenic pathogen carriers such as cats, rats, dogs, pigs etc. Just say "duh" and focus on the one species cos no "superior" has told you to alter your scripted behavior].

Look at my history in Australia, Mary... In the late 90s I began talkin' 'bout an approaching "mass human die off" event and got "pack-rape fracked" pretty darned hard by, here I go yet again Mary, incredibly shortsighted members of your Babyboomer generation. So, did my own generational peers mimic my late 90s behavior!?! No, of course not -- why would they take on the smalltown role of "punching bag"!?! They all did precisely what Dlende writes below: neuroanthropology.wordpress.com -- Mimicry and Persuasion Posted by dlende on February 12, 2008 @ neuroanthropology.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/mimicry-and-persuasion/

Excerpt: "Mimicry also plays a role in why inequality is so pernicious (ever imitate your superiors?), in the transmission of culture (imitating peers and parents), and in the function of culture (copying others on the dance floor, anyone?). But it’s the subtlety of it, conscious or unconscious, that is striking..."

CIDRAP News -- Launch of WHO H5N1 vaccine stockpile still awaited ( May 16, 2008)
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/may1608vaccine.html
Excerpt: "A year after the World Health Organization (WHO) called for the development of an international stockpile of vaccines against H5N1 influenza, the stockpile has not yet materialized, the WHO said in a report released today...

Results to date also suggest that H5N1 vaccines may protect people against strains other than the one used in the vaccine, the report says. "Animal data suggest that vaccination by human H5N1 influenza vaccines, produced from viruses of one clade, may confer cross-reactivity against H5N1 viruses from other clades and therefore may confer protection against challenge by H5N1 viruses from other clades."

In addition, this cross-reactivity "might indicate potential cross-protection against future emerging strains, but such coverage could diminish as H5N1 vaccines continue to evolve."

***************************************************

"I stand in front of you. I take the force of the blow... Protection!" -- Massive Attack's "Protection" (1995)

"Dr F Li, Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada"

Friday May 16, 2008

Howdy Dr. Li,

I'd like to sincerely thank you and your team for the latest research analysis on A/H5N1's CFR in humans...

I agree with your final statement (see BMJ article below). The projected 14-33% CFR in a H2H version of a cross-species pathogen infecting six billion people in an incredibly short timeframe would, quite obviously, see between three to seven times the current American population dead. To use the current American population (300 million) as a measuring stick brings emotional clarity to this pressing global health issue. If politicians could visualize this scenario as clearly as their polling statistics, then perhaps they'd act in the here and now to prevent the "blink of an eye" planetary loss of between 900-2000 million humans!?!

I would hope that politicians would take the time to view the music video to Massive Attack's "Protection" -- it should be available on YouTube. The vid is a simple down to earth narrative set in an average brownstone apartment block. The audience sees into the individual lives of a number of the building's residents... As you can see, it's a very easy and effective way to demonstrate the basic humanity of large statistical numbers. I've recently written on Effect Measure Blog 'bout the public need for a trivalent prepandemic vaccine (strain configuration should be an appropriate up to date mix) -- see my May 12 posting near the end of EffectMeasure's -- "Australia tries to out do the US in suppression of science" Posted on: May 5, 2008 10:18 AM, by revere @

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2008/05/australia_tries_to_out_do_the.php#c881947

In March 2006, I received a positive legal email from Gloria Allred, an infamous California attorney (see below):

www.amglaw.com/bio/GloriaAllred.asp

Her email concerns were focused on lawsuits vis a vis time periods -- this is ironic given two facts...

* FOI have been stalling, withholding info since the get go -- FOI are legally culpable for stonewalling!

* The primary issue concerning and justifying the corrupt WA police and medicolegal establishment's violent 1997/8 mistreatment of me was my so called "drug induced" "delusional" belief in an impending global disaster -- ie. the H2H H-this N-that transgenic pandemic...

Due to my questioning character, I happened to be one of those who awakened early to the pandemic threat of A/H5N1.

Since 2000, I've been fully cognizant of the probable consequences of accelerated horizontal gene transfer and recombination -- evolutionary paradigm driving cross-species pathogens...

Cheers:*) Jonathon

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2008;62:555-559; doi:10.1136/jech.2007.064030 Copyright © 2008 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Article -- Finding the real case-fatality rate of H5N1 avian influenza
By F C K Li1, B C K Choi2, T Sly3, A W P Pak4

jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/62/6/555

Excerpt: "We suggest that, based on surveillance and seroprevalence studies conducted in several countries, the real H5N1 CF rate should be closer to 14–33%... Clearly, if such a CF rate were to be sustained in a pandemic, H5N1 would present a truly dreadful scenario. A concerted and dedicated effort by the international community to avert a pandemic through combating avian influenza in animals and humans in affected countries needs to be a global priority."