H5N1

Assam: Cull total reaches 40,000

Via The Times of India: 40,000 poultry culled in Assam after bird flu outbreak. Excerpt:

Authorities in Assam have culled some 40,000 poultry of an estimated 60,000 birds ordered to be killed after an outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus in the region, officials Monday said.

"Culling operations are on in the district of Kamrup since Friday and so far about 40,000 chickens and ducks were killed," said Manoranjan Choudhury, deputy director of the Assam Veterinary department.

The culling is being carried out in about 48 villages within a five kilometre radius of village Thakurchuba in Kamrup district, about 40km west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.

The poultry targeted includes ducks and chickens. Some 22 Rapid Response Teams are engaged with the operation expected to be completed in the next two to three days.

UK: A reality-show flu experiment

Via FT.com: Scientists plan ‘Big Brother’ flu experiment. Excerpt:

British researchers plan to recruit 200 volunteers to be infected with flu while living together during week-long experiments, in order to deepen understanding of how to tackle a pandemic.

In a groundbreaking Big Brother-style trial, recruits will be divided into groups of half a dozen. They will spend their time sleeping, eating and socialising in specially adapted hotels under constant camera observation and medical supervision.

The aim is to gather information on how and how easily they contract flu from each other and the effectiveness of hand washing, face masks and keeping their distance to prevent infection.

Jonathan Van-Tam, professor of health protection at the University of Nottingham, who is helping develop the trials, said the studies reflected how much remains unknown about flu transmission, nearly two centuries after medical journals began discussing the issue.

“Transmission is poorly understood and hotly debated,” he said. Disagreement remained on such as whether flu was contracted by airborne particles or via surfaces touched by hand.

Indonesia: Premonitions

A worrying report from the Jakarta Post on the country's shaky healthcare system: Doctors, schools blamed for poor services. Excerpt:

Inconsistent standards and unethical recruitment methods in the health industry are to blame for Indonesia's costly yet ineffective medical services, a study says.

The study, jointly conducted by Indonesian and Australian researchers between March and September this year, found that doctors' "uncontrolled freedom" in setting prices and employment standards has led to the cost blowout and poor quality in services across the country.

"Doctors can charge unreasonably high prices for their services without patients' having any idea what is reasonable. The price of medical treatment in a Jakarta state hospital could be significantly higher than in a private hospital in Malaysia," the study coordinator, Hasbullah Thabrany from the University of Indonesia, told press in Jakarta on Thursday.

He said measures ensuring the quality of medical services were very weak, with audits rarely carried out into hospitals' performance.

Hasbullah said doctors should also just focus on one practise, instead of multiple areas, because it was leading to discriminative practices based on a patient's financial status.

"The current system is seeing doctors treat wealthier patients above all others. This is a threat to the quality of medical services, which should be equal for all," he said. An increase in government remuneration has been suggested as a way of enticing doctors to stay in one just area.

Civil servant doctors are paid the same salary as other civil servants in Indonesia, while a fresh-graduate state doctor may receive as little as Rp 1.2 million (US$100) per month. Low incomes have forced doctors to expand their services to multiple areas, though under the 2004 Medical Practices Act one doctor is limited to working in three places.

Hasbullah said a lack of standards also plagued the recruitment and education process of would-be doctors. Medical schools, he argued, where becoming "liberal" and selecting students based on their financial status instead of abilities.

You can find more about the report here.

Assam update

Via The Assam Tribune, a Bird flu news capsule datelined Guwahati:

Joint Commissioner, Livestock, AB Negi, is camping in Hajo to oversee the culling operations following detection of bird flu in the area. Culling is going on in 20 villages there and till yesterday, 37,960 poultry were killed.

New Zealand: Still raising awareness about H5N1

Via the Otago Daily Times: Bird flu still a threat. Excerpt:

Three years ago, bird flu - the H1N5[sic] avian influenza virus which has infected 387 people around the world to date - made people very aware of the risk of a pandemic.

Now, that awareness had almost disappeared but the threat it posed was still present, Southland District Health Board emergency planner Sandra Miller said.

It was "only a matter of time" before the world - including Wakatipu - was struck by some form of influenza pandemic.

"The World Health Organisation statistics show there is generally a pandemic every 30 years," Ms Miller said.

"It has now been 37 years since the last one. We want to keep the fact of . . . pandemic influenza in people's minds."

To do that, the SDHB and Southland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group hired a roadshow from Civil Defence Canterbury to raise awareness and give out potentially lifesaving information.

The displays included interactive games showing what people needed to keep handy in case a pandemic forced them to stay at home.

Vietnam: Not something we want to hear

Via Thanh Nien Daily: HCMC dump site caught accepting toxic waste. The sting is in the end of the story:

Ho Chi Minh City police on Friday discovered dumping site workers in Hoc Mon District receiving toxic waste from a leather tanning company.

After staking out the site for three months, police found the Dong Thanh dump site accepting toxic chemical waste from two trucks though it had no license for handling this kind of refuse.

Lam Hieu Nghia from the city’s Environmental Police Department said investigations showed that the site had accepted 650 tons of chemical waste since 2007.

Nghia said the waste included byproducts from leather tanning activities, containing acids, sodas and hexavalent chromium - a known carcinogen.

The waste was buried in large pits without any measures to prevent it from leaking into the soil and underground water, Nghia said.

The Vietnam News Agency reported that the waste was transported from the Tonghong tanning company in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

It quoted Nghia as saying the dump site earned VND1.8-5 million (US$105- 300) per ton from receiving the company’s waste.

The site even used pits reserved for burying bird flu-infected poultry to contain the chemicals.

India blames migratory birds for Assam outbreak

Via The Hindu: Assam bird flu due to migratory birds: Ramadoss. Excerpt:

Migratory birds are behind the fresh outbreak of bird flu in Assam, Indian Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said Saturday, adding that culling operations had started in the northeastern state and "inter-country bird movements are under close scrutiny".

"Yes, we are concerned and this new outbreak is mainly due to migratory birds," Ramadoss told IANS.

"We are taking measures to control it, and let me assure that everything is under control. A team from the central health ministry has already gone to Assam and is helping authorities there," he added.

The minister said he has been keeping a close eye on the development and was closely monitoring the situation along with the animal husbandry department, which is under the central agricultural ministry.

If the health minister offered a scrap of evidence for his migratory-birds thesis, the story doesn't mention it.

Indonesia: B2B H5N1 returns to Lampung

Via Bird Flu Information Corner, a rough but understandable translation from a Kompas report: Bird flu re-emerges among chickens in Lampung. Excerpt:

Avian influenza infection in poultries re-emerged in Kecamatan Jatiagung, Kabupaten Lampung Selatan.

Chickens were suddenly died in that area, as reported by the local people. Avian influenza outbreak was previously occurred in Desa Margagung, Kecamatan Jatiagung at beginning of 2008. Last October, Kecamatan Jatimulyo, area next to Kecamatan Jatiagung reported to have avian influenza outbreak in chickens.

Up to now, in 2008 all 17 subdistrict of South Lampung have been recorded to have bird flu outbreak

India: Orissa bans out-of-state chickens

Via Daily News Analysis: Orissa restriction on purchasing chicken from other states. Excerpt:

With the beginning of culling operations in bird flu-hit Assam, Orissa government on Saturday asked district collectors of the border districts to ban tranportation of chicken and other poultry items from neighbouring states, official sources said.

The instruction was issued by the Fisheries and Animal Resource development department secretary to the concerned officials as part of the state's preparedness to meet the possible outbreak of avian flu.

Though there was no report of bird flu being reported from any part of the state, the government asked the transport commissioner to set up special squad to keep a tab on the movement of poultry items from other states.

India: Assam cull progressing

Via The Hindu: 12,000 birds culled in Assam after bird flu outbreak. Excerpt:

Authorities in Assam have culled some 12,000 of the estimated 60,000 birds ordered to be killed after an outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus in the region, officials said Saturday.

Culling operations are on in the district of Kamrup since Friday and so far about 12,000 chickens and ducks were killed, Manoranjan Choudhury, deputy director of Assam's veterinary department, told IANS.

The culling is being carried out in 48 villages within a five kilometre radius of village Thakurchuba in Kamrup district, about 40 km west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.

The poultry targeted includes ducks and chickens. About 20 Rapid Response Teams comprising about seven personnel, including a veterinarian, are engaged in the operation that is expected to continue for about a week until the entire area is depopulated of the estimated 60,000 poultry, Parthajyoti Gogoi, a central health ministry official said.