The scare brought about by the new and rising threat from the new and improved H1N1 Swine Flu Virus has scientists clamoring for an immediate cure with the H5N1 still fresh on their minds. The H1N1 strain is still part of the flu family but with a very dangerous twist, it is a combination of the H1N1(swine), H5N1(Avian) and the Human Flu virus that like the other strains is transmittable and can be transmitted from species to species. From animal species it jumps easily to humans and that cross-species jumping trait is a very dangerous combination. Read the rest of this entry »
Medicine Net explained that:
Avian influenza cannot be diagnosed by symptoms alone, so a laboratory test is required. Avian influenza is usually diagnosed by collecting a swab from the nose or throat during the first few days of illness. This swab is then sent to a laboratory, where they will either look for avian influenza virus using a molecular test, or they will try to grow the virus. Growing avian influenza viruses should only be done in laboratories with high levels of protection. If it is late in the illness, it may be difficult to find an avian influenza virus directly using these methods. If this is the case, it may still be possible to diagnose avian influenza by looking for evidence of the body’s response to the virus. This is not always an option because it requires two blood specimens (one taken during the first few days of illness and another taken some weeks later), and it can take several weeks to verify the results.
The recently concluded Intergovernmental Meeting on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (IGM-PIP), which tackled the sharing of influenza viruses and access to vaccines, came to a deadlock-end.
Health officials failed to reach agreement on a new system to ensure developing countries benefit more from sharing bird flu virus samples used to develop vaccines, the World Health Organization said.
Sharing virus samples among countries is important in virus strain surveillance, as well as in vaccine development. These issues were discussed during the 3-day meeting held from November 20-23, 2007 at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
“We must have equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of viruses through a fair, transparent and equitable mechanism. It is the moral thing to do,” Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari of Indonesia said. Indonesia has the highest death toll – 91 people – from bird flu.
Indonesia proposed that commercial use of a virus sample would require consent from the country providing it, and that the country should be given affordable access to vaccine stockpiles.
However, John Lange, U.S. special representative for avian and pandemic influenza, said that research and development of vaccines was “very risky, time-consuming and extremely expensive” and it was critical to protect patents to ensure their continued development.
News from Reuters
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As doctors have been saying all along, bird flu much like any other viral pathogens can easily be dealt with through simple and proper hygiene such as hand washing even with the most ordinary of soaps. Studies and general observation has shown that simple washing of your hands quickly and effectively removes the virus as with the many other types of flu that can be transmitted easy through physical contact with infected people.
Swine flu has all but overtaken the bird-flu epidemic that still lurks in the background taking it’s toll against the other forms of flu and this time being the prime time for spread it is necessary to emphasize the importance of such simple yet effective tasks.
As said and debated, the new flu strain is quite similar to most strains of the famed flu virus that is spread from person to person right after it jumps species from the zero host animal, first we had avian flu then swine, both of which jumped the species barrier which normally prevented cross species jumps. This trait of the new strains alarmed scientists for never in history has such cases occurred in modern times.
The Avian Flu is almost on the treatable stage but with the coming of the new strain, a more general vaccine may be needed to handle all of the flu strains, for the new strain is a combination of H5N1, H1N1 and the human flu virus which has the ability to mutate. Another alarming trait of the virus is that a case of reverse infection has already been found in New Zealand, a case of a human host getting a swine sick with the flu. The cross contamination of the virus is the bad thing. Flu can be weathered out with proper treatment and monitoring but for a strain that can come and go as it pleases, it truly is an alarming development.