Chinese Cover Up Captain Trips H5N1
WHO officials have insisted that China step up efforts to tag and test birds, and to make laboratory findings from analyzed samples available to international organizations. Because the birds will resume their migratory pattern in August or September, flying south and west, attempts at tagging, tracking and testing birds must begin immediately.
China has also been the target of a recent WHO inquiry regarding its avian influenza prevention strategies. The Washington Post recently reported that the Chinese government condoned and encouraged the widespread use of the human antiviral medication, amantadine, in domestic poultry.
The drug, which was fed to poultry, may have caused the H5N1 virus to adapt and become resistant to amantadine, rendering the medication useless to combat bird flu infection in humans. Researchers have already determined that the flu circulating in Vietnam and Thailand is resistant to amantadine.
There are suspicions that the the original strain of the H5N1 virus originated in a Chinese biochem weapons laboratory and was accidently released. A scenario very reminiscent of the legendary Captain Trips pandemic virus in Stephen King's The Stand.
Chinese officials have cordoned off Tso-Ngon, limiting access to the public. According to Chinese news agencies, vaccination of birds in the area is underway, but no migratory birds have been culled due to their protected status.
Another outbreak of avian influenza has been reported in Tacheng city, in Xinjiang province; however international agencies have not yet been granted permission to visit.
China has also been the target of a recent WHO inquiry regarding its avian influenza prevention strategies. The Washington Post recently reported that the Chinese government condoned and encouraged the widespread use of the human antiviral medication, amantadine, in domestic poultry.
The drug, which was fed to poultry, may have caused the H5N1 virus to adapt and become resistant to amantadine, rendering the medication useless to combat bird flu infection in humans. Researchers have already determined that the flu circulating in Vietnam and Thailand is resistant to amantadine.
There are suspicions that the the original strain of the H5N1 virus originated in a Chinese biochem weapons laboratory and was accidently released. A scenario very reminiscent of the legendary Captain Trips pandemic virus in Stephen King's The Stand.
Chinese officials have cordoned off Tso-Ngon, limiting access to the public. According to Chinese news agencies, vaccination of birds in the area is underway, but no migratory birds have been culled due to their protected status.
Another outbreak of avian influenza has been reported in Tacheng city, in Xinjiang province; however international agencies have not yet been granted permission to visit.
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