WHO Update - H5N1 - Captain Trips?
Asia
FAO has warned that the H5N1 virus continues to be detected in many parts of Viet Nam and Indonesia and in some parts of Cambodia, China, Thailand, and possibly also Laos.
Human cases, have been confirmed in 4 countries: Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
Only a few instances of limited human-to-human transmission have been recorded. Poultry outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza in Japan, Malaysia, and the Republic of Korea were successfully controlled.
Further news of the Chinese reported outbreak of "Suis Strep" has been put in a media stranglehold. News of a H5N1 geese and duck outbreak in Tibet has been confirmed.
Last month, the disease was blamed for at least 39 deaths and 215 infections in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan. The south-east Asian outbreaks, have resulted in the death or destruction of more than 150 million birds.
Russia
The Russian H5N1 outbreak in poultry, which has remained confined to Siberia, has spread progressively westward to affect 6 administrative regions near the Urals.
In Kazakhstan, several villages bordering the initial outbreak site in Siberia are now known to have experienced disease in poultry.
Close to 120 000 birds are dead or have been destroyed in Russia and more than 9000 in Kazakhstan.
Potential?
The poultry outbreaks in Russia and Kazakhstan are caused by a virus that has repeatedly demonstrated its ability, in outbreaks in Hong Kong in 1997, in Hong Kong in 2003, and in south-east Asia since early 2004, to cross the species barrier to infect humans, causing severe disease with high fatality.
The expanding geographical presence of the virus is of concern, as it creates further opportunities for human exposure.
Each additional human case increases opportunities for the virus to improve its transmissibility, through either adaptive mutation or reassortment.
The emergence of an H5N1 strain that is readily transmitted among humans would mark the start of a pandemic.
FAO has warned that the H5N1 virus continues to be detected in many parts of Viet Nam and Indonesia and in some parts of Cambodia, China, Thailand, and possibly also Laos.
Human cases, have been confirmed in 4 countries: Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
Only a few instances of limited human-to-human transmission have been recorded. Poultry outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza in Japan, Malaysia, and the Republic of Korea were successfully controlled.
Further news of the Chinese reported outbreak of "Suis Strep" has been put in a media stranglehold. News of a H5N1 geese and duck outbreak in Tibet has been confirmed.
Last month, the disease was blamed for at least 39 deaths and 215 infections in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan. The south-east Asian outbreaks, have resulted in the death or destruction of more than 150 million birds.
Russia
The Russian H5N1 outbreak in poultry, which has remained confined to Siberia, has spread progressively westward to affect 6 administrative regions near the Urals.
In Kazakhstan, several villages bordering the initial outbreak site in Siberia are now known to have experienced disease in poultry.
Close to 120 000 birds are dead or have been destroyed in Russia and more than 9000 in Kazakhstan.
Potential?
The poultry outbreaks in Russia and Kazakhstan are caused by a virus that has repeatedly demonstrated its ability, in outbreaks in Hong Kong in 1997, in Hong Kong in 2003, and in south-east Asia since early 2004, to cross the species barrier to infect humans, causing severe disease with high fatality.
The expanding geographical presence of the virus is of concern, as it creates further opportunities for human exposure.
Each additional human case increases opportunities for the virus to improve its transmissibility, through either adaptive mutation or reassortment.
The emergence of an H5N1 strain that is readily transmitted among humans would mark the start of a pandemic.
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