Bloomberg: Poland Says Dead Swans Had Avian Flu; China Halts Bird Exports

[PhilipShore]

Bloomberg
Poland Says Dead Swans Had Avian Flu; China Halts Bird Exports
March 6

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=atRAKaOfv0gg&refer=top_world_news

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Dead swans found in the northern city of Torun were infected with the bird flu virus, a Polish veterinary institute said. China halted the supply of live poultry, chicks and pet birds to Hong Kong for three weeks.

The number of countries to have reported an initial outbreak of the virus in birds more than doubled last month, as the H5N1 virus was discovered in Africa and Western Europe. More than 200 million fowl worldwide have been culled or died, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN.

Iraq, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Greece, Iran, Italy, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Germany, India, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt Switzerland, Niger, Pakistan, Hungary and France are among countries to have reported outbreaks in February, according to the World Organization for Animal Health.

The WHO will hold a three-day meeting in Geneva starting today to discuss a rapid-response strategy in the event a flu pandemic does start, the United Nations agency said on its Web site.

[ConcernedCanuk]

1. Ummm - this is looking pretty serious

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"Iraq, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Greece, Iran, Italy, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Germany, India, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt Switzerland, Niger, Pakistan, Hungary and France are among countries to have reported outbreaks in February, according to the World Organization for Animal Health."

I bolded the word "among", cuz that means this is only a partial list.

With all the transfer of goods and personnel from the Eastern continents to the Western continents - it will be here soon, if not already.

If it DOES hit anywhere over here, I hope it hits Canada first as I trust our Health officials to report and control this thing alot more than I trust the USA bunch. -

The USA Admin is more interested in making war and keeping it's citizens anesthetized as to what is really going on in the world.

That's My Canuk Thots anyhoo . . .

[acmavm]

2. Hell, here they'll lie about it and cover it up until it's impossible to

do so anymore than the bush** administration will finally have its big excuse to declare martial law like they've been wanting to do for so long.

[MrPrax]

4. That's not fair...

The US health reporting services are among the best in the world and so I don't think there would be any 'politics' involved at least at that level. Neither country did a good job on West Nile, for instance. Nor has either country responded well to Mad Cow, but, however at least Canadian officials understand the dangerousness of the 'Three S' attitude among--um--agriculturalists.

Sure folks like Tyson might pull some 'strings' with regulators that might prove less than helpful, but that isn't the fault of, say, the CDC or WHO affliated agencies. Nor is political interference completely unknown in Canada. :eyes:

BUT I think that you might have a point--notice the Asians seem to have taken the situation rather seriously, when it became obvious that 'avian flu' was going to go 'big'. Many of those countries, Vietnam, in particular, did a whole lot of unpopular 'kulling' and other measures, to get it under control.

It would appear it's the 'holier than thou' West that might have dropped the ball here and did not engage in the tight testing protocols eariler.

You have ever right to be concerned of course, much of the poultry production in those Asian countries is 'local', where as a lot of western production is 'externally' traded and as such the West has a greater incentive to cover up all this in their home countries.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. Y'all have one big disadvantage down there, lack of Health Care

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From what I've read, close to 40 Million Americans have no Health coverage

That's more than the total population of Canada by close to 10 Million.

That is a whole lot of people that will never get diagnosed until they hit an emergency room - IF they make it that far, and even then, most likely too late.

(sigh)

[PhilipShore]

3. Bird Flu Kills Chinese Man, Virus Spreads In Europe

Bird Flu Kills Chinese Man, Virus Spreads In Europe
Free Internet Press
March 05 2006

http://freeinternetpress.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6100

A man has died from bird flu in southern China, the ninth death from the H5N1 virus in the country, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

The man, identified as a 32-year-old with the surname Lao, was the 15th human bird flu case in China. He died in Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong.

In Europe, France announced a new case of H5N1 in a wild duck in the east of the country, while another test on a wild swan showed the virus had spread several hundred kilometers (Note: 1 kilometer equals .621 miles) to the south.

In eastern Europe, Poland detected its first case of H5 bird flu in two swans found dead. Further tests would be needed to determine if it was the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus or a less dangerous form, experts said.

[Mojorabbit]

5. Sssh! don't mention bird flu

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk...-name_page.html
Sssh! don't mention bird flu Mar 5 2006

Exclusive By Paul Cole

HOTELS and guest houses across the Midlands have been warned by tourism chiefs: Don't mention bird flu!

A secret briefing note sent out by the Heart of England tourist board warns hoteliers and owners of day-trip attractions to play down fears of the disease sweeping across Europe.

But chillingly it also warns that if avian flu strikes, there could be a huge impact on the tourist trade as customers lose confidence and stay away - just like they did during the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

[Mojorabbit]

6. Tyson stock falls on bird flu fears

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/147530/
Tyson Foods Inc. ’s stock fell further Thursday as new outbreaks of avian influenza are reported across the globe and record inventories of chicken stocks pile up in U. S. cold storage.
snip
“Currently we are very cautious on the protein industry because we are concerned about the quantities of poultry in cold storage and the fact that there’s been an uptick in cold storage pork inventories,” Aslam said.
snip
Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and Smithfield Foods Inc. both reported Wednesday the companies have low expectations for the quarters because of bird flu concerns and falling pork prices.

Chicken prices are not expected to get any better until later in the year, with leg prices falling to as low as 15 cents a pound, Kenneth Zaslow, an analyst with Harris Nesbitt Corp., said in a research investors note.

The USDA reported this week that chicken trading has been “barely” steady to wea