Apple Valley, CA
760-242-1234

BIRD FLU

January 6, 2006

• Second Turkish teen dies from bird flu. This would be the first deaths outside eastern Asia areas werhe more than 70 people have died.
• New bird flu outbreak hits Ukraine.

December 4 , 2005

• Indonesia is poorly prepared to handle the bird flu epidemic it may face.
• Romania has four new cases of bird flu.
• Mild strain (H3N2, not the H5N1 strain) found in turkeys at a farm in North Carolina. The USDA states that it has been found elsehwere in the United States this year including Japanese quail in California near Sun Valley.
• Another death in Indonesia for a total of 8.
• Ukraine records first case of bird flu.

November 28, 2005

• Toddler becomes 93rd patient to have contracted the bird flu in Vietnam since December 2003.
• Dutch scientists say vaccinating chickens can prevent a major outbreak of the disease. China announced plans to vaccinate billions of birds.
• China says bird flu virus in humans mutating.
• Here is a copy of an article released today by National Geographic News.

November 23, 2005

• China reports 2nd human death from bird flu. China also reports it will test 100 people with a vaccine hoped to protect against H5N1.
• China has had 24 bird flu outbreaks. Daily sales of chicken has fallen as much as 80%.
• US updates its quarantine procedures ahead of possible bird flu pandemic. The CDC has increased the number of quarantine stations near airports, sea ports and key border entries from eight to 18.

November 16, 2005

• China reports its first 3 human cases of bird flu including one death. the death was a 12 year-old girl. China is now going to vaccinate all the country's 14 billion domestic fowl.
• Indonesia reports 2 more deaths from bird flu confirmed. This makes 7 confirmed deaths and 4 cases where patients survived.
• Roche has settled a lawsuit with the inventor of Tamiflu, Gilead Sciences. It will now scale up production to 300 million treatments by the end of 2006.
• Enjoy Thanksgiving dinner. Dr. Larry Holditch, of the Cincinnati Health Department states our food supply is completely safe. The United States imports very little poultry -- none of it from the east Asia.

November 14, 2005

• Indonesia reported a 20-year-old woman died of bird flu and several countries reported new suspected human cases of the deadly virus.
• There are 64 confirmed deaths from bird flu including 42 in Vietnam, 13 in Thailand and 4 in Cambodia.

November 11, 2005

• China reports three outbreaks in Liaoning province in 24 hour and a fourth suspected human infection.
• A flamingo in Kuwait has bird flu strain. This is the first case of bird flu in the Arab world.
• A one-year-old boy in Bangkok has been diagnosed with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
• Scientist in Hong Kong said H5N1 causes a "storm" of immune system chemicals known as cytokines to rush to infected lung tissue. This is an immune system overreaction which could explain why young people are more at risk than the elderly.

November 9, 2005

• Treatment updates include the purchase of enough anti-viral medication for 81 million people. Two companies have been hired to develop a vaccine.
• Fighting H5N1 in poultry and preparing for the next human flu pandemic will cost about $1.5 billion over the next three years.
• Roche said it is producing enough Tamiflu to treat 55 million people this year.
• KFC prepares commercials to reassure the public that its chicken is safe in case of an epidemic.
• A 16-year-old Indonesian girl is the 65th person to die from bird flu.

November 8, 2005

• China closed live poultry markets in Beijing and were going house-to-house seizing chickens and ducks raised in private homes.
• Roche stopped selling Tamiflu in China and is turning over supplies to the government.

November 7 , 2005

• As many as 180,000 Californians could die - and millions more hospitalized - if bird flu becomes contagious among humans and reaches California.

October 28, 2005

• Scientists in both London and the USA have produced a vaccine to H5N1, bird flu. This vaccine was made from a strain that infected a Vietnamese patient and they do not know if it will work against a pandemic strain that might eventually arise. A vaccine against the pandemic strain could take up to six months to develop.
• Roche, maker of the antiviral drug Tamiflu, has suspended distribution due to hoarding of the drug.

October 26, 2005

• Asian Bird Flue found in Croatia. H5N1 found in dead swans.
• Three people on French Indian Ocean island of Reunion are being tested for bird flu

October 23, 2005

• Asian Bird Flue spreads to England.
• The European Union will possibly ban imports of wild birds. Their experts will discuss this on Tuesday.
• Jordan and Israel agreed to limited cooperation to combat possible spread of bird flu.

October 20, 2005

• Bird flu is confirmed in Romania, Turkey and Russia.
• Thailand confirms its 13th human bird flu fatality. Sixty-one people have died in Asia since 2003.

Updated by James Krider, MD on November 23, 2005.