Bird Flu again

[a_propagandist]

Spoiler :

New death from bird flu in China
BBC map

A Chinese woman has died from bird flu in the eastern Shandong province, state media has said.

It says Ms Zhang, aged 27, died at the weekend after becoming infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

It is the second reported death from bird flu in China this year. Two weeks ago, a 19-year-old woman died in Beijing after handling ducks.

The latest death was announced the day after the infection of a two-year old with bird flu in Hunan was reported.

The three new cases are the first to be reported in China in almost a year.

The toddler is now in hospital in her home province of Shanxi and all those who had been in contact with her are being watched.

The toll from bird flu in China is now reported by state media as 22 since 2003.

China's ministry of agriculture said on Sunday that no bird flu epidemics were detected in Shanxi and Henan provinces after the two-year-old's infection was confirmed.

Grim threat

The ministry said China now faces "a grim situation" in bird flu prevention, threatened by frequent outbreaks in neighbouring countries, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

Other threats came from brisk poultry trade ahead of the Spring Festival and difficulties in taking prevention measures at loosely managed household farms, it said.

Bird flu often resurges in the winter months in China, but not every case is fatal.

China has the world's biggest poultry population and is seen as critical in the fight to contain H5N1, which resurfaced in Asia in 2003, killing at least 247 people.

H5N1 does not transmit easily to humans but experts fear it could mutate and cause a worldwide pandemic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7836791.stm

So, discuss. More so, please address discussion about spread and mutation. Possibility of pandemic?

 

[Sharwood]

Spoiler :

New death from bird flu in China
BBC map

A Chinese woman has died from bird flu in the eastern Shandong province, state media has said.

It says Ms Zhang, aged 27, died at the weekend after becoming infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

It is the second reported death from bird flu in China this year. Two weeks ago, a 19-year-old woman died in Beijing after handling ducks.

The latest death was announced the day after the infection of a two-year old with bird flu in Hunan was reported.

The three new cases are the first to be reported in China in almost a year.

The toddler is now in hospital in her home province of Shanxi and all those who had been in contact with her are being watched.

The toll from bird flu in China is now reported by state media as 22 since 2003.

China's ministry of agriculture said on Sunday that no bird flu epidemics were detected in Shanxi and Henan provinces after the two-year-old's infection was confirmed.

Grim threat

The ministry said China now faces "a grim situation" in bird flu prevention, threatened by frequent outbreaks in neighbouring countries, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

Other threats came from brisk poultry trade ahead of the Spring Festival and difficulties in taking prevention measures at loosely managed household farms, it said.

Bird flu often resurges in the winter months in China, but not every case is fatal.

China has the world's biggest poultry population and is seen as critical in the fight to contain H5N1, which resurfaced in Asia in 2003, killing at least 247 people.

H5N1 does not transmit easily to humans but experts fear it could mutate and cause a worldwide pandemic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7836791.stm

So, discuss. More so, please address discussion about spread and mutation. Possibility of pandemic?

We'll be fine unless it meets a strand of dormant rabies. If that happens, Will Smith is our only hope.

Seriously, this is just another case of scaremongering. The odds of a pandemic from this are very slim. The real fear comes from the fact that the last two major pandemics were bird-related viruses - supposedly both from pigeons, if I'm remembering correctly - but medical science has advanced greatly since then, and we are far more capable of simply shutting our borders now.

The danger isn't that birds will fly over and give us the flu, the danger is that a human will catch it, it will mutate into something highly contagious and deadly and spread from human to human. That is quite unlikely, though possible. If that happens, China's screwed, many neighbouring countries as well, but first world nations should be fine. Might destroy our economies though.