Word: avian
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...only has a partial idea of what's happening with bird flu in Indonesia. That's because the country stopping sharing samples of the H5N1 virus with the World Health Organization (WHO) starting at the end of last year. Every time a country records a new human cases of avian flu, it is expected - though not required - to pass along virus samples from the patient to WHO-approved labs. The WHO can use the virus samples to prepare a seed strain that commercial drug vaccines utilize to manufacture vaccines. No viruses, no vaccines - which is why Indonesia's actions have...
...love the entrepreneurial dirty jobs or the people who are literally just surviving on some crazy niche, like the avian vomitologist. Owl vomit looks very much like a piece of charcoal. The reason Don Cicoletti collects it is because if you crack the vomit open and start to pull it apart, you'll find the hair and bones from the prey the owl has swallowed whole. Don sells these things by the boatload to elementary schools, and the kids put the mouse back together again. This guy is making a living crawling through the woods looking for owl vomit...
...Cicoletti, the avian vomitologist, says, "Hey, as long as I'm bent over I might as well pick something up." That's great advice. We are all bent over metaphorically one way or another. If we took the time to pick up whatever's in front of us, hey, who knows? It could turn into gold...
...million children under the age of 5, almost all from the developing world, die from diseases that could be easily prevented with a vaccine. For most of us, those needless deaths prick our consciences and motivate us to open our wallets, but they don't threaten our own health. Avian influenza is different. Though the H5N1 virus is spreading and killing mainly in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, the possibility that bird flu could mutate and become a pandemic is a serious threat to us all. That's why Jakarta's fight with the World Health Organization (WHO) over...
...world have shared new flu strains with the WHO, to help scientists track genetic changes in the fast-mutating virus. The WHO uses that information to create a seed strain to drug companies, at no cost, which then manufacture and sell commercial flu vaccines. That process continued with avian flu until late last year, when Indonesia-the country that has suffered the most bird-flu deaths-suddenly stopped sharing virus samples and instead signed an agreement with the U.S. drug company Baxter to provide virus strains in exchange for help in eventually producing its own vaccine. Jakarta health officials argued...