Word: flu
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When Somsak Laemphakwan's chickens started dying in early August, he buried the corpses deep in the ground, hoping to halt the bird flu ravaging his village in northwest Thailand. It didn't work. Later that month, his 11-year-old niece Sakuntala Premphasri developed a stomachache and a high fever. When Somsak took her to a nearby clinic on Sept. 2, nurses dismissed her illness as a common cold. Five days later Sakuntala was back in the clinic, unable to walk and vomiting blood. She was sent to the district hospital, and her mother, Pranee Thongchan, was summoned from...
...several witnesses, Pranee looked ill and complained of tiredness. "We thought it was because of the stress of losing her daughter," says a villager. Pranee visited a clinic, but like her child, was sent home, and then returned to Bangkok. Less than two weeks later, Pranee died of bird flu, the country's 10th confirmed victim of the disease?but one with a major distinction. On Sept. 28, a joint World Health Organization (WHO) and Thai investigation announced what scientists studying the H5N1 bird-flu virus had long feared: Pranee hadn't contracted the disease from chickens. She had almost...
...bird-flu virus manages to become easily transmittable between humans, the world could be in for a health catastrophe approaching the "Spanish flu" pandemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 40 million people. But by week's end, health officials were relieved to discover that the disease had apparently failed to spread beyond the small family cluster. (Somsak's wife and six-year-old son were both quarantined in a provincial hospital with bird-flu symptoms, and his son has recovered.) The human-to-human transmission "is a nonsustained, inefficient, dead-end street," says Dr. Klaus Stohr, head...
...Around HKU, that's a question of when, not if. HKU's work on SARS and bird flu has helped transform a regional university into a world player in disease research, and its staff understand that they are part of a vital bulwark. "Hong Kong is a very strategic place to be for emerging-infectious-disease work," says Yuen. And when the next would-be superbug pops up, at least scientists will have one more arrow in their quiver...
What should you do? The best way to lower your risk is to talk to your doctor regularly. If you're over 50, have your blood pressure and cholesterol checked every year. You should also get a flu shot and speak with your doctor about a screening for colorectal cancer. If you're a woman 50 or older, you should be tested periodically for cervical and breast cancer. In general, the lower your risk factors for a disease, the less frequently you ought to be tested...