Word: h5n1
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...pandemic influenza, Dr. David Heymann has one of the most important jobs in medicine: coordinating international preparations for a possible virus outbreak that could threaten millions of lives. That job got much harder on Feb. 7, when Indonesia announced it had stopped sharing with the WHO the samples of H5N1 avian-flu virus it had isolated. Simultaneously, Jakarta announced an agreement with U.S. drug company Baxter International, which will develop a vaccine from the strains and give Indonesia technical assistance in manufacturing it. For 50 years, the WHO has received free influenza-virus samples from around the world, which...
...capacity is already spoken for by wealthier nations. A recent article in the British medical journal the Lancet predicted that if the next pandemic were to be as deadly as the 1918 flu, 96% of its estimated 62 million victims would come from developing countries. But withholding information on H5N1 isn't the answer. Instead, Heymann and the WHO are working to expand vaccine production in the developing world, enlisting companies to transfer medical technology there and encouraging wider use of seasonal flu vaccines, considered a luxury in poorer countries. Says Heymann: "We need to change the way the system...
...north, more than 100 ducks were found dead from H5N1 on Jan. 10; further south, the disease killed several wild birds in December. A major poultry exporter, Thailand is a hot zone for the virus; 17 Thais have died from it since...
Indonesia, where millions of people reside in close quarters with live poultry, led the world with 57 human fatalities by the end of 2006. Four more people have died since Jan. 10, and several patients remain hospitalized. The 18-year-old son of one victim tested positive for H5N1 as well, raising fears of human-to-human transmission...
...scaly-breasted munia, found dead in a crowded shopping district on New Year's Eve, and a crested goshawk collected on Jan. 9 both tested positive for H5N1, prompting concerns that the virus had returned to the city that reported the world's first human cases...