Word: websters
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...Webster was in Memphis driving home from a Saturday at work when his wife told him he had received a call from the CDC. He called back, waited, called again, and this time got the news: "The virus is moving...
...Webster and Shortridge, Hong Kong's many outdoor markets held the key to why the confirmed cases of H5 were spread in such haphazard fashion throughout Hong Kong. In some cases, the CDC team and health-department investigators were unable to prove direct contact with poultry, which suggested that some of the victims caught the virus through contact so casual they simply weren't aware of it. Says Shortridge: "It suggested to me there was a hell of a lot of virus in the environment that we weren't aware...
...Webster and Shortridge quickly arranged an ad hoc task force to begin testing poultry in the city's "wet" markets, so named because retailers use water to clean their stalls and adjacent sidewalks. The group began its probe on Dec. 22 and worked 18 hours a day right through Dec. 28, the day Hong Kong authorities began their territory-wide slaughter. The research showed that 10% of chickens in the markets carried the virus. Ducks and geese in the markets carried it too--especially worrisome, given their ability to carry infections without outward sign of illness. In the markets...
...Webster and Shortridge are convinced that the avian virus is still circulating in the environment. "I don't think we're out of the woods yet," says Shortridge. Fukuda agrees: "You would be a fool to predict what the virus is going to do next. I'm equally prepared for this thing to disappear as I am to hear one day when I walk into the office, 'Oh, did you hear? There's another 10 cases--or 100 cases...
...Webster, it was a striking moment--the first time he had ever been invited to the meeting, a point he made clear in the opening moments of his talk. Equally striking, no one on the panel tried to minimize the potential danger of the new avian virus. Far from it. In a vote the FDA had not even requested, the committee unanimously agreed to move ahead to develop a vaccine against H5, even take it through clinical trials...