(UK) Vet 'tested for bird flu' in hospital

[Maddy McCall]

A vet who spent time on the Suffolk farm at the centre of a bird flu outbreak has fallen ill and is being tested in hospital for the disease.

The news has triggered alarm that the H5N1 virus could be far more harmful and contagious than the Government and its experts have been saying.

To date, ministers and the Health Protection Agency have dismissed any threat to human health associated with the outbreak as 'negligible'.

However, it emerged last night that a senior government vet, who was involved in diagnosing the virus at the turkey farm run by Bernard Matthews, is unwell.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=434423&in_page_id=1770

[JoFerret]

1. Java, not Suffolk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2007340,00.html
<<Avian flu will be the first plague in history to be preceded by a vast and lurid advertising campaign; yet despite all the warning signs, the rich countries have entirely failed to back up their rhetoric with sufficient aid to the poor frontline countries, or any genuine effort to develop a "world vaccine">>

[Mojorabbit]

2. Even worse is this

Indonesia, Baxter Sign Deal on Bird Flu Vaccine

By Reuters | 06 Feb 2007 |

The Indonesian government signed a memorandum of understanding with a Swiss unit of U.S. company Baxter International on Wednesday to develop a human bird flu vaccine.

The deal has stirred controversy because it has been linked to an Indonesian decision not to share samples of its H5N1 bird flu virus with foreign laboratories.



http://www.cnbc.com/id/17014610

Damn Baxter cut a deal with Indonesia so now no sequences will be forthcoming. The WHO is upset about it. Indonesia has so many suspected patients of avian flu and dengue they have had tents set up outside of hospitals for weeks.

[JoFerret]

3. Tested negative

http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,,2007540,00.html