Urgent Bird Flu Summit in Rome

[DuctapeFatwa]

Health experts are meeting in Rome for an emergency bird flu summit as deaths from the disease mount in Asia and fears rise the illness may have reached Europe.

Health authorities in Germany said they were testing two women for possible bird flu infection.



One of the women fell ill after returning from Thailand, but officials say it is unlikely they have the disease.



Meanwhile, health officials in Thailand said 102 people with flu-like symptoms were being "examined closely"

http://www.china.org.cn/english/international/86192.htm

[Wonk]

1. Deadly bird flu death toll rises to 18 - CNN

Friday, February 6, 2004 Posted: 1:53 AM EST (0653 GMT)

ROME, Italy -- United Nations health experts have issued stern warnings about bird flu as the human death toll in Asia rises to 18.

Experts at an emergency meeting in Rome are urging proper control methods to keep the epidemic from spreading to other countries.

(snip)

Bird flu has spread like wildfire in poultry across Asia, but so far Vietnam and Thailand are the only two countries with confirmed human cases and deaths.

In China, where outbreaks have been widespread, Agriculture Ministry officials have reported that 56,000 birds have been infected, and 49,000 have died, while about 1.2 million birds -- including chickens, ducks and geese -- have been destroyed to try to contain the outbreaks.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/02/06/birdflu/

[Occulus]

3. A source

close to military sources claims this will be BIG news within two weeks here in the US. He claims the disease is already here, via an unpublicized flight from Europe to the US with sick people onboard.

Want a cheap bioweapon? Send your sick overseas. Hey, it worked for the Conquistadors, and our own Army's efforts against native Americans.... need a blanket?

[Snow]

7. I read with interest your posts on the other thread....

were your concerns based on epidemic modelling of the spread from the plane? If so, could you share your assumptions - the transmissability, latency, time of introduction and so forth? I'm not being at all sarcastic or trying to put you on the spot here, I'm honestly curious and would like to run a few models myself. I'll probably start with the top reference, mathematical biology, listed here. Those models are implemented in stata v7, I think
http://t13web.lanl.gov/ldrd_dr2003/index.html

[FuseONE]

2. Not to make light....

But "Bird Flu Summit" would be a great name for a band.

[SpiralHawk]

4. Add it up: Bird flu + Mad Cow + toxic salmon

Mods: I have permission to post all of this:

Clean, Healthy Food in a Time of Concern:
by Steven McFadden
Feb. 4 - 2004

We are in the early stages of what may turn out to be a global food crisis -- a crisis initially about quality and safety, but a crisis that may eventually come to bear on quantity as well.

In the context of recent news about Mad Cow Disease, toxic farm-raised salmon, and the Avian flu that is causing the destruction of vast numbers of chickens, it is a good time to consider the quality and safety of your food.

Where does your food come from? Who are the people who raised the food? In what ways have chemicals been used to grow, process and preserve the food? Has the food been exposed to irradiation as it passed through industrial-scale processing? Has the food been handled industrially, or genetically engineered? Most people have no idea about the true nature of the meat, vegetables, fruit and grain they are putting in their mouths.


I have just finished researching and writing a two-part magazine article about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for "The New Farm," an online publication of The Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania. Here is a direct link to part I of the story and the photographs that illustrate it, published Feb. 2, 2004. Part II of my story will be published later this month.

http://www.thenewfarm.org/features/0104/csa-history/part1.shtml

Community Farms (CSAs) are one viable alternative for people everywhere in the world to insure the safety and quality of their food. Now, as the corporate and industrial models of agriculture continue to dominate and to falter badly, its an excellent time for farmers and communities to explore the creative and sustainable possibilities of CSA in depth.

When I interviewed Lincoln Geiger of the Temple-Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire, he summed the entire issue up in one sentence: "Much is at stake, and we are the keepers of the Earth."

I agree wholeheartedly with Lincoln’s observation. Agriculture is the foundation of our modern civilization. It will remain so in whatever ages are yet to come. Without a steady supply of clean, life-giving food, we have neither the leisure nor the energy to develop other aspects of life, such as industry, science and art.

Through two books Trauger Groh and I have sought to emphasize the fundamental importance of farming, and to explore some of the sustainable possibilities in theory and in practical detail. Here are links to two essays on these themes:

Farms of Tomorrow Revisited
http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms-1.html

Community Farms: Outside the Box, but Inside the Hoop
http://www.chiron-communications.com/farms-2.html

- END -

[Minstrel Boy]

5. meat, poultry, fish, all toxic. And don't forget the vegetables:

High Levels of Toxic Rocket Fuel Found in Lettuce

Eating lettuce or other vegetables grown in fields irrigated by the Colorado River may expose consumers to a larger dose of toxic rocket fuel than is considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to test data and documents obtained by Environmental Working Group (EWG).

Test results never before made public show that leafy vegetables grown with contaminated irrigation water take up, store and concentrate potentially harmful levels of perchlorate, a thyroid toxin that is the explosive main ingredient of rocket and missile fuel.

http://www.ewg.org/reports/rocketlettuce/

[Wonk]

6. Vaccine strategy daunting project for Asia

ROME - The logistics of vaccinating millions of healthy chickens against bird flu in Asia came into focus yesterday after UN agencies backed the strategy as part of a wider approach to containing the disease.

While mass culling of infected birds remains the gold standard, carefully targeted vaccination can also play a role, reducing the economic toll of the outbreak while still protecting human health, experts said.

The advice came out of a two-day meeting in Rome hosted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

(snip)

A suitable vaccine already exists and is being used in some countries, but if demand is overwhelming, manufacturers will need a couple of months to build up enough stocks, said Dr Bernard Vallat, director-general of the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health.

more...
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,233916,00.html