Easter 2008

FAO: H5N1 levels in Indonesia raise pandemic risk

Mar 18, 2008 (CIDRAP News) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today warned that H5N1 avian influenza levels in Indonesia's poultry are so high that conditions may be ripe for the type of viral mutation that could spark an influenza pandemic.

"I am deeply concerned that the high level of virus circulation in birds in the country could create conditions for the virus to mutate and to finally cause a human influenza pandemic," said Joseph Domenech, the FAO's chief veterinary officer, in a press release today.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/mar1808birds.html

Bird flu

Turkish authorities have quarantined a northwestern village close to the border with Greece after bird flu was detected among chickens, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. The measure was adopted after samples from a chicken from the village of Esetce, near the town of Ipsala, tested positive for the virus, district Governor Aylin Kirci Duman told the news agency. It was not immediately clear whether the virus was the deadly H5N1 strain that can kill humans. (AFP)

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/world_&xml/&aspKath/world.asp&fdate=19/03/2008

Mozambique: At Least Four Dead From Cyclone Jokwe

Cylone Jokwe left a trail of destruction this weekend across coastal districts in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula.

According to the country's relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC), at least four people died on Saturday when the cyclone, with winds of up to 100 kilometres an hour, swept through the district of Mogincual. Three were killed in the coastal locality of Quinga, and a fourth died when a mosque collapsed in the town of Namige.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200803101504.html

Flu outbreak could put big cities on lockdown

CHICAGO - Containing an influenza pandemic in a large U.S. city like Chicago would require widespread school closings, quarantines of infected households and bans on public gatherings, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

But, if done quickly and well, such steps could reduce infections by as much as 80 percent, said researcher Stephen Eubank of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, based on a computer simulation of just such an event.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23564843/

Culling operation begins as bird flu resurfaces in WB

NEW DELHI: With bird flu resurfacing in West Bengal's Murshidabad district, culling operations on Monday began in the state.

Culling began in a radius of five kilometres around the new area of infection. While 22,400 birds are to be culled in Raghunathganj-II, the culling target in respect of Jiaganj is 27,200 birds, the Union Animal Husbandry Department said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata/Culling_operation_begins_as_bird_flu_resurfaces_in_WB/articleshow/2852882.cms

Over 100 Cases In New Caledonia Dengue Fever Epidemic

The dengue fever epidemic which was declared last month in New Caledonia has now affected some 104 persons since the beginning of this year, according to latest counts at the weekend.

Most of the known cases are concentrated in the capital Nouméa and its greater area, as well as other reported hotbeds in the North-eastern island of Lifou (part of the Loyalty group) and on the Isle of Pines (South of the capital Nouméa), local media report.

http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2008/03/04/over-100-cases-in-new-caledonia-dengue-fever-epidemic-

Vietnam reports two more bird flu-hit provinces

HANOI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Bird flu has recently stricken poultry in the two northern provinces of Phu Tho and Ha Nam, raising the total number of affected localities in Vietnam to nine.

The disease has killed 124 fowls Cam Khe district of Phu Tho, and Duy Tien district of Ha Nam, whose specimens have been tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1, the Young People newspaper reported Monday.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/03/content_7707431.htm