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Fatal case of H5N1 bird flu reported in Alberta

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Ryan View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ryan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Fatal case of H5N1 bird flu reported in Alberta
    Posted: January 08 2014 at 1:37pm
http://www.calgaryherald.comews/alberta/Fatal+case+H5N1+bird+reed+Alberta/9364343/story. - http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/alberta/Fatal+case+H5N1+bird+reported+Alberta/9364343/story.html

TL;DR:

- Unknown aged victim traveled to China in December and returned on January 1st.
- "Unclear" how they contracted the disease. No evidence of human-to-human transmission.
- They died on January 3rd. 
- Close contacts receiving Tamiflu. No other symptomatic persons reported.

Health officials are downplaying severity but haven't mentioned anything about what flight they were on, where it stopped over (very likely Vancouver airport), or what other steps they're taking.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Kyle Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 1:50pm
Not to mention aircraft are rarely fully sanitized. Turn around crews have only 7minutes to service and clean an entire airplane, lavatories included. 1 minute late and it can cost the airlines thousands. They'd rather have a on time departure than an outbreak among passengers and crew.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saskabush Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 1:52pm
Flights were Air Canada 030, December 27th Beijing to Vancouver then Air Canada 244, Vancouver to Edmonton, same date
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 1:56pm

First N America H5N1 avian flu death confirmed in Canada

Breaking news

Canadian health officials have confirmed the first known fatal case of the H5N1 avian influenza strain in North America.

Health Minister Rona Ambrose said the deceased was a resident of Alberta who had recently travelled to Beijing.

Calling the death an "isolated case", Ms Ambrose said the risk to the general population was low.

The province of Alberta has seen 10 deaths this season from H1N1, often called swine flu.


THIS COULD BE THE GAME CHANGER !!!!!!!!


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 2:22pm

First N America H5N1 avian flu death confirmed in Canada

Bird being given H5N1 bird flu vaccine in Shangsi county, China. April 2013 China has been vaccinating poultry against the H5N1 virus

Canadian health officials have confirmed the first known fatal case of the H5N1 avian influenza strain in North America.

The health minister for the province of Alberta, Rona Ambrose said the deceased was an Alberta resident who had recently travelled to Beijing.

Calling the death an "isolated case", Ms Ambrose said the risk to the general population was low.

Ten people have died in Alberta this season from swine flu, or H1N1.

H5N1 infects the lower respiratory tract deep in the lung, where it can cause deadly pneumonia.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is difficult to transmit the virus from person to person but when people do become infected, the mortality rate is about 60%.

In the latest incident, the infected person first showed symptoms of the flu on an Air Canada flight from Beijing to Vancouver on 27 December, officials said.

The passenger continued on to Edmonton and on 1 January was admitted to hospital where they died two days later.

Canadian federal health officials said they would not identify the patient's sex, age or occupation.

Ms Ambrose said Canadian officials were working with Chinese authorities on the case.

"The risk of getting H5N1 is very low. This is not the regular seasonal flu. This is an isolated case," she said.

WHO officials say that if the H5N1 virus were to mutate and become easily transmissible between humans, the consequences for public health could be very serious.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saskabush Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 2:25pm
"Dr. James Talbot, chief medical officer for Alberta, said the person was admitted to hospital on Jan. 1 with high fever and “decreasing CNS consciousness” (meaning extreme lethargy). There was no cough or other signs of respiratory illness, which is usually the case with influenza, but not always with H5N1. Dr. Talbot said the patient died of meningoencephalitis, or swelling of the brain."   THE GLOBE AND MAIL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Sara Piddick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 2:35pm
Hopefully this is very isolated. Otherwise it's much too close to home (literally).

If incubation time is 2-17 days, and the patient died on the 2nd, we'll know for sure how isolated this case is very soon.

I am kinda concerned about how this person died nearly a week ago, and they're only telling us about it now...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MelodyAtHome Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 2:49pm
Do we know....
1. Was she sick when she left China?
2. If not, how soon after she got home was she sick?
3. For how long was she sick before she died?
4. Did any other family members become ill and got better and did not die?
5. They said no human to human contact? Was she feeding chickens or something while visiting family in China? Is that how she got it?
6. Any one she was in contact sick with flu while she was in China?
This really concerns me. I'm sure we don' t have answers to most of my questions but I sure would like to know.
Melody
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saskabush Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 3:19pm
"The person first showed symptoms of the flu on a Dec. 27 flight from Beijing to Vancouver aboard Air Canada flight 030. The passenger continued on to Edmonton on Air Canada flight 244, after spending a few hours in the Vancouver airport, and was admitted to hospital Jan. 1. The symptoms of fever, malaise and headache worsened and the patient died two days later. The Public Health Agency of Canada was notified Jan. 5."
2 companions not showing symptoms.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MelodyAtHome Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 3:40pm
Thanks Saskabush. So they let her on while she was sick? That is not good. Then they let her continue on another flight? Again, not good :(
She must have gotten sick very quickly to have decided to take the flight and she must have just got worse as the flights continued. She died QUICKLY!
I wonder if they checked with everyone on board the flights she was on and if everyone is OK? I hope everyone is OK and this is just a one time thing.
i'm sorry for this person and pray for her family. They must be in shock.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 4:05pm
i wonder where the HER came from ,as they not released age or gender ??
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saskabush Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 4:20pm
"Officials said they would not release the H5N1 victim’s name, age or gender, even though the patient was often referred to as “she” in media briefings.
People who travelled on the same flights as the H5N1 victim will be contacted and “reassured” of the low risk of infection, health officials said."


Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/alberta-resident-dies-from-avian-flu-in-north-america-s-first-human-case-of-h5n1-1.1629498#ixzz2pr85OWbt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 5:02pm
H5N1 hasn't managed to go H2H yet after almost 17 years of circulating between poultry, pigs and humans, and there's really no reason to suspect that a single plane ride is what it's been waiting for. It's running rampant in Cambodia right now with no signs of more efficient transmission. I know this is an important milestone in the history of this virus, but it's still a single patient with no confirmed spread to others. The patient was in Beijing and they just announced an outbreak in poultry in China so it's entirely possible that no human to human spread was involved. We'll know soon enough if this is something to worry about, but my gut feeling is that it probably isn't. I hope
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 5:10pm
That's one plane and one victim we know about ,thus far ,

not been any cases of h5n1 in China, lately has there ??

plenty of h7n9,

i suppose the big worry is RECOMBINATION with either h7n9 or h1n1 ,

h7n1 being in China ,

and h1n1 rife in the States and Canada,

Pandora's Box!!!!!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 5:17pm
I seem to recall someone wanted to talk about H5N1 - hey presto...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 5:36pm
sorry that was me i think !!!!

i watch  as ever with interest LOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Albert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 5:52pm
Patient zero and we didn't even get her name.    Stern Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2014 at 6:46pm
Originally posted by carbon20 carbon20 wrote:

sorry that was me i think !!!!


Careful what you wish for
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote EdwinSm, Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 12:08am
I find this news hard to believe.

Since 2010 China has only been reporting to WHO one or two cases a year of H5N1, so it should be almost impossible for the poor lady to have caught it.

The peak year for the outbreak in China was 2006 with 13 cases and 8 deaths.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 1:29am
Not Beijing, but China reported an outbreak of H5N1 in poultry at the end of December.




Bird flu in China killed 8,500 chickens in December

Jan. 4, 2014 at 5:35 PM   |   0 comments

print
China Ministry of Agriculture: Bird flu in chickens Chickens feed on trash outside a low-income housing area on the outskirts of Beijing on April 19, 201. UPI/Stephen Shaver
| License Photo
BEIJING, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Chickens showed symptoms of avian flu at a farm in a village in the province of Guizhou in China where 8,500 chickens died in December, officials say.

Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture in China said the fowl died Dec. 27 and the National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory confirmed the epidemic was H5N1 bird flu after testing samples collected at the farm, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Ministry of Agriculture said local authorities sealed off and sterilized the infected area. More than 23,067 chickens were culled and disposed of to prevent the disease from spreading, agriculture officials said.

Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a contagious disease of animal origin by type A strains of the influenza virus that normally infect only birds and, less commonly, pigs. It can be fatal to humans, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

The infection can cause a wide spectrum of symptoms in birds, ranging from mild illness, which may pass unnoticed, to a rapidly fatal disease that can cause severe epidemics, officials at the World Health Organization said.

"Avian influenza viruses do not normally infect humans. However, there have been instances of certain highly pathogenic strains causing severe respiratory disease in humans," WHO said. "In most cases, the people infected had been in close contact with infected poultry or with objects contaminated by their feces. Nevertheless, there is concern that the virus could mutate to become more easily transmissible between humans, raising the possibility of an influenza pandemic."


http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2014/01/04/Bird-flu-in-China-killed-8500-chickens-in-December/UPI-15611388874936/

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 3:28am
oooops missed that one !!!!!!!!!!! great find Jacksdad, both events started on the 27th then , how far from

 Bejing is Guixhou?

did victim visit ??
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote atheris Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 5:04am
about 1000 miles, 1600 km... via air, calculated with a google tool, on the map
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Albert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 6:26am
The only thing that makes sense at this point is that there have been more cases of h5n1 over the years in China and they've been under-reporting or not reporting cases, similar to what they have done with h7n9.   Or it's recently mutated. 



https://www.facebook.com/Avianflutalk
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Albert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 7:03am

And of course we also have the Chinese running their h5n1 experiments, so anything is possible.


Chinese Scientists Create New Mutant Bird-Flu Virus



http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/h5n1-h1n1-reassortment/
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 7:55am
The possibility exists that H5N1 has just been biding it's time and waiting for another virus to show up with the genes it needs to go H2H. While we've been treating H1N1 as a threat on it's own merit, maybe the real danger is it's ability to infect and it's willingness to share that trait with other viruses. I remember after the 2009 pandemic H1N1's M gene (touted as one of the reasons it spread so easily) started showing up in other flu strains. If we have widespread H1N1 outbreaks over here, you can bet that it's in China cozying up with H7N9 and now possibly H5N1.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote coyote Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 11:57am
H5N1 death detective work by WHO begins in Alberta case

Infectious disease expert says it's 'odd' for someone to get H5N1 from non-poultry source.
"At the moment, we know that the woman didn't visit a poultry farm of a poultry market, but that does not necessarily mean [that] exposure was excluded," Zhang said.

A second focus for the WHO is on close contacts, Zhang said. The goal is to understand whether any human-to-human transmission occurred.
[link to www.cbc.ca]
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 12:38pm
Helen Branswell is a world renowned journalist in Canada that's quite the authority on Avian Flu, particularly H5N1. You know she's already all over this - can't wait to see her take on it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 12:40pm
Spoke too soon - just did a search after posting the previous comment and found this,



January 8, 2014 Updated: January 9, 2014 | 8:10 am
Adjust Text Size

Before you panic, here are basic facts about H5N1 flu

By Helen Branswell The Canadian Press

Share this Article

Toby Talbot/The Canadian Press In this Nov. 18, 2004 photo, a flu shot is administered in Barre, Vt.

TORONTO – Canada has reported the first case in North America of an infection with the H5N1 avian flu virus.

An Alberta resident who had travelled to Beijing, China in December fell ill and died after returning.

With H1N1 — seasonal flu — making headlines these days, this new development may trigger flu confusion. So here are some essential flu facts:

What is H5N1? It’s the original “bird flu.” This is the virus that burst out in Asia in late 2003 and early 2004. Millions of poultry died or were culled as the virus — which is highly infectious among birds — spread in Vietnam, Thailand and other countries. It hasn’t been making as many headlines lately, but it’s still causing bird outbreaks and occasional human cases in parts of Asia.

Highly infectious among birds? What about people? Since late 2003, just under 650 people from 15 — now 16 — countries are known to have contracted this strain of flu. But it rarely infects humans. Untold numbers of people in affected countries would have been exposed to it over the years but very few have gotten sick. And while there have been a few cases where one sick person spread it to others, those chains of transmission have always died out. Unlike human flu viruses, this virus is not an effective person-to-person spreader.

Is it likely the Canadian case will lead to more infections? Health authorities say there are no signs of illness among of the person’s contacts or the health-care workers who cared for the patient. They’ll need to watch those people for a couple of weeks to make sure. But this could be a one-off case.

So what’s the fuss about? The virus doesn’t spread person to person now. But science can’t tell if it will evolve and acquire the capacity to spread human to human. So flu experts and the World Health Organization watch this virus closely. Also, about 60 per cent of people who have been known to have been infected have died. So while infections are rare, they’re often severe.

Does a flu shot protect against H5N1? No. The seasonal flu vaccine protects against the human flu viruses that circulate every winter. Some manufacturers have made experimental H5N1 vaccines for testing purposes, but there is no H5N1 vaccine available for the public at this moment.

Is H5N1 related to H1N1, the virus we’re hearing so much about this winter? All flu viruses have the same original source; they come from wild water birds like ducks. But some have found their way into animals — pigs, horses, dogs — and spread among them. And some have become human flu viruses: H1N1, H3N2 and influenza B viruses.

Human viruses? Bird viruses? What’s the difference? Our immune systems have some experience with the seasonal viruses. From childhood, we’ve been infected sporadically throughout our lives. But animal or bird flu viruses look different enough genetically that our immune systems don’t mount the kinds of response they do for regular flu. More people would be susceptible to them, so if they start to spread among people they can set off a huge wave of illness, called a pandemic. That happened in 2009 when a swine influenza virus, H1N1, started infecting people.

Will H5N1 cause a pandemic? Currently there is no way to know if it will or it won’t.


http://metronews.ca/news/canada/903359/before-you-panic-here-are-basic-facts-about-h5n1-flu/


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 1:41pm
think it was Albert who said " China is a cesspit" of viruses,

think he right,

me still wondering about all the Pig deaths  18months ago !!!!!!!
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WE ARE OUT OF VACCINE

Spent most of the day trying to get the jab. Apparently the few doses left are being held for HCW.

Now if we can only get them to do it...Not holding my breath.

HCW immunization rates here have been dismal. Less than 40% in many Health Districts here. A bloody disgrace in my opinion. When you are working with an immuno-compromised population (ie. already sick people in hospital/long term senior facility), you should be responsible enough to make sure you aren't making a bad situation much worse for the patient, (regardless of why the person is in your care in the first place) by infecting them with a virus that could cost them their lives.

And finally, to lighten things up a bit, I just heard on CTV News that we are also out of CheezWhiz....WTF....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 9:42pm
Saskabush, perhaps the take up of jabs by health care workers is so low because they either know or believe it to be not that effective and additionally they don't want to pump a chemical cocktail into their system. I wouldn't have a flu jab.

As for making a bad situation worse for the patient, the medical world should look at their basic hygiene in their hospitals and doctors surgeries first. As a previous post mentions, there are some seriously dangerous bacterial infections lurking in hospitals. Ever since cleaning was put out to tender standards have dropped. I was in a hospital in England once and there was excrement on the walls of the toilet. I went and told a nurse and she shrugged and said that the cleaners weren't very good!!!!!!
Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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Kiwimum
You and I are going to disagree on this one.
I have worked in what we call 'long term care' in Canada. We lost many elderly yet still functional seniors to flus. All were circulating in the population and effective vaccines were available.
I live in a province in Canada that has been run by a socialist government for decades until about 6 years ago. The unions had a strangle hold on the province generally and the unionized workforce specifically. The health care unions are fond and effective in telling their members that they do not have to do anything that is not specifically agreed to in a collective agreement.
Bringing infectious viruses into an environment where someone could die is irresponsible at best...
Don't assume that because someone is a HCW that they are better informed or educated.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saskabush Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 09 2014 at 10:34pm
I could not agree more... hospitals are horrible places for healthy people.

I could not disagree more if you are of the belief that immunizations are unproven/and or dangerous.

Having said that, bacteria and viruses are quite different. No question there are some serious bacterial infections happening in North American hospitals.

What we are dealing with here is quite different...

It is A VIRUS

If our local hospitals were 100% in cleanliness and surgical competence, that would not make one iota of difference in this pathogenic transcontinental viral outbreak.

There is so much information online about influenza viruses, past, present and future. Do a google search and I am sure you can find TONS of info   
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote coyote Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 10 2014 at 4:12am
EDMONTON - The World Health Organization has confirmed that North America's first H5N1 patient was a woman in her late 20s.

One of the WHO's flu experts says the agency would like more information on her illness, because initial reports have suggested her symptoms were not entirely typical of H5N1 infections.

There have been no recent H5N1 outbreaks reported by China, but the timing of the woman's symptoms suggest she must have been infected there.

[link to www.huffingtonpost.ca]
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mahshadin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 10 2014 at 4:40am
Wow

SERIOUSLY---your going to blame unions for the Flu


Go crawl back under the idiot rock where you came from
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sara Piddick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 10 2014 at 5:53am
Originally posted by coyote coyote wrote:

...North America's first H5N1 patient was a woman in her late 20s.


This makes it potentially much more dangerous, doesn't it? As mean as it sounds, I was really hoping for old and already kinda sickly.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 10 2014 at 11:55am
Virus, bacteria - while the method of transmission might be unique for a given pathogen, universal precautions and infection control don't differentiate between the two.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 10 2014 at 12:06pm
Sara - while serious flu strains can infect anyone regardless of age, they can cause severe and even fatal symptoms in the young and healthy by initiating a cytokine storm. H5N1 (and Spanish Flu) have long been documented as targeting that group disproportionately so the victim's age is not that unusual. Still no indication of further spread so there's no need to worry unduly yet.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 10 2014 at 12:36pm
Saskabush, I totally respect your opinion, but since we don't live in a police state then I think we all have the right to choose whether or not we vaccinate. 

Someone on here wrote a while back that you can catch the flu by walking down a corridor 10 minutes after a flu carrier had sneezed there. If that's the case then surely it makes no difference if half the HCW aren't vaccinated, especially when that vaccine doesn't guarantee immunity. It is only about 70% effective in healthy people.

I'll add one last thing at the risk of repeating myself yet again, but we've just had this flu and so have friends of ours who, for the first time ever, had had the flu jab about 3 months earlier. Out of the 3 of them, 2 of them had the full blown flu and were totally incapacitated for about 3 weeks. The jab can't be that great, can it?
Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pixie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 10 2014 at 5:52pm


http://www.timescolonist.com/fatal-case-of-h5n1-bird-flu-in-alberta-first-in-north-america-1.782552
But a chest X-ray showed signs of pneumonia and the unidentified hospital ran a battery of tests. The influenza A test came back positive, as did one for a human coronavirus, one of the causes of common colds. The team wondered for a time if the severity of the illness was due to the co-infection with two viruses.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 10 2014 at 6:03pm
was in England last June ,

my Mom in hospital for knee replacement ,

 she said the toilets where a discrace,
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.đź––

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 10 2014 at 7:54pm

Threatwatch: H5N1 death highlights global flu danger

Threatwatch is your early warning system for global dangers, from nuclear peril to deadly viral outbreaks. Debora MacKenzie highlights the threats to civilisation – and suggests solutions

H5N1 bird flu has finally reached North America. This is not the long-dreaded outbreak of the virus in birds that could engulf the continent. But the lone, tragic human case shows that flu viruses that pose major threats to humanity stalk the planet even when they have not recently been making headlines.

Canadian authorities say that an otherwise healthy adult resident of Alberta visited Beijing, China, in late December, fell ill on the flight home and died in hospital a few days later. Canadian news reports say it was a female healthcare worker at Red Deer Hospital who was in her 20s.

H5N1 does not, so far, spread readily among people. None of the person's close contacts have developed symptoms, and if they had the virus, they should have by now. This particular infection will spread no further. Still, the incident is a wake-up call: despite all the warnings, we are not keeping a very good eye on flu viruses.

Spot the sickness

The real marvel of the Canadian case is that it was diagnosed at all. James Talbot, Alberta's chief medical officer, said on Wednesday that the patient developed symptoms on 27 December on Air Canada flight 030 from Beijing to Vancouver, then flew to Edmonton on Air Canada flight 244. Authorities are trying to contact passengers from those flights.

The patient went to hospital on 1 January and died two days later. But, says Talbot, the symptoms were fever, headache and malaise – not the respiratory symptoms typical of flu. Perry Kendall, chief medical officer of neighbouring province British Columbia, where the patient changed planes, confirmed in a news conference that the symptoms did not include coughing.

H5N1 was only revealed when the victim was tested for pathogens after death. The case was initially diagnosed as encephalitis, or brain inflammation. "That is one of the ways that H5N1 patients die," said Talbot.

In fact some flu viruses do infect the brain, and two Vietnamese children were diagnosed with H5N1 in 2005 after dying of what was initially diagnosed as encephalitis. At the time epidemiologists worried that this might mean that many H5N1 cases were going unrecognised.

Under the radar

This may solve one riddle of H5N1. In a 2012 study, researchers found that air travellers are the main way that ordinary human flu gets around the world. Yet until now, no human traveller is known to have carried H5N1 abroad. "Best guess: the infection is rare and people who get it are poor," says Derek Smith of the University of Cambridge, an author of that study.

But any previous travellers with H5N1 who looked like the Canadian case were probably missed. Both the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization recommend testing for H5N1 only in patients with respiratory symptoms such as pneumonia.

H5N1 first hit the headlines in 1997, when it emerged from China's booming poultry industry, and again from 2004 to 2007 when it migrated throughout Asia, Europe and Africa in wild birds and poultry. Attention then faded.

But the virus remains endemic in birds in China, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, and occasionally surfaces in other countries, including Cambodia last year. Infected birds cause a steady trickle of human infections, and 384 of the 648 known human cases so far have resulted in death. But then it stops: humans virtually never pass on the virus.

Transmission trouble

In 2011, however, Dutch scientists showed that H5N1 might become readily transmissible in people if it acquired as few as five crucial mutations, without any obvious loss in deadliness. Every human infection is a chance for the virus to make those adaptations.

The Canadian casualty is said to have visited only Beijing, and no poultry farms or markets. Beijing has reported only one human case of H5N1, in 2009,and no poultry outbreaks, says Marius Gilbert of the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, who has mapped H5N1 in China. Last year all of China reported only two human cases, in the south-western province of Guizhou, where an outbreak in chickens was reported on 27 December last year.

That's a long way from Beijing. But these reports show H5N1 is alive and well in China. It could simply be unreported elsewhere – not through negligence, but because human cases may have unrecognised symptoms. And birds may have no symptoms at all – if they are vaccinated but infected or are resistant carriers, such as ducks.

Meanwhile, another bird flu in Chinese poultry, H7N9, has shown that these viruses can infect people who merely stray near live poultry markets. In March 2013 that virus started killing people in and around Shanghai.

It carries some similar genes to H5N1, also does not pass readily between humans, and is almost as lethal – 45 of the 137 cases registered by the WHO have resulted in death. But if anything H7N9 may be more worrying than H5N1. It spreads more readily from poultry to people, Chinese researchers concluded in a recent comparison. And it already carries three of the five mutations that would allow transmission in mammals.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.đź––

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CStackDrPH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 11 2014 at 8:05am
Originally posted by carbon20 carbon20 wrote:

think it was Albert who said " China is a cesspit" of viruses,

think he right,

me still wondering about all the Pig deaths  18months ago !!!!!!!

You and me, both!  Not only pigs, but huge quantities of wildfowl.  The photo in this article is telling:


Pigs, ducks, and swans.  I work in public health and never heard one plausible explanation for this event from anyone.  China claimed "water pollution," but that is not plausible to me.  

The reason why China is a "cesspit" of viruses is actually interesting, from a virologist's point of view.  For centuries, China has had very intimate contact between humans (i.e. farmers) and their livestock, such as fowl and swine.   When it is cold, the poorest Chinese used to (and probably still do) bring their one or two pigs into the house!!  

Also, Chinese farmers pursue rather disgusting practices, including feeding poultry manure directly to swine, as well as unrendered bird mortalities.  This is not allowed in the USA but there is no oversight in China.  

Add to all of this the "wet market" phenomenon, where birds from vast distances are brought, live (and carrying viruses) into city centers!  Not only humans, but swine, dogs, cats, and other susceptible animals are exposed to flu viruses in these ecosystems.  Add in the latest touches (birds de-feathered while you wait, aggressive sanitation) and we have a high burden of viruses as aerosols and in wastewater.  

The icing on the cake is the lack of transparency from the Chinese government.  They were stung badly with SARS, and so they seem to be trying to do a better job of reporting.  However, they don't have the public health infrastructure of the West, and so we do not know how many people die in their homes from this stuff, unreported - how many become ill but are never reported due to fear of the government - and so forth.  

It is just a matter of time before we get the right assortment out of China.  My friends who are experts have long predicted that the real problem will be a reassorted swine flu, and we may be seeing the origins of this since H1N1 incorporated avian, human and swine genetic elements.  

Hold tight, it is likely to be an interesting ride! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jacksdad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 11 2014 at 9:06am
Again, we're on the same page, Chuck. Whether it's a reassorted H1N1 strain or H7N9/H5N1/H?N? with H1N1's genetic propensity to spread like wildfire, I think it's inevitable that the unprecedented number of influenza A viruses currently circulating will spawn numerous novel viruses, and maybe the one we all fear. It's a numbers game and it's getting scary out there
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 11 2014 at 12:49pm
Pixie posted that test showed this patient had the common cold, an A type flu and a coronavirus, so perhaps she is the human petrie dish that will blend H5N1 with something more easily spreadable?
Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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