NEWS: Turkish Bird Flu Is Deadly H5N1 Strain

It has been confimed that the bird flu virus found in Turkey is the H5N1 strain which is dangerous to humans. EU states have been urged to stockpile anti-viral drugs incase of a flu pandemic. The H5N1 strain has killed more than 60 people in South East Asia since 2003. However, of those only one is suspected to have died after catching the virus from another human.




At present it is still believd the chances of human-to-human infection are slim.

BUT...like the article says if the virus mutates we are in for a massive shock!

Lets hope a proper vaccine can be found quickley...I did read somewhere yesterday that scientists are sure they can create a vaccine soon!

the vaccine will be created after the virus takes its human to human pandemic form right? you cannot create a vaccine for an inexistent virus, since the vaccine itself has to contain an ineffective dose or shape of that particular virus.

so this brings something to mind, if any scientist claims they are close to making vaccine for H5N1s mutated form. then this means they already mutated it to the feared human-to-human form in lab environment by coupling it with the usual human flu and started to experiment on it to create the vaccine.

so if somone claims that they are close to producing the vaccine, then we can take this as a proof that the mutated form of the virus has been created already in labs. so the security of these labs should be more of a concern than the current H5N1 seen on birds if this is the case.

China has made claims they already have vaccines although no one apparently has seen them.

China claims to have developed two new vaccines that it says are fully capable of stopping the spread of H5N1, giving it enough cover if a pandemic breaks out. Other than claiming to have vaccines, China has never made public how much it has stockpiled nor its plans to immunize birds and humans should a pandemic break out.

www.medobserver.com...

Good article though. I almost posted it earlier today but feared the board is flu'd out if you will at this time.

[edit on 10/13/2005 by shots]

4-8 months to develop a vaccine based on whichever combination of genes that makes H2H transmission easily. Thats a long time. As noted above, you cannot make a vaccine unless you have the virus to do so. If China has an H5N1 vaccine avalible, its only good for whatever strain they had on hand. It H5N1 mutates into something different, then that vaccine will not be any better than the yearly flushot being given out now.

However, if China has experienced a H2H outbreak and covered it up they may have something usefull if they are willing to fess up. Before anybody goes off, I will point to China's previous actions in the SARS outbreak etc.

What I would like to know if what china says is in fact true which is "China claims to have developed two new vaccines that it says are fully capable of stopping the spread of H5N1", why on earth is is spreading all over the earth at this time?

Maybe it is Chinas way of destroying the rest of the world without the use of weapons??????

I have asked this before Shots. SARS and H5N1 outbreaks both occured in China in roughly the same areas. Thier brutish coverup of the SARS allowed many to die in other coutnries cause the clammed up. So was it a biowarfare experiemnts gone bad? Accidental release? Lets see how many we can kill?

Fred

Since you are in the medical field do you by chance know how many non Chinese died versus actual residents of China?

As for using is as a form of bio warfare I would not put it past them, hell they kill their own for just speaking out against the government.

Originally posted by shots
What I would like to know if what china says is in fact true which is "China claims to have developed two new vaccines that it says are fully capable of stopping the spread of H5N1", why on earth is is spreading all over the earth at this time?

Maybe it is Chinas way of destroying the rest of the world without the use of weapons??????

That would also mean they fought or are still fighting H5N1 in human to human form No sence in making a vaccine for chickens or wild foul that you have to run around and catch. Just let them die off.

[edit on 13-10-2005 by slackwarez]

Can the virus be spread by wild birds? I have bird feeders for the local chickadees, etc. Should I take them down?

Serious question.

Originally posted by jsobecky
Can the virus be spread by wild birds? I have bird feeders for the local chickadees, etc. Should I take them down?

Serious question.

Not sure about the chickadees, but Eagles have carried the strain to some countries as I understand it.

Originally posted by MickeyDee
Lets hope a proper vaccine can be found quickley...I did read somewhere yesterday that scientists are sure they can create a vaccine soon!

They can't create a vaccine till the actual H2H strain appears, one person doesn't qualify for that to be considered the strain.

But experts will not know the make-up of any pandemic strain until it appears, and it can take six months to develop a vaccine against a particular strain. BBC

You will get the bird flu before you will get a vaccine. Current global manufacturing capacity is around 300 million regular flu doses per year.

Vaccines are useless against this virus
There is no vaccine available against bird flu. Existing vaccines are unlikely to be effective against the new strain.

Bird flu fears: Be skeptical
There is no vaccine. Developing one is nearly impossible because by the time the mutated strain is known, it’s too late. Even if a vaccine could be developed, the world lacks the manufacturing capacity to make enough of it to protect more than a small fraction of the population. Closing airports is unlikely to help much, particularly since the flu can also be spread by migratory birds. The president suggested a quarantine, but that’s considered impractical in a country like ours.