H7N9 bird flu is a 'serious threat' - researchers warn

Controversial research into H5N1 bird flu last year found that only 5 mutations would turn it into a pandemic flu. H7N9 already has one of those 'pandemic' mutations, plus, another one occurs within days in infected people. Efficient person-to-person transmission is still not happening and there is no way to know if or when it will. Even so, H7N9 is getting around - geographically and in terms of numbers infected. Flutrackers reports 129 confirmed and suspected cases; China reports 127 confirmed cases with 26 deaths.

H7N9 bird flu is a 'serious threat' - researchers warn

The threat should be "treated calmly, but seriously", researchers advised.

There is concern over both the pace and severity of the outbreak.

There has been a relatively high number of known infections since the first case was detected in April.

Prof John McCauley, the director of a World Health Organization (WHO) collaborating centre in the UK, said: "It is unusual to get these numbers."

Of those infected, a fifth died, a fifth recovered and the rest are still ill. The infection results in severe pneumonia and even blood poisoning and organ failure.

The ages of those infected ranges from two to 81 - which suggests we can't count on any natural immunity. It's a new virus. Most people who die are over 50 and male.

...in this outbreak the ages of those infected ranges from two to 81.

Prof Farrar said: "That suggests there truly is no immunity across all ages, and that as humans we have not seen this virus before.

H7 viruses have proved resistant to vaccines - but that's the only weapon in the medical arsenal. In general, people are advised to stay healthy, and build that immune system with Vitamin C and other anti-oxidants. And oh yeah - wash hands frequently and please, cough into your arm, not your hand.

I am sorry, but at this point I don't believe a damned thing they say. If they tell me the sun is rising in the east, I will damned well get up out of my chair and look to see if it really is or not.

Considering that H7N9 has about a 20% fatality ratio right now... caution is warranted.
Anyone denying the risks in this case, is asking to reserve their Darwin Award ahead of time.

This has the potential to be as bad or worse than the Spanish Flu.

Eventually it will undergo the mutations to make it even more dangerous than it is currently.
We can just hope the fatality ratio will go down with the mutations, but I doubt it.

M.

H7N9 is a SERIOUS THREAT to our profits if people don't line up and get their injections!!!

I'm sure after enough fear has been raised, they will have plenty of jabs ready.

Soficrow

Here is your previous thread on this for those whom didn't see it....

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The article your quoting from (BBC?) suggests that there is no human to human transmission HOWever the first case in Taiwan was passed onto three healthcare workers.....

If this is true I think it's safe to assume that this new bird flu is a little more advanced than we are being told.

This may prove to be a serious issue this year......!

You have all be warned.....!

Regards

PDUK

reply to post by PurpleDog UK


Thanks PurpleDog - so far, Taiwan is claiming only 1 confirmed case - the 3 workers had symptoms but not confirmed H7N9 flu, which I clarified a few posts down in that thread.

Fact is though, human-to-human transmission might be the least of our worries. Like many other diseases, H7N9 seems to have "environmental reservoirs" - and likely can be spread by the wind.

Avian flu virus learns to fly without wings 21 December 2012 by Andy Coghlan

Potentially fatal bird flu viruses can spread on the wind, a hitherto suspected but unproven route of transmission. …..the most likely scenario for bird flu is that the virus hitches a ride on airborne particles from farms, especially particles of infected faeces from poultry farms.

reply to post by DarthMuerte

reply to post by Cataka


There is no doubt the profiteering PTB jump all over any opportunity to profit. But that does NOT mean no threat is real. This threat is real - 20% death rate, environmental reservoirs, spreading on wind, yada yada. We let said PTB turn our planet into a petrie dish - and us into guinea pigs. Now we are gonna pay.

I personally will never take a vaccine, and do suspect this strain was engineered to cull our planet's "useless eaters" while destroying China's mom-and-pop poultry industry to make room for a takeover by global industrial agricultural corporations. But that doesn't mean the threat's not real.

Update from RSOE EDIS:

Four more people in China have died from a new strain of bird flu, bringing to 31 the number of deaths from the mysterious H7N9 virus, with the number of infections rising by two to 129.

Link


So it's holding around the 20% mortality level. One bit of good news, one of the extreme cases people who was on liver and lung life support left the hospital alive, after about 20 days of care.

So it took a machine breathing for him and cleaning toxins for him to survive the extreme version of this.
OK.
Question of the day:

How many of those machines are going to be free for public use when the H7N9 goes full blown pandemic?

Ironically H5N1 is worse but it's not currently as risky as N7N9.

I'm just hoping they come out with a viable vaccine before the pandemic gets underway.

M.

You need not worry about being forced a vaccine you don't want.

Given that the governments worldwide haven't done anything to improve the capacity to manufacture vaccine on an industrial scale the opposite will be true.

When (not if) one of these flus hits the right combination and goes airborne pandemic you will be begging for vaccine and wont get any because there wont be enough. It will be too little too late and what is available will go to the wealthy and those considered critical to societal continuity.

From New Scientist:

"...When that happens, we will need vaccine. Oh dear. In the 2009 pandemic, vaccine arrived too late in the US to reach many people in the second wave – and many countries got none at all. Luckily, that flu was relatively mild. But that meant some governments didn't bother to buy pandemic vaccine, and some that did tried to sell it back, which did not encourage companies to tool up to make more. Since then there has only been a small increase in the global capacity to make vaccine.

Most vaccine is still made by growing flu virus laboriously in chicken eggs, which takes six months – if you're lucky. A few new factories that grow virus in cell cultures instead can expand production more readily, but are no quicker. And commercial factories won't switch from ordinary flu vaccine to H7N9 until a pandemic is imminent. By then it will be too late."

Full Article Link

www.newscientist.com...

I posted this on another thread about the same thing.

I have a friend that is fairly high up the chain at the CDC here in Atlanta. I am checking with her later this afternoon on this and will let you know if she has anything to say or if we should actually be worried about anything here. If anyone will know, she will.

She is with the NCEZID (National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases) branch so probably is directly involved with the research and findings on this.

National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases:

The National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases aims to prevent disease, disability, and death caused by a wide range of infectious diseases. We focus on diseases that have been around for many years, emerging diseases (those that are new or just recently identified), and zoonotic diseases (those spread from animals to people). Our work is guided in part by a holistic "One Health" strategy, which recognizes the vital interconnectedness of microbes and the environment. Through a comprehensive approach involving many scientific disciplines, we can attain better health for humans and animals and improve our environment.

And below is what I posted after I spoke with her....this was from last week.

Ok...finally spoke with my CDC contact this morning. She said they had a briefing on H7N9 last week. There had been 48 deaths when she was briefed and it was consolidated to China. They are actively working on a vaccine at this time and are keeping a close watch on the spread. They are unsure if it is solely transmitted through consumption or direct contact with "poultry" and if it can spread human to human but are actively working on determining its ability to spread in this manner. The people it affects most are those with already weakened immune systems. She said don't go to your underground bunker yet....she's a good friend and high up in the CDC so I really do trust her words on the matter. Not worried here at this point in time. When she calls back and says don't eat chicken I will get worried.

Japan on alert after H7N9 bird flu spreads to Taiwan
inquirer.net -- Apr 26



newsonjapan.com...

Originally posted by Vasa Croe
There had been 48 deaths when she was briefed and it was consolidated to China.

48 is significantly more than the 31 being reported. How many total cases have there been? Because bases on the numbers I've seen 129 cases and 31 dead that means a 24% mortality rate.

Link to where I got my numbers.

Youser, yeah that's a bigger number than RSOE's been putting out.
Though I've suspected China was trying to keep the numbers out of the media.
*Shrug*

I don't worry about the various vaccinations and all the 'hype' over the evils in them. I'm of the opinion that the vaccination-refuseniks are the primary reason we're seeing measles and the like resurging in the world.

M.

Soficrow I came onto ATS today quite honestly freaked out.

I have told family that I would contact you reguarding this latest news about the SARs/MERS virus and find out what you know and what your suggestions are for our safety.

here is a link to the current thread about the possible outbreak.

How big could this get if it continues to be under reported and or covered up?

are they reserving the information so that people do not panic? Should we be panicking?

I recall just talking with you about the heat at this time of year and the viruses. That came to mind as soon as I read the article about the NYC nurses.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Vasa Croe


Thank you for your concerns and your post. Do you suppose this is connected to the possible SARS outbreak in NYC? Is it SARS/MERS/H7N9 ???

What are we dealing with here and why is there such a silence placed on a possible out break? I mean people need to bone up on the Universal precautions and be aware of contaminating themselves as much as possible.

reply to post by antar

How big could this get if it continues to be under reported and or covered up?

are they reserving the information so that people do not panic? Should we be panicking?

Panic is NEVER an appropriate response - but preparation is always a good thing. In this case as in many other situations, spiritual preparation should be part of the package. ...The only constant in life is change.

As far as "under reported and or covered up" - things are changing so fast, and so many new and different diseases are appearing so quickly that no one can keep up. We really are in the middle of the 6th Mass Extinction - and part of the process involves microbes going crazy mutating, adapting and evolving. Nobody really knows where or when the next assault will appear or what it will be.

As you know, I think everything is connected at the nano-level - and "disease" is evidence of life's mechanisms for sharing Essential Adaptive Particles (Yup, prions. ). Some translate successfully across kingdoms and species, some don't. But we have changed our world at the molecular level - and there is no going back. Microbes will keep mutating rapidly, adapting, and evolving, and the "sharing" will continue.

Besides MERS/nCoV spreading around the world, Vietnam (for example) is on the alert because of H1N1's rapid mutations - and fears of it gaining genetic material from H5N1 and H7N9... If that happens, which it probably will, look out for yet another pandemic letter-number sequence.

Originally posted by antar
reply to post by Vasa Croe

 

Thank you for your concerns and your post. Do you suppose this is connected to the possible SARS outbreak in NYC? Is it SARS/MERS/H7N9 ???

What are we dealing with here and why is there such a silence placed on a possible out break? I mean people need to bone up on the Universal precautions and be aware of contaminating themselves as much as possible.

Don't know if it has anything to do with SARS or not. Will have to ask her when I get a chance later.

She is a good friend so if anything nasty were on it's way she would let us know. She and my wife and our kids play together every week or so.

H7N9 Transmission through air

The H7N9 bird flu virus can be transmitted not only through close contact but by airborne exposure, a team at the University of Hong Kong found after extensive laboratory experiments. Though the virus appears to have been brought under control recently, the researchers urged the Hong Kong authorities to maintain strict surveillance, which should include not only poultry but humans and pigs. "We also found that the virus can infect pigs, which was not previously known," said Dr Maria Zhu Huachen, a research assistant professor at HKU's School of Public Health.

While there have not been new cases reported, I think we've not seen the end of this strain.
M.