H7N9 has mutated, may spread from human to human: expert

Chinese researchers have discovered mutations in the new strain of avian influenza A, known as H7N9, and have found that the virus has the ability to spread from human to human, the latest issue of China's Southern Metropolis Weekly reported.

George F. Gao, the vice-president of Beijing Institutes of Life Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and deputy director-general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Weekly that he and his research colleagues have broken down the mechanisms of transmission of the H5N1 and H7N9 avian flu viruses.

The research team pointed out in a study published in Science magazine in September last year that they have identified mutations in four key sites of amino acids ...

H7N9 has mutated, may spread from human to human: expert

This is important news to the world. HOWEVER, confirmation of a mutation allowing H7N9 to spread human-to-human does NOT mean it's spreading easily (although I'm sure that particular mutation is coming, likely sooner rather than later).

It's flu season and our flu news is already getting a bit overwhelming. China has reported a fairly dramatic but predictable increase in H7N9 infection this past couple of weeks. Canada reports that a young healthy woman died of H5N1 bird flu after visiting China - but China is not reporting human cases of H5N1.

Most interesting to me, the whole "zombie scenario fantasy" is being pushed and promoted big time - when authorities know damwell that a) the dementia pandemic is part of the chronic disease pandemic now levelling our world, and b) flu infection can cause dementia.

This is my pet peeve and biggest rant. Diseases like virulent bird flu are evolving naturally because agricultural industries' business practices create new diseases. Our governments bowed down to big business and did NOT regulate agriculture -or nanotechnology, or medical industries, or anything- to prevent it from happening.

We do not need political bioterrorists or governments to create plagues - industry does a fine job.

H5N1 Bird Flu and the Dementia Pandemic

Flu During Pregnancy Linked to Autism

On the Road to Dementia: Inflammation, Prions, Myositis and Fibromyalgia

2005. Bird Flu and Beyond: Chronic Disease to Kill 400 Million

Kind of depressing. Viruses can sit dormant, they do not need living tissue to live on. All the stuff we import from China can spread this all over the world. Well, it is a way of reducing the population of the world evenly anyway, I doubt if they will restrict anything. The Top agenda of the industrialized countries is to reduce population and keep people in fear so they stay dependent on their governments.

I won't be buying Tamaflu, there are plenty of white pine trees on my property that contain the active chemical. The white pine needle tea is good tasting too, add a little sugar and it makes a great beverage. It is not good for pregnant woman though. I wonder if Tamaflu is bad for pregnant women?

S&F of course, I always star medical information.

reply to post by soficrow


here is some more info on disease spreading I wrote here www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by rickymouse

Kind of depressing. Viruses can sit dormant, they do not need living tissue to live on. All the stuff we import from China can spread this all over the world. ..

Depressing, yes and no. But makes me think immediately about how European conquerer/colonizers wiped out indigenous populations everywhere with their colds, flu and measles. ..."Immunity" is so obviously adaptive and dependent upon exposure. Anyway, yeah we're spreading everything all over the world - mussels, loosestrife, killer superbugs - and calling it profitable free trade. Yeah cash!


Truth is though, I think our world strives for "oneness" and would not try to stop it. Slow it down maybe though.

I am always interested in this topic yet cannot wrap my head around the differences between H1N7, H5N1, etc. I'm intelligent and can learn just fine but if someone can dumb this one down it would help a lot. Studying the chemistry of it all is a big feat when not feeling so great (have been sick).

Different influenza viruses encode for different hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins. For example, the H5N1 virus designates an influenza A subtype that has a type 5 hemagglutinin (H) protein and a type 1 neuraminidase (N) protein. There are 18 known types of hemagglutinin and 11 known types of neuraminidase, so, in theory, 198 different combinations of these proteins are possible.[4][5]

en.wikipedia.org...

I guess what I hope to see is someone explain how they are all really that much different. They are variations of the same thing - mutating but which ones are really variations from the same source (bird flu). An analogy I might give to my child (at the risk of sounding ridiculous) - siblings that look a bit different but have the same DNA/parent. Is this accurate for H1N7 (that was referred to as the bird flu and killed a man in China recently), being a "sister virus" to H5N1?

reply to post by Dianec

someone explain how they are all really that much different

In a way, they're not that different. Think how dogs have different "breeds" - shepherds, pugs, papillons, huskies and then, the all important mixed breed mongrels. ...The differences in the InfluenzaA viruses are pretty much all in surface proteins, often just the shape is different (same chemistry) - all cells have some kind of coating with proteins that can act like "doors," and the right key will open the lock and get the virus inside.

reply to post by soficrow


Much appreciated. Almost 200 variations is mind boggling. There is no way to get ahead of this stuff ultimately (why they know one day a pandemic will take hold). It isn't a matter of if, but how widespread and how powerful.

reply to post by soficrow


Thanks for staying on top of this. I'm following your threads as well as some local cases I know here...and I'm feeling achey and tired today myself. Hopefully just run down. I guess I'll know soon enough.

I'd found something I thought you might appreciate and it ties into perspective of what is happening now or may come in some future year.



So, however bad it gets, I suppose it can always be worse, right?

I'd found one other thing and it's a UN/WHO chart for H5N1 cases 2003-2011.

Recent Global H5N1 cases w/ outcome stats

It's just one strain of the few out at the moment, but it's one to see that way, anyway.

Duh, help me, I'm dah dombie and I'm losing my senses, dah mirror looks at me and I'm staring at an orc

Fear monger thread, and guys, if you're sitting around worried you might be turning zombie, I'd suggest getting out more as the chances of getting a piece of this bird flu are next to none.

reply to post by Zcustosmorum


I don't think they're pushing the zombie meme to promote the idea of an actual zombie epidemic so much as to get it in people's mind that there could be worldwide plague. People have the idea in the backs of their minds now, so they're prepared for the shock when it breaks out. It's a psychological ploy.

It's only a matter of when a new flu pandemic happens, and it causes widespread and catastrophic death in the population, more than any of us have ever seen in our lifetimes. Do some study on the 1918 flu pandemic to get an idea of what you would be facing and seeing in society. There wasn't hardly a family then that didn't have at least one member die, and there were orphan trains afterward that shipped children out west to farm families who could use them - children who survived but whose parents died.

I proofed a history article on an old man in senior home who had survived the Flu Epidemic after losing both parents, WWI, and the Normandy Invasion. His history was an interesting read.

I'm not taking any chances.


They can have my brain when they pry it from my cold, dead hands!

reply to post by Majic


Eueew. Didn't realize my OP was so bad! I stopped in the middle of that zombie thought. Maybe someone came to the door, maybe I have a touch of the flu. Dunno.

Anyway, my concern with the big focus on zombie scenarios is that it promotes the idea that demented people are dangerous, and normalizes the "euthanasia solution." Not good. Don't know if leper colonies are better, can't see any brilliant options jumping out right now, but I do believe we have to look for them. Which we cannot do until we admit the problem is real.

reply to post by soficrow


Whoa now buddy, there's a huge difference between someone suffering from dementia and a hypothetical "zombie". For starters, a person with dementia might still recognize you. Or at least be able to talk. It might not make sense as they're talking about something from the past that you have no recollection of, but they're talking. I mean, I just don't see how you can make that comparison. It's like comparing a mentally retarded person to a zombie just because they're not "100% there" for a lack of a better word.

As for the mutations, it was only a matter of time. As for the potential damage it can create, who knows.

I do wonder if it is co incidence my two parakeets dropped and died when my kids had the flu. I guess I will never really know.

soficrow
reply to post by Majic

 

Eueew. Didn't realize my OP was so bad! I stopped in the middle of that zombie thought. Maybe someone came to the door, maybe I have a touch of the flu. Dunno.

Anyway, my concern with the big focus on zombie scenarios is that it promotes the idea that demented people are dangerous, and normalizes the "euthanasia solution." Not good. Don't know if leper colonies are better, can't see any brilliant options jumping out right now, but I do believe we have to look for them. Which we cannot do until we admit the problem is real.

If that's the angle you're taking, I'd think it more likely that it would be to promote the idea that euthanasia for someone in a vegetative state is preferable than it would be to push the idea of euthanizing those with dementia. There is a big difference between those with dementia and zombies.

Dianec
I am always interested in this topic yet cannot wrap my head around the differences between H1N7, H5N1, etc. I'm intelligent and can learn just fine but if someone can dumb this one down it would help a lot. Studying the chemistry of it all is a big feat when not feeling so great (have been sick).

Different influenza viruses encode for different hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins. For example, the H5N1 virus designates an influenza A subtype that has a type 5 hemagglutinin (H) protein and a type 1 neuraminidase (N) protein. There are 18 known types of hemagglutinin and 11 known types of neuraminidase, so, in theory, 198 different combinations of these proteins are possible.[4][5]

en.wikipedia.org...

I guess what I hope to see is someone explain how they are all really that much different. They are variations of the same thing - mutating but which ones are really variations from the same source (bird flu). An analogy I might give to my child (at the risk of sounding ridiculous) - siblings that look a bit different but have the same DNA/parent. Is this accurate for H1N7 (that was referred to as the bird flu and killed a man in China recently), being a "sister virus" to H5N1?

I did a bit of searching the various websites. The N1 or N7 part is an enzyme that allows the virus to attach itself to a cell by snipping off bits of other molecules from the cell surface (technical terms "cleaving the glycosidic linkages of neuraminic acids"). Variations also allow the virus to avoid the immune system. The H1 or H5 part controls how newly created viruses can detach from a cell. They depend on the cell itself to do the cleaving (via enzymes based on tryptase clara, furin and subtilsin derived compounds).

en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...

The color pictures provide an general idea of how these enzymes work. They are really like oversprung futons that snap together to cut other molecules apart.

reply to post by Auricom

...there's a huge difference between someone suffering from dementia and a hypothetical "zombie".

You know that, and I know that, but the billions of young people buying into the Zombie Apocalypse scenario do not know that. And when TSHTF they are primed and ready to execute the Final Solution. ...This is about trends analysis and interpreting the PR, but the facts are, there already IS a dementia pandemic, flu infection CAN cause dementia and we ARE facing a major flu pandemic right now. 3 for 3 and resources are already scarce.

How do you wanna handle the situation?
A. Cut the budget, pull all the social supports and force dementia victims into homeless slow starvation.
B. Cut to the chase, execute euthanasia policies for all the useless eaters and kill them quick.
C. Other



Ed to add - Also as I said above, my concern with the big focus on zombie scenarios is that it promotes the idea that demented people are dangerous, and normalizes the "euthanasia solution." Not good. Don't know if leper colonies are better, can't see any brilliant options jumping out right now, but I do believe we have to look for them. Which we cannot do until we admit the problem is real.

reply to post by ketsuko

There is a big difference between those with dementia and zombies.

Really? How 'bout when you're looking at millions who hit the wall at 45 and need disability benefits? How do you think the lines will be drawn and the distinctions made? Back in 2011, the World Economic Forum said mental health, including the dementias, will cost $16 trillion by 2030. And no, they're not looking to line up the cash to help people who need help.

Chronic disease to cost $47 trillion by 2030: WEF

…Mental health (including the dementias), which is typically left off lists of leading NCDs, will account for $16 trillion -- a third of the overall $47 trillion anticipated costs.

The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America

...An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.1 When applied to the 2004 U.S. Census residential population estimate for ages 18 and older, this figure translates to 57.7 million people.2 ...mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada.3

reply to post by Zcustosmorum


Actually, disease and viruses like the flu are our greatest rivals (which is truly at the top of the chain of life)? This stuff manages to outsmart us and we can't see it coming and get ahead of it (neither immune system nor brain). We simply wait and see and then try to prevent it from spreading. So it is quite possible for something like these more deadly ones to spread; pop up.

I'm not even sure they've ruled out that ones like H1N1 don't hibernate in our bodies much like mono or other such virus'. If this begins to happens (or is happening) what will "switch" this on? A stressful day? How powerful would it be? We wouldn't know what hit us. One would no longer need to be exposed. I believe viruses' are this adaptive, and will find a way to live and breed.

We should never be paranoid - but being aware of what's going on doesn't hurt. If you do end up getting sick - it's better to know what may or may not be a dangerous sign to look out for - when it isn't any longer a normal sign/symptom. It may also lead to being more mindful of conditions that prevent the spread of it.

reply to post by soficrow


So, Is it time to join the Chinese yet?