China Has Withheld Samples of a Dangerous Flu Virus

© Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Health workers culling chickens in Hong Kong in 2014 following an outbreak of avian flu.

 

For over a year, the Chinese government has withheld lab samples of a rapidly evolving influenza virus from the United States — specimens needed to develop vaccines and treatments, according to federal health officials.

Despite persistent requests from government officials and research institutions, China has not provided samples of the dangerous virus, a type of bird flu called H7N9. In the past, such exchanges have been mostly routine under rules established by the World Health Organization.

Now, as the United States and China spar over trade, some scientists worry that the vital exchange of medical supplies and information could slow, hampering preparedness for the next biological threat.

WHO says Zika virus spreads explosively, four million cases forecast

The Zika virus, linked to severe birth defects in thousands of babies in Brazil, is “spreading explosively” and could infect as many as 4 million people in the Americas, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Director-General Margaret Chan told members of the U.N. health agency’s executive board the spread of the mosquito-borne disease had gone from a mild threat to one of alarming proportions. The WHO would convene an emergency meeting on Monday to help determine its response, she said.

“The level of alarm is extremely high,” Chan told the Geneva gathering.

Bird Flu Is Slamming Factory Farms But Sparing Backyard Flocks. Why?

Why? Because we’re likely seeing bio-terrorism.

Terrorists who could be poisoning the food supply don’t care about the smaller targets since they will have little or no impact if 50 chickens wind up dead. They are bent on maximum damage to human health and economic destruction. Prices are skyrocketing and the food supply is facing shortage and scarcity issues.

Don’t be surpised this Thanksgiving if you find difficulty in putting a Turkey on the table.

 

The Midwest’s ongoing avian flu crisis is wreaking havoc on the region’s large-scale egg and turkey farms. Last week alone, the US Department of Agriculture confirmed that the virus had turned up in more than 20 additional facilities in the region, condemning 4 million birds to euthanasia. Altogether, the H5N2 virus—”highly pathogenic” to birds, so far non-threatening to humans—has affected 168 sites and a jaw-dropping 36 million birds, the great bulk of them in Iowa and surrounding states. It’s the largest avian flu outbreak in US history—and it has already wiped out 40 percent of the egg-laying flock h Iowa, the number-one egg-producing state in the US, according to The New York Times.

But it’s largely leaving backyard flocks unscathed. Why?

Nebraska declares state of emergency in bird flu outbreak

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts declared a state of emergency on Thursday, after federal agriculture officials confirmed a second farm site had tested positive for the rapidly spreading avian flu virus.

The declaration follows earlier, similar actions by governors in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, whose states have all been hard hit by the ongoing bird flu outbreak that has led to the culling of more than 33 million birds in 16 U.S. states.

World warned: Prepare for more Ebola-like outbreaks

Dr David Nabarro, the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy on Ebola, told The Independent the world should prepare for more major outbreaks of zoonotic diseases – those which can pass from animals to humans – which he said were a “local and global threat to humanity”.

Number of Ebola infections in west Africa passes 16,000

Death toll from virus outbreak nears 7,000 as World Health Organisation warns figures may be significant underestimation

The number of people with Ebola in west Africa has risen above 16,000, with the death toll from the outbreak reaching almost 7,000, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

The number of deaths is more than 1,000 higher than the figure issued by the WHO just two days ago, but it is thought to include deaths that have gone unreported in the weeks or months since the outbreak began. Most of the new deaths were recorded in Liberia.

Ebola escalation could trigger major food crisis

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The global famine warning system is predicting a major food crisis if the Ebola outbreak continues to grow exponentially over the coming months, and the United Nations still hasn’t reached over 750,000 people in need of food in West Africa as prices spiral and farms are abandoned.

On the eve of World Food Day on Thursday, U.N agencies and non-governmental organizations are scrambling to scale up efforts to avert widespread hunger.

“The world is mobilizing and we need to reach the smallest villages in the most remote locations,” Denise Brown, the U.N. World Food Program’s regional director for West Africa, said in a statement Wednesday. “Indications are that things will get worse before they improve. How much worse depends on us all.”

Ebola outbreak is just the beginning of pattern of deadly diseases, science writer David Quammen warns

THE current Ebola outbreak is just the beginning of a pattern of deadly emerging diseases that will wreak havoc in coming years, a leading science writer has warned.

David Quammen has spent years researching emerging viruses officially known as zoonotic — they live in an animal host and occasionally jump to, or “spill over”, into human beings.

With the US in the grips of an Ebola panic after Texan nurse Nina Pham was diagnosed with the deadly virus, Quammen has issued an ominous warning: “This is not a one-time deal”.

The author, whose 2012 book on the subject Spillover won an award from the National Association of Science Writers, told mashable.com even if the current Ebola epidemic was brought under control, it’s “not going to be the end of the story”.

Mystery virus found where illegal-alien kids sent

Enterovirus D68 has killed five U.S. children and infected hundreds more in the past month and a half, doctors confirm, and some believe there may be a connection between the sudden outbreak and the throngs of unaccompanied, illegal-alien children now being housed across the country.

A 2013 study published in Virology Journal found EV-D68 in a small proportion of young people with flu-like symptoms in eight Latin American countries.

According to investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, there are significant numbers of unaccompanied illegal minors in Kansas City and Chicago, the two cities where the current EV-D68 outbreak was first identified.

WHO: 21,000 Ebola cases by November if no changes

LONDON (AP) — New estimates from the World Health Organization warn the number of Ebola cases could hit 21,000 in six weeks unless efforts to curb the outbreak are ramped up.

Since the first cases were reported six months ago, the tally of cases in West Africa has reached an estimated 5,800 illnesses. WHO officials say cases are continuing to increase exponentially and Ebola could sicken people for years to come without better control measures.

In recent weeks, health officials worldwide have stepped up efforts to provide aid but the virus is still spreading. There aren’t enough hospital beds, health workers or even soap and water in the hardest-hit West African countries: Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Disease Expert Warns Terrorists Could Make Dirty Bomb Containing Ebola

ATLANTA (CBS Atlanta/AP) — A Cambridge University disease expert warns that terrorists could be able to build a dirty bomb containing the Ebola virus.

Speaking to The Sun, biological anthropologist Dr. Peter Walsh says that the risk should be taken seriously of terror groups getting their hands on the Ebola virus.

“A bigger and more serious risk is that a group manages to harness the virus as a powder, then explodes it in a bomb in a highly populated area,” Walsh told The Sun. “It could cause a large number of horrific deaths.”

Ebola fears grow as experts say epidemic could spread to US, Europe and Asia remain on alert

AS the outbreak of the deadly west African Ebola disease worsens, a doctor treating infected aptients has revealed many are refusing treatment over its links to witchcraft and sorcery.
Doctor Benjamin Black, 32, a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Sierra Leone, told the UK Telegraph that some of those in infected areas were not seeking medical treatment as they thought the disease was the work of sorcerers.

“There is a section of population here who simply don’t believe Ebola is real, they think it is witchcraft and so they don’t come to the treatment centres,” he told the UK Telegraph.

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The medical charity said the crisis gripping Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone could spread to other continents and warns there is no overarching strategy to handle the world’s worst-ever outbreak of the disease.

Amid rising fears that the deadly virus could spread to the US, there are already plans to subject even healthy Americans into forced quarantine in the event of an Ebola pandemic.