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H5N1 Stuff
Posted by Raven on January 17th, 2006
Ominous sign:
Analysis of samples of the H5N1 bird flu virus from two of its victims in Turkey has detected a change in one gene in one of two samples tested, but it is too early to tell whether the mutation is important, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
The mutation, which allows the virus to bind to a human cell more easily than to a bird cell, is a shift in the direction of the virus being able to infect people more easily than it does now. However, that does not mean the mutation has taken root.
“We assume this could be one small step in the virus’ attempt to adapt to humans,” said WHO virologist Mike Perdue. “But it’s only seen in one isolate and it’s difficult to make sweeping conclusions. We just have to wait and see what the rest of the viruses (from Turkey) look like.”
Turkey has seen an unusually high number of cases in a short period of time. Experts are investigating why.
It appears the mutation has an effect that scientists haven’t been able to figure out yet. Turkey hasn more infected people than any other nation that has experienced H5N1; mostly children. It’s not a good sign; the virus is mutating into something that may not be contained for much longer.
Bird flu has spread to more provinces of Turkey, where it has killed four people this year and infected at least 16 others, the World Health Organization said. The spread of the H5N1 virus from Southeast Asia to the fringe of Europe highlights the need for an international response, said James Adams, vice president of operational policy at the World Bank.
Turkey’s situation has “galvanized people’s attention,” Adams said in an interview today in China’s capital, Beijing. “If anything, people are going to commit a little larger funds than we are asking for.”
As much as $1.5 billion is being sought from countries attending the International Pledging Conference on Avian and Human Influenza, which started today in Beijing. The disease in birds creates more opportunity for human infection and increases the risk of the virus changing into a form that is more contagious to people.
Such a virus may touch off a pandemic similar to the one that killed as many as 50 million people in 1918.
No amount of money can stop the spread of something like this. It makes people feel good to think this, but the reality is man cannot overcome Mother Nature. Birds carry the virus and birds migrate all over the world. Short of stopping THIS natural event, money will not stop the spread.
