A
AbelMalcolm
Guest
I've visited these countries, around Thailand, which are affected by the bird flu, and what struck
me is that they are so damn poor, it amazes
me. We never worry about food in our country, it's the cheapest thing here, but rent is expensive.
It's the opposite over there, food is the most expense thing there, and they never have enough
of it, but their rents are next to nothing.
What struck me is that in these Asian countries, people have lots of chickens, everywhere, close to
their homes, in their homes, in their backyards, fenced and unfenced, contained and running loose,
just all over the neighborhoods. And the chickens will literally be given anything at all to eat,
including cockroaches, that's how chickens are. These chickens live crowded and in appalling
conditions, full of **** and mud, flapping around all over the place.
I know that people are starving in that part of the world, and everyone there wants to have their
chickens close by, to eat whenever they want. But I think they now need to think of restricting who
should raise these chickens, and then the governments involved need to do a better job of monitoring
the farm raised chickens so they are raised in more sanitary conditions.
There is a possible epidemic in the making here, and it's going to effect the whole world. Health
authorities are looking into how infected chickens should be eradicated, but they should also look
into how chickens are raised over there, that would eradicate the root cause I think.
Abel Malcolm
________
Asia's bird flu strikes house cats, raising new concern about easier spread to humans
DANIEL COONEY, Associated Press Writer
Friday, February 20, 2004
www.sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/02/20/international0557EST0479.DTL
(02-20) 08:41 PST BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) --
Bird flu has jumped to new species in Asia, killing three house cats and infecting a white tiger in
Thailand, a Thai veterinarian said Friday.
m.f. health officials cautioned the cases were not confirmed.
Thai officials said the pet cats in Nakhon Pathom province outside Bangkok were the first
domesticated mammals known to have contracted the disease in the current outbreak.
Thai veterinarian Dr. Teeraphon Sirinaruemit also said a white tiger at Khao Khiew zoo near Bangkok
was found to have the virus but has recovered and is healthy. The zoo is the same where a clouded
leopard died of bird flu last month, the first mammal apart from humans known to have died from the
virus this year.
The Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the reports on the domestic
cats "require more careful scientific analysis" and for now it cannot verify that the animals
died of bird flu.
In Geneva, World Health Organization spokesman **** Thompson said that even if the cases were
confirmed, there probably would not be a high risk associated with domestic cats being
infected. They would be hit by the same avian influenza as birds, which does not pass easily to
humans, he added.
"It isn't the kind of animal we would be worried about as a mixing vessel -- like we would be if we
saw the infection in pigs, for instance," Thompson said.
Health experts are concerned about the bird flu sickening other animals, in part because that could
prompt mutations in the virus that in turn could make it easier to pass among people. That concern
holds especially for pigs because of their genetic similarities to humans.
The virus has killed at least 22 people in Thailand and Vietnam, while infecting birds in 10 Asian
nations. A World Health Organization official said it's possible that Indonesia could have human
cases despite government claims to the contrary.
"It's such a large country and such a large population ... it may have been diagnosed as ordinary
pneumonia," the WHO official, Georg Petersen, said.
The reported infection of three cats in Thailand has raised fears that the disease could spread from
pets to humans, WHO virus expert Dr. Prasert Thongcharoen said.
So far, cases in people have been traced largely to direct contact with infected chickens, other
birds or their waste. The head of the Food and Agriculture Organization urged international
cooperation in fighting bird flu, warning it could spread to more animals.
"It's quite a serious problem," FAO Director General Jacques Diouf said. "Unless we deal with it
very seriously, there is the risk not only of other birds contracting it but also other animals, and
naturally we have also seen the effect on humans. That's why it is necessary that we cooperate
together in the region."
Canadian officials are testing samples of a mild bird flu virus that has been detected and isolated
on a British Columbia farm, Canadian Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew said.
mg. Danuta Skowronski of the British Columbia Center for Disease Control said the outbreak of the
H-7 avian flu is "certainly not" the same version of the virus that has hit poultry stocks and
killed people in Asia, which is known as the H5N1.
News of the British Columbia outbreak prompted Japan and Hong Kong to immediately place temporary
bans on the imports of poultry products from there, officials said.
Officials in Delaware and New Jersey also are tackling an outbreak of H-7 in poultry. That version
of the virus does not typically infect humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Educate yourself & go to these links:
http://www.moveon.org & http://www.salon.com & http://www.buzzflash.com & http://www.democrats.org &
http://www.commondreams.org & http://www.bushwatch.com &
http://www.academycomputerservice.com/economics/charts.htm &
http://earth.prohosting.com/songofth/jobcreation.jpg
me is that they are so damn poor, it amazes
me. We never worry about food in our country, it's the cheapest thing here, but rent is expensive.
It's the opposite over there, food is the most expense thing there, and they never have enough
of it, but their rents are next to nothing.
What struck me is that in these Asian countries, people have lots of chickens, everywhere, close to
their homes, in their homes, in their backyards, fenced and unfenced, contained and running loose,
just all over the neighborhoods. And the chickens will literally be given anything at all to eat,
including cockroaches, that's how chickens are. These chickens live crowded and in appalling
conditions, full of **** and mud, flapping around all over the place.
I know that people are starving in that part of the world, and everyone there wants to have their
chickens close by, to eat whenever they want. But I think they now need to think of restricting who
should raise these chickens, and then the governments involved need to do a better job of monitoring
the farm raised chickens so they are raised in more sanitary conditions.
There is a possible epidemic in the making here, and it's going to effect the whole world. Health
authorities are looking into how infected chickens should be eradicated, but they should also look
into how chickens are raised over there, that would eradicate the root cause I think.
Abel Malcolm
________
Asia's bird flu strikes house cats, raising new concern about easier spread to humans
DANIEL COONEY, Associated Press Writer
Friday, February 20, 2004
www.sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/02/20/international0557EST0479.DTL
(02-20) 08:41 PST BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) --
Bird flu has jumped to new species in Asia, killing three house cats and infecting a white tiger in
Thailand, a Thai veterinarian said Friday.
m.f. health officials cautioned the cases were not confirmed.
Thai officials said the pet cats in Nakhon Pathom province outside Bangkok were the first
domesticated mammals known to have contracted the disease in the current outbreak.
Thai veterinarian Dr. Teeraphon Sirinaruemit also said a white tiger at Khao Khiew zoo near Bangkok
was found to have the virus but has recovered and is healthy. The zoo is the same where a clouded
leopard died of bird flu last month, the first mammal apart from humans known to have died from the
virus this year.
The Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the reports on the domestic
cats "require more careful scientific analysis" and for now it cannot verify that the animals
died of bird flu.
In Geneva, World Health Organization spokesman **** Thompson said that even if the cases were
confirmed, there probably would not be a high risk associated with domestic cats being
infected. They would be hit by the same avian influenza as birds, which does not pass easily to
humans, he added.
"It isn't the kind of animal we would be worried about as a mixing vessel -- like we would be if we
saw the infection in pigs, for instance," Thompson said.
Health experts are concerned about the bird flu sickening other animals, in part because that could
prompt mutations in the virus that in turn could make it easier to pass among people. That concern
holds especially for pigs because of their genetic similarities to humans.
The virus has killed at least 22 people in Thailand and Vietnam, while infecting birds in 10 Asian
nations. A World Health Organization official said it's possible that Indonesia could have human
cases despite government claims to the contrary.
"It's such a large country and such a large population ... it may have been diagnosed as ordinary
pneumonia," the WHO official, Georg Petersen, said.
The reported infection of three cats in Thailand has raised fears that the disease could spread from
pets to humans, WHO virus expert Dr. Prasert Thongcharoen said.
So far, cases in people have been traced largely to direct contact with infected chickens, other
birds or their waste. The head of the Food and Agriculture Organization urged international
cooperation in fighting bird flu, warning it could spread to more animals.
"It's quite a serious problem," FAO Director General Jacques Diouf said. "Unless we deal with it
very seriously, there is the risk not only of other birds contracting it but also other animals, and
naturally we have also seen the effect on humans. That's why it is necessary that we cooperate
together in the region."
Canadian officials are testing samples of a mild bird flu virus that has been detected and isolated
on a British Columbia farm, Canadian Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew said.
mg. Danuta Skowronski of the British Columbia Center for Disease Control said the outbreak of the
H-7 avian flu is "certainly not" the same version of the virus that has hit poultry stocks and
killed people in Asia, which is known as the H5N1.
News of the British Columbia outbreak prompted Japan and Hong Kong to immediately place temporary
bans on the imports of poultry products from there, officials said.
Officials in Delaware and New Jersey also are tackling an outbreak of H-7 in poultry. That version
of the virus does not typically infect humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Educate yourself & go to these links:
http://www.moveon.org & http://www.salon.com & http://www.buzzflash.com & http://www.democrats.org &
http://www.commondreams.org & http://www.bushwatch.com &
http://www.academycomputerservice.com/economics/charts.htm &
http://earth.prohosting.com/songofth/jobcreation.jpg