Romanian Bird Flu Virus Is H5N1 Type, Minister Says

[Mojorabbit]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=aipgjt9oI3ic
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The bird flu virus found in dead poultry in eastern Romania is the H5N1 strain responsible for human deaths in Asia, Romanian Agriculture Minister Gheorghe Flutur said today.
snip
U.K. scientists at Weybridge, near London, have determined the virus to be H5N1, which was also discovered Thursday, Oct. 13, in Turkey, Flutur said on television news channel Realitatea TV. The Romanian outbreak was first discovered in the Danube River delta village of Ceamurlia de Jos, 300 kilometers (188 miles) east of the capital Bucharest.

``I spoke to experts in Great Britain this morning, and they have confirmed that the virus is H5N1,'' Flutur said. ``What we don't know yet from Great Britain is whether the virus is highly pathogenic or not, and we're expecting those details too.''

[norml]

1. "What if terrorists get their hands on these birds?"

As heard just now on Fox (Fakes) News.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=flu&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d

[Mojorabbit]

2. I think the birds

are doing a fine job of spreading it themselves. I read somewhere today that dead birds were found in Kosovo. If it is in Turkey and Romania then is most surely is in bulgaria.

Still, no people have died in these countries yet so it is a wait and see.

[Enhancer]

4. See another reason to keep Turkey out of EU.

Aren't these the diseases that the Dutch, Austrians, and the rest of the gang keep talking about? Oh, wait! Silly me! They meant it in a cultural sense. Never mind. :sarcasm:

[Delphinus]

5. No ... please tell me you're joking, right?

They can't be that stupid, can they?

[norml]

7. Not joking, they said it.

People are having fun with it in this GD thread I started.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5068133&mesg_id=5068133

[MaineDem]

3. Another headline: Romania bird flu is lethal strain (BBC)

The bird flu virus detected in Romania is the same lethal strain which struck in Asia.

Confirmation came following tests at the Veterinary Laboratory Agency in Weybridge in the UK.

The H5N1 strain has caused heavy losses of livestock in south-east Asia since 2003 and more than 60 human deaths.

Although its human victims contracted the disease from contact with birds, there are fears a mutant form of the virus may start passing between humans.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4344448.stm

[Mojorabbit]

6. I read this today

on http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/
It is from a nature article apparently.

One other result in this short paper is of interest. The authors compared viral binding to both α-2,6 and α-2,3 sialyl glycopolymers by the H5N1 virus from the patient, an H5N1 bird flu virus isolated from a Mongolian duck in 2001, and a human flu virus. The α-2,6 sialyl glycopolymer is characteristic of viral receptor on human cells, while the α-2,3 sialyl glycopolymer is characteristic of bird viral receptors (receptors are chemicals on a cell's surface where the virus docks prior to entry and infection). The H5N1 viruses both bound to the avian receptor, but the Vietnamese virus also bound to some extent to the α-2,6 human receptor, while the H5N1 bird virus from 2001 did not. The human flu virus (A/Kawasaki/1/2001) bound strongly to α-2,6 (characteristic of human receptors) but only weakly to α-2,3 (bird receptor). This suggests that the Vietnamese H5N1 had evolved from its 2001 form to one better adapted to a human host.

This is not a good sign

[Mojorabbit]

8. I found

the Kosovo article

UNDIAGNOSED DEATHS, AVIAN - SERBIA (KOSOVO)
from Pro Med
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1000
Pristina. At least 80 dead birds have been found in a farm in the Kosovo village of Vustria. Authorities in the region were immediately informed, the Macedonian television A1 reported. Official representatives of Kosovo authorities confirmed the information, adding that analyses are being conducted to check whether those are cases of bird flu.
Kosovo banned the import of poultry from Turkey and Romania last week.