Finally, bird flu genetic info from Indonesia

Here's welcome news -- Indonesia is making genetic sequences of bird flu virus isolates available to the public. This means that scientists around the world can study and map the information, to determine what is happening to the virus in that country.

The bird flu virus will be both from those infecting human patients and those found in chickens. This is important because there's a suspicion that the virus is going from person to person more than WHO is acknowledging, rather than everybody catching it from chickens.

So scientists wants to see if the isolates found in human patients matches or not isolates found in nearby infected chickens.

Indonesia sent 91 avian flu viruses to the Geelong Laboratory in Australia. That's a reference laboratory for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization FAO.
Information from the CDC was transferred to the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory. And also Genbank.
Another laboratory, at the University of Hong Kong and run by influenza expert Dr. Malik Peiris has also transferred work to Los Alamos.

Indonesia makes genetic bird flu isolates open to public



What is the Definition of H5N1


Bird Flu Genetics
Bird Flu Genetics

bird flu in cats in Iraq

People are not the only mammals that the H5N1 bird flu virus infects -- there've also been reports of cats infected with the disease, from Germany to tigers in the Bangkok Zoo, and reports from Indonesia.

Now it appears that some cats in Iraq caught the virus from eating dead chickens. The strain of the H5N1 appears to be the same as the one that infected a person in Iraq not long ago.

This is the strain of H5N1 called Clade II, also called the Qinghai strain because it was first found in dead migratory birds around Qinghai Lake in 2005.

Fortunately, the cats were in the northern, Kurdish area of Iraq. I say that because I'm assuming this area has relatively few American soldiers, because the Kurds are keeping their area of Iraq free of terrorist violence (the problems are almost all in the Sunni triangle area -- NOT the entire country). Otherwise there's the possibility, although remote, of American soldiers catching bird flu from infected cats.

bird flu infects cats in Iraq





Bird Flu in Cats
Bird Flu in Cats

More on Tamiflu and bird test results

Here's some more information about how taking Tamiflu or oseltamivir (generic) can interfere with test results and give false negative results in bird flu patients.

When bird flu in an area is suspected, oseltamivir or some equivalent is being given to anybody who might have had contact with a known victim or the dead chickens. If they later become sick, the oseltamivir may be inhibiting the H5N1 virus from replicating.

That means that there's not enough virus in their throats to detect using the standard throat swab.

Yet we know that treating somebody with an antiviral drug should begin within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. And that's pushing it. The sooner, the better.

So you can't wait for test results before beginning the treatment, if they appear to have the flu. Laboratory testing takes days.

If the person took Tamiflu 2 to 3 days before the test, they could have avian flu but come up negative on the test.

Seems to me this is a good thing for the individual patient, but epidemiologists who're concerned with tracking the disease are concerned.

Tamiflu interferes with bird flu test results


What is the Difference Between Bird Flu and Ordinary Seasonal Flu


Bird Flu and Tamiflu
Bird Flu and Tamiflu