Preparing for Bird Flu
If you’re troubled about the threat of a bird flu pandemic, you’re not alone. Nationwide surveys reveal growing concern that the highly publicized disease could reach the U.S., perhaps as soon as the next flu season.
While the abundance of news coverage has helped raise awareness of bird flu and a potential pandemic, reports on the disease’s most sensational aspects have obscured some of the most important facts.
For example, it is currently very difficult to contract bird flu, also known as “avian flu” or the scientific name, H5N1, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO had confirmed only about 200 cases of bird flu worldwide as of May 2006. Most of these cases involved direct contact with infected birds, and nearly half of the patients recovered from the illness.
What concerns scientists and health officials is that the current bird flu strain could evolve into a more contagious form and make its way to North America. Taking prudent steps for “worst-case” scenarios puts governments, organizations, and health researchers in the best position to limit the spread of the disease, and get help to those who will need it the most.
Worry About Bird Flu
Unfortunately, the near-constant stream of news about bird flu has also given rise to feelings of stress, anxiety, and fear of the future. Such responses are understandable, given the disease’s uncertainties, and the incomplete or over-dramatized nature of many stories.
Some people fear that the disease will result in quarantines. Unlike the mass, hospital-like approach used during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, the approach for bird flu will more likely involve having people stay at home and away from large gatherings. This step would likely be imposed only in limited areas and for brief time periods.
A mind-body connection
Concern about bird flu may also amplify the effects of other stresses in your life. Over time, this can take a toll on your physical health because of the human body’s built-in stress response mechanisms. Research has revealed a strong link between prolonged stress and a whole host of potential physiological risks including cardiovascular problems such as heart attack, stroke, and high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol levels.
Some stressors can “age” people faster than normal, a process that can weaken the body’s immune system. Researchers also believe that the combination of stress and loneliness can decrease the effectiveness of the immune system.
Feelings of despair that accompany stress and anxiety may occasionally lead to chronic depression.
What you can do
Although bird flu is a threat that should be taken seriously, it should not control your life. There are many simple and effective ways to manage your fears and anxieties. Many of them are essential ingredients for a healthy lifestyle; adopting them can help improve your overall emotional and physical well-being.
• Keep things in perspective. Public health agencies around the globe have already invested vast resources in analyzing bird flu and predicting where the virus may appear next. They are also refining plans to limit the extent of an outbreak. Limit worry and agitation by lessening the time you and your family spend watching or listening to upsetting media coverage.
• Stay healthy. A healthy lifestyle—including proper diet and exercise—is your best defense against any threat. Adopting hygienic habits such as washing your hands regularly will also minimize your exposure to all types of germs and disease sources. A healthy body can have a positive impact on your thoughts and emotions, enabling you to make better decisions and deal with bird flu’s uncertainties.
• Have a plan. Recent hurricanes and other weather-related events have illustrated the importance of emergency preparedness. These same steps can help you and your family prepare for any bird flu outbreak. They include stocking up on non-perishable foods as part of your regular grocery shopping, establishing an emergency family communication plan, exploring options for working from home and caring for sick family members, etc. Knowing in advance that you are prepared can lessen your anxiety.
• Keep connected. Maintaining social networks and activities can help maintain a sense of normality, and provide valuable outlets for sharing feelings and relieving stress. This may also be an ideal time to become more involved with your community. Some of the most inspiring survival stories from Hurricane Katrina spotlighted times when people came together before and after the disaster.
• Get the facts. Gather information that will help you accurately determine your risk so that you can take reasonable precautions. Find a credible source you can trust such as your physician, a local or state public health agency, or a national resource such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Focus your Internet searches to reputable sites such the World Health Organization www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/index.html, the US government www.pandemicflu.gov, and the American Red Cross www.redcross.org.
• Seek additional help. Individuals who feel an overwhelming nervousness, a lingering sadness, or other prolonged reaction that adversely affects their job performance or interpersonal relationships should consult with a trained and experienced mental health professional. Psychologists and other appropriate mental health providers can help people deal with extreme stress. These professionals work with individuals to help them find constructive ways to manage adversity.
Source: The American Psychological Association – Thanks for help from: Raymond F. Hanbury, PhD, ABPP, Richard A. Heaps, PhD, ABPP; Bruce Nystrom, PhD; H. Katherine O’Neill, PhD; Suzan M. Stafford, EdD; and John R. Tassey, PhD
July 16th, 2008 at 8:14 am
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July 16th, 2008 at 9:36 am
CUT THE CHAIN OF INFECTIONS !
Spread of avian flu by drinking water:
Proved awareness to ecology and transmission is necessary to understand the spread of avian flu. For this it is insufficient exclusive to test samples from wild birds, poultry and humans for avian flu viruses. Samples from the known abiotic vehicles as water also have to be analysed. Proving viruses in water is difficult because of dilution. If you find no viruses you can not be sure that there are not any. On the other hand in water viruses remain viable for a long time. Water has to be tested for influenza viruses by cell culture and in particular by the more sensitive molecular biology method PCR.
Transmission of avian flu by direct contact to infected poultry is an unproved assumption from the WHO. There is no evidence that influenza primarily is transmitted by saliva droplets: “Transmission of influenza A in human beings” http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473309907700294/abstract?iseop=true.
There are clear links between the cold, rainy seasons as well as floods and the spread of influenza. There are clear links between avian flu and water, e.g. in Egypt to the Nile delta or in Indonesia to residential districts of less prosperous humans with backyard flocks of birds and without a central water supply as in Vietnam: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no12/06-0829.htm. See also the WHO web side: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/emerging/h5n1background.pdf. That is just why abiotic vehicles as water have to be analysed. The direct biotic transmission from birds, poultry or humans to humans can not depend on the cold, rainy seasons or floods. Water is a very efficient abiotic vehicle for the spread of viruses – in particular of fecal as well as by mouth, nose and eyes excreted viruses. Infected humans, mammals, birds and poultry can contaminate drinking water everywhere. All humans have very intensive contact to drinking water. Spread of avian flu by drinking water can explain small clusters in households too.
Avian flu infections may increase in consequence to increase of virus circulation. Human to human and contact transmission of influenza occur – but are overvalued immense. In the course of influenza epidemics in Germany, recognized clusters are rare, accounting for just 9 percent of cases e.g. in the 2005 season. In temperate climates the lethal H5N1 virus will be transferred to humans via cold drinking water, as with the birds in February and March 2006, strong seasonal at the time when (drinking) water has its temperature minimum.
The performance to eliminate viruses from the drinking water processing plants regularly does not meet the requirements of the WHO and the USA/USEPA. Conventional disinfection procedures are poor, because microorganisms in the water are not in suspension, but embedded in particles. Even ground water used for drinking water is not free from viruses.
In temperate regions influenza epidemics recur with marked seasonality around the end of winter, in the northern as well as in the southern hemisphere. Although seasonality is one of the most familiar features of influenza, it is also one of the least understood. Indoor crowding during cold weather, seasonal fluctuations in host immune responses, and environmental factors, including relative humidity, temperature, and UV radiation have all been suggested to account for this phenomenon, but none of these hypotheses has been tested directly. Influenza causes significant morbidity in tropical regions; however, in contrast to the situation in temperate zones, influenza in the tropics is not strongly associated with a certain season.
In the tropics, flood-related influenza is typical after extreme weather. The virulence of influenza viruses depends on temperature and time. Especially in cases of local water supplies with “young” and fresh influenza-contaminated water from low local wells, cisterns, tanks, rain barrels, ponds, rivers or rice paddies, this pathway can explain H5N1 infections. At 24°C, for example, in the tropics the virulence of influenza viruses in water exists for 2 days. In temperate climates with “older” water from central water supplies, the temperature of the water is decisive for the virulence of viruses. At 7°C the virulence of influenza viruses in water extends to 14 days.
Ducks and rice (paddies = flooded by water) are major factors in outbreaks of avian flu, claims a UN agency: Ducks and rice fields may be a critical factor in spreading H5N1. Ducks, rice (fields, paddies = flooded by water; farmers at work drink the water from rice paddies) and people – not chickens – have emerged as the most significant factors in the spread of avian influenza in Thailand and Vietnam, according to a study carried out by a group of experts from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and associated research centres. See http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26096&Cr=&Cr1
The study “Mapping H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza risk in Southeast Asia: ducks, rice and people” also concludes that these factors are probably behind persistent outbreaks in other countries such as Cambodia and Laos. This study examined a series of waves of H5N1, a highly pathogenic avian influenza, in Thailand and Vietnam between early 2004 and late 2005. Through the use of satellite mapping, researchers looked at several different factors, including the numbers of ducks, geese and chickens, human population size, rice cultivation and geography, and found a strong link between duck grazing patterns and rice cropping intensity.
In Thailand, for example, the proportion of young ducks in flocks was found to peak in September-October; these rapidly growing young ducks can therefore benefit from the peak of the rice harvest in November-December, at the beginning of the cold: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos – as opposed to Indonesia – are located in the northern hemisphere.
These peaks in the congregation of ducks indicate periods in which there is an increase in the chances for virus release and exposure, and rice paddies often become a temporary habitat for wild bird species. In addition, with virus persistence becoming increasingly confined to areas with intensive rice-duck agriculture in eastern and south-eastern Asia, the evolution of the H5N1 virus may become easier to predict.
Dipl.-Ing. Wilfried Soddemann – Epidemiologist – Free Science Journalist soddemann-aachen@t-online.de http://www.dugi-ev.de/information.html