|
Changing
Climate - Changing Habitats:
Bird Flu - A Potential Trans-National, Trans-Species Problem
"H5N1,"
All Things Considered, Tuesday, December 16, 1997 |
| 1997 |
So
far, there are only 7 confirmed cases of a new strain of flu in
Hong Kong, but two people have died from contracting it. An international
team is now studying it to see if it could turn into a much larger
problem. That will depend, in part, on how the virus spreads--at
the moment specialists believe it comes from chickens, but the bigger
question is whether it can also be spread from human to human. NPR's
Mary Kay Magistad reports. (3:00) |
"Hong Kong /
Avian Flu," ABC Evening News, (26 December 1997). |
| 1997 |
The
growing panic in Hong Kong over bird flu reported.
(New York: Antonio Mora) The race by CDC (Centers for Disease Control)
researchers to develop a vaccine for the H5N1 virus and the worldwide
preparation to identify the virus if it spreads beyond Hong Kong
examined. |
|
Matt Frei |
| 1997 |
"Dec
1997: Hong Kong slaughters chickens," BBC News Online,
(December 1997). The authorities in Hong Kong have slaughtered a
million chickens in an attempt to prevent an epidemic of bird flu.
They also hope culling will calm the public's growing concern about
human infection. Matt Frei reports from Hong Kong. |
What
happened in this intervening period?
from December 1997 to January 2004? |
"Bird
Flu Outbreak," NewsHour, (27 January 2004).
"Bird
flu pressure mounts on China," BBC
News Online, (Saturday, 31 January, 2004, 08:12 GMT).
"New
bird flu cases hit Thailand," BBC News Online, (16 February,
2004, 13:29 GMT Monday).
"Bird Flu Pandemic Concerns International Scientists,"
VOA News, (7 January 2005).
"Risk
from deadly bird flu 'underestimated'," BBC News Online, (22
February 2005).
Kay
Johnson, "Bird Flu Experts Meet in Vietnam," VOA News,
(23 February 2005).
Bird Flu Warning from WHO, Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, (23 February
2005).
"Bird
Flu Potential," BBC News Online - Newshour, (23 February 2005).
"Watching
the Next Pandemic" On
Point from WBUR in Boston (24 February 2005).
What's
happened in the past few months?
The past week?
|
|
"Preparing for
the Bird Flu Pandemic," NPR - WBUR - On Point, (15 March
2006 11:00 EST). |
| |
The
latest news on bird flu today: it's now in Sweden. Two wild ducks
that were found dead there had been infected.
Two wild ducks in Sweden sounds distant, almost picturesque. But
there is nothing distant in the warnings Americans are hearing this
week about bird flu.
It will come to North America, probably within months, we're told.
There's a fifty-fifty chance it will jump to human-to-human transmission
-- the "pandemic" path. And then, the ominous warning
that bird flu could kill millions.
The guidance from Washington this week: stash poweder milk and canned
tuna under the bed. |
To understand and keep monitoring this issue, you can refer to:
|
Pathway of Potential
Bird Flu Evolution |
| |
BBC News Online Graphic illustrating the manner of RNA recombination
between two different flu strains that could lead to the evolution
of a new strain potentially quite dangerous to humans. |
| Bird
flu journey |
| |
Watch
how the lethal virus has spread - BBC series of overlay maps of
bird flu incidence, flyway dissemination and human flu cases. |
|