bill_bennie

If you think it's scary now,,,,,, read below. Deadly 1918 Epidemic Linked to Bird Flu, Scientists Say By GINA KOLATA Published: October 5, 2005 Two teams of federal and university scientists announced today that they had resurrected the 1918 influenza virus, the cause of one of history's most deadly epidemics, and had found that unlike the viruses that caused more recent flu pandemics of 1957 and 1968, the 1918 virus was actually a bird flu that jumped directly to humans. The work, being published in the journals Nature and Science, involved getting the complete genetic sequence of the 1918 virus, using techniques of molecular biology to synthesize it, and then using it to infect mice and human lung cells in a specially equipped, secure lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The findings, the scientists say, reveal a small number of genetic changes that may explain why the virus was so lethal. The work also confirms the legitimacy of worries about the bird flu viruses that are now emerging in Asia. The new studies find that today's bird flu viruses share some of the crucial genetic changes that occurred in the 1918 flu. The scientists suspect that with the 1918 flu, changes in just 25 to 30 out of about 4,400 amino acids in the viral proteins turned the virus into a killer. The bird flus, known as H5N1 viruses, have a few, but not all of those changes. In a joint statement, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "The new studies could have an immediate impact by helping scientist focus on detecting changes in the evolving H5N1 virus that might make widespread transmission among humans more likely." The work also reveals that the 1918 virus is very different from ordinary human flu viruses. It infects cells deep in the lungs of mice, and infects lung cells, like the cells lining air sacs, that normally would be impervious to flu. And while other human flu viruses do not kill mice, this one, like today's bird flus, does. But Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, chief of molecular pathology department at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, notes that the bird flus have not yet spread from human to human. He hopes the 1918 virus will reveal what genetic changes can allow that to happen, helping scientists prevent a new pandemic before it starts. Scientists said the new work was immensely important, leading the way to identifying dangerous viruses before it is too late and to finding ways to disable them. "This is huge, huge, huge," said John Oxford, a professor of virology at St. Bartholmew's and the Royal London Hospital, who was not part of the research team. "It's a huge breakthrough to be able to put a searchlight on a virus that killed 50 million people. I can't think of anything bigger that's happened in virology for many years." The 1918 flu showed how terrible that disease could be. It had been "like a dark angel hovering over us," Dr. Oxford said. The virus spread and killed with terrifying speed, preferentially striking the young and the healthy. Alfred C. Crosby, author of "America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918," wrote that it "killed more humans than any other disease in a similar duration in the history of the world." But the research, and its publication, also raised concerns about whether scientists should publish the genetic sequence of the 1918 virus. And should they actually resurrect a killer that vanished from the earth nearly a century ago? "It is something we take seriously," said Dr. Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped pay for the work. The work was extensively reviewed, he added, and the National Scientific Advisory Board for Biosecurity was asked to decide whether the results should be made public. The board "voted unanimously that the benefits outweighed the risk that it would be used in a nefarious manner," Dr. Fauci said. Others are not sanguine. Richard H. Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, said he had concerns about the reconstruction of the virus and about publication of procedures to reconstruct the virus. "There is a risk verging on inevitability, of accidental release of the virus; there is also a risk of deliberate release of the virus," he said, adding that the 1918 flu virus "is perhaps the most effective bioweapons agent ever known."

Hi Bruno, from what I can find on the net an "oehoe" is an Eurasion Owl (europe) or an Eagle-Owl. Fairly large too. Us here in North America would call it a Great Horned Owl. I was told by a fancier here a couple of years back about a Horned Owl taking his large Geese at night. Pretty scary if I do say so myself. How big was it? I'd hate to guess. Yours in the Sport - Bill.

I found this add on another site. Is this beleivable,,,,any comment's? The solution against birds of prey... Aren't they a great nuisance to anyone? Birds of prey, particulary sparrow hawks and hawks. According to insiders 70% of the pigeons are beaten by sparrow hawks and 30% by hawks. More than 20 years these birds have been protected (very important for fauna and nature). Shooting, catching or killing of birds of prey is prohibited (and not necessary). Is there anything to do about it? YES!! The biggest natural enemy of birds of prey is the Oehoe!!! This album contains sounds of the Oehoe in search for food. Because of this the birds of prey will leave their nesting ground and environment. As a result of this the birds of prey will leave their surroundings in search of food and keeping pigeons will become more pleasant in your neighbourhood. Play this album whenever you have your young pigeons flying around their shelter. Do it for a period of some weeks and you will be surprised of the impact of it. Repeat this action once a week. The volume doesn't need to be very loud, because the hearing of birds is much more bigger than that of a human being. Yours in the Sport - Bill.

Nothing happening here, and I sent a PM to the administrator Friday night. Haven't heard back from them either? Yours in the Sport - Bill.

Thank's Terry, I was thinking maybe my computer was blocking it. Hopefully it won't be too long before it's fixed. Yours in the Sport - Bill.

Can't get on the "Chat Line" is there a problem with the system??????? Everything thing worked fine till today then???????????????? Yours in the Sport Bill.

I received an explanation on another site explaining about the "Adenovirus". Bill: It's apparently the same human adenovirus used in gene therapy to which they are trying to attach part of the bird flu virus. As this harmless adenovirus "infects" one person after another as it spreads, it multiplies itself ( including the bird flu fragment), the body's immune system kicks in and develops antibodies to the adenovirus and the bird flu fragment. Should this person become infected with the complete bird flu virus now, the immune system will recognize the fragment and have antibodies ready to neutralize it. It's a novel and quick way to produce enough vaccine for any country without having to rely on the labor intensive method of production through chicken eggs. Yours in the Sport - Bill. --------------------

Something new from this side of the "Big Pond" came up tonight. I don't really know to much about it, but apparently they are going to use an "Adenovirus" to try to combat this thing? From the what I read (using Adenovirus), they may create the next problem? http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2005/050912.Mittal.birdflu.html Yours in the Sport - Bill.

First time post for me, but this is the latest from Canada. Dear Dr. Chalmers Dr. Kaleta recently published review of Avian Influenza (AI) in pigeons and concluded, as I also believe, that pigeons are resistant to avian influenza viruses and have not been a reservoir or vector of the virus. DTW.Deutsche.tierarztliche.Wochenschrift 111(12):467-472, 2004. Other studies have support the resistance of pigeons to AI virus infections. Some people have confused die-offs in pigeons to avian influenza when paramyxovirus type 1 is a common cause of neurological disease and death in pigeons and not avian influenza. We have conducted experimental studies in pigeons using viruses isolated from dead pigeons in Thailand. Even direct inoculation of these viruses into nasal cavity of pigeons caused limited infections with between 60-80% of the pigeons not becoming infected. This suggests the mortality from H5N1 HPAI virus in pigeons may have resulted from synergy between AI infection and some other pathogen. The "illness in school children" is an unsubstantiated rumor. No AI virus was isolated from the children and I am unaware of any evidence of infection. With this scientific information, it is unlikely that banning pigeons will have any impact on AI ecology and will not reduce the risk AI infections of poultry or humans. The primary species that have natural infections with AI viruses are wild ducks and shorebird (turnstones, gulls, etc.). Columbiformes and passerines are not reservoirs and they are rarely incidental hosts following spill-over of the viruses from infected domestic poultry. Regards David E. Swayne, DVM, PhD Laboratory Director Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory USDA/ARS 934 College Station Road Athens, Georgia Telephone: 706-546-3433 Fax: 706-546-3161