Bird flu! a new strain! Here we go again!!

[Mitsuru]

Bird flu fear as mutant strain hits China and Vietnam!

Avian flu shows signs of a resurgence, while a mutant strain
- able to sidestep vaccines - could be spreading in Asia, the
United Nations has warned.

The variant appeared in Vietnam and China and its risk to
humans cannot be predicted, veterinary officials said.

Virus circulation in Vietnam threatens Thailand, Malaysia and
Cambodia, where eight people have died after becoming
infected this year, they warned.

The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 331
people since 2003.

It has also killed or provoked the culling of more than 400m
domestic poultry worldwide and caused an estimated $20bn
(£12.2bn) of economic damage.
Wild birds

The virus had been eliminated from most of the 63 countries
infected at its 2006 peak, which saw 4,000 outbreaks across
the globe, but remains endemic in Bangladesh, China, Egypt,
India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

And the number of cases has been rising again since 2008,
apparently because of migratory bird movements, said the
UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) chief veterinary
officer, Juan Lubroth.

"Wild birds may introduce the virus, but people's actions in
poultry production and marketing spread it," he said.

Avian flu has in the past two years appeared in poultry or wild
birds in countries that had been virus-free for several years:
Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Bulgaria, Romania, Nepal
and Mongolia are among those recently affected.

Mr Lubroth said the new strain had infected most parts of
northern and central Vietnam and could also pose a risk to
Japan and the Korean peninsula.

South Korea began culling hundreds of thousands of chickens
and ducks in December last year after confirming its first cases
since 2008.

The FAO is calling for countries to adopt "heightened readiness
and surveillance" against a resurgence of the virus.



Story taken directly from the BBC website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14709024

Well you know how China likes to mass produce things and
send them world wide!!

[OneCarefulOwner]

Flus mutate; it's how we always manage to catch normal flu every few years. Big deal! The old vaccines have gone off anyway, so new ones get made from the new strains and we go on as before.