Bird flu pandemic risk remains high, says WHO

Breaking News for Tuesday, December 02, 2008 Government Task Force Predicts Terror Attack on Major U.S. City by 2013 PepsiCo Ready to Launch Stevia Sweetened Diet Sodas Melamine Found Contaminating Soy Meal Fed to Organic Chickens Health Ranger to be Guest on Alex Jones Show, Tuesday at 2PM Central Time Doctors Abandoning Vaccines That Don't Make Them Money      See all Breaking News... FREE Natural Health Newsletter Receive natural health product reviews, recommendations and alerts. Instant download of 20+ free health reports and exclusive interviews. Join over 1.2 million monthly readers. Unsubscribe anytime, email privacy guaranteed Articles Related to This Article: • Bird flu timeline: A history of influenza from 412 BC – AD 2006 • Why the bird flu virus is less deadly but more dangerous • President Bush's bird flu plan fails to teach people how to really protect themselves from a global pandemic

"If this pattern continues, an upsurge in cases could be anticipated starting in late 2006 or early 2007," the report said, adding that further analysis was needed. "Moreover, the widespread distribution of the H5N1 virus in poultry, and the continued exposure of humans suggest that the risk of virus evolving into a more transmissible agent in humans remains high."

The report stated that children and young adults were the most vulnerable to both infection and death from exposure, and identified three peaks in human infections since 2003, all during the spring and winter seasons of the Northern hemisphere. WHO medical officer Dr. Fred Hayden said there was evidence of the disease having an "environmental hardiness" that allowed it to thrive during colder months, leading to the spike in winter cases noted by the report.

Along with the evidence of increased vulnerability among younger populations, the WHO discovered that more than half of the infected patients died five days after hospitalization, just nine days after symptoms were first noticed.

A common problem noted in the report was a lack of shared information among affected countries, leading to holes in data and results. Hayden said more data sharing was imperative to combating the bird flu threat.

###
Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • Bird flu timeline: A history of influenza from 412 BC – AD 2006 • Why the bird flu virus is less deadly but more dangerous • President Bush's bird flu plan fails to teach people how to really protect themselves from a global pandemic	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/019548.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/019548.html">Bird flu pandemic risk remains high, says WHO</a>