|
The phenomenon of bird flu in South-East Asia is not new, but its spread among human beings is a fairly recent occurrence. Bird flu or avian influenza is highly contagious, and the source of this disease is the H5N1 virus. Avian influenza A (H5N1) virus is a subtype of type A influenza viruses. The disease spreads from H5N1 virus-infected birds to other birds through the infected birds’ saliva, nasal secretions, or feces. The given virus, however, has minimal effect among wild birds but can assume fatal proportions in their spread among domesticated birds like chickens.
Though it was initially believed that the virus doesn’t normally affect humans, the first case of bird to human spread of this disease was reported in Hong Kong in 1997. Very soon, other cases substantiated this alarming fact. In that outbreak, 18 people were afflicted with severe respiratory illnesses, and 6 of them succumbed to their deaths. Bird flu outbreaks in later years also led to human casualties, proving beyond doubt that humans are not immune to H5N1 infections. Since 2003, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has led to more than 60 human fatalities in South-East Asia.
The scientific community believes that most cases of H5N1 infection among human beings have resulted from contact with infected poultry, uncooked poultry products, or contaminated surfaces. However, there has been no evidence so far as to arrive at the conclusion that H5N1 virus does have the potential for sustained human-to-human transmission. The disease has a highly contagious element, but as far as the research suggests, it transmits from bird to bird and bird to human only. However, apprehensions that this virus can mutate into a form that can make it easily transferable among human beings cannot be ruled out. In case of such an eventuality, a pandemic would result leading to the deaths of millions of human beings.
In the recent past, during 2003-04, the virus caused considerable trouble in South-East Asia, and now, after only a brief abatement, it has again resurfaced and not limited itself only to South-East Asia. Very quickly, the disease’s ominous presence has spread across continents leading to valuable loss of economy, in general, and the poultry industry, in particular, and, of course, the invaluable loss of human lives. Currently, both Europe and the orient are reeling under its adverse effects.
In Romania, tests on poultry found dead have revealed the H5N1 virus. In China, authorities have pledged to vaccinate all of the 14 billion poultry to contain the advance of this virus in its third outbreak, and systematic slaughter of virus-affected birds has been undertaken in different parts of the globe. Already, at least, 300,000 poultry have been put to death in China.
In South-East Asia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand have also been affected in the recent outbreak of bird flu. In fact, bird flu or H5N1 avian influenza is more than a two-year-old continuing phenomenon in the region. Notwithstanding this recent disturbing outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, it remains a fact that the effects of bird flu in South-East Asia have been continuing since 2003. It should also be borne in mind that from late 2003 to early 2004, the outbreak of bird flu occurred among the poultry of Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand that resulted in the deaths of more than a 100 million birds (from disease or slaughter to check the spread of disease) leaving a dent in those respective economies.
According to recent reports, there have been incidents of sporadic human casualties in the above mentioned three affected South-East Asia countries. Since mid-December 2004, Vietnam has reported 66 cases of bird flu infections, of which 22 were fatal, whereas till end November 2005, 12 people in Indonesia have been affected by the bird flu menace, with a death-toll of 7. Between January 2004 to mid November 2005, Thailand too had 21 cases of bird flu affected individuals, with a majority of them suffering fatal conditions. No wonder, the World Organisation for Animal Health has urged Indonesia and Vietnam to foster vaccination efforts. Even in China, which employed proactive and stringent measures to curb this menace at its very root, there have been cases of human infections due to transmission of H5N1 virus in its most recent onslaught (which began in mid-October). Out of these three laboratory-confirmed cases in China till now, two are fatal. Overall, in Asia, until the second week of November 2005, there were more than 60 human casualties. However, what is more alarming is that the presence of avian influenza in South-East Asia is not going to decrease significantly in the short term as there is every likelihood that the H5N1 infection has become endemic to the region.
Similarly, Romania is not the only European country to be affected by this deadly disease. Russia, Kazakhstan, Croatia, and Turkey have also reported its invasion. It is feared that the infection was carried by migratory birds from Asia. Even in the UK, it was confirmed that a parrot died in quarantine of the same H5N1 strain that has decimated a sizeable poultry population in South-East Asia. The European Union (EU) has, however, acted fast and proactively. In late October, EU officials met at Luxembourg and called for a ban on commercial imports of captive live birds (other than poultry imported for commercial purposes) into the EU. On 24 Oct 2005, EU officials also imposed a temporary ban on imports of live poultry, game, and feathers from Croatia, after six swans died there of bird flu.
Even the Middle-East has not totally escaped the lethal fangs of H5N1 virus, and East Africa is being perceived as the potential entry point for this lethal virus into the African continent. Recently, two cases of bird flu were detected in Kuwait, one caused by the H5N1 strain; the bird was a migratory wild flamingo. Kuwait has allocated US$5.4 million for the purchase of anti-viral drugs to check the crisis at its inception stage. Kuwaiti officials have also affirmed that they would monitor farms, markets, and locations where birds stop during their migration, on a continual basis to check the spread of the virus. Kuwait has banned all imports of wild birds and poultry from Asian states. There is no denying the fact that EU’s and Kuwait’s actions will cause severe negative repercussions on the economic climate of South-East Asia in the near future.
Presently, the situation is grim as there is little preexisting natural immunity among human beings to H5N1 infection. In addition, genetic sequencing of influenza A (H5N1) viruses from human cases in Vietnam and Thailand shows resistance to amantadine and rimantadine—two of the antiviral medications commonly used for treatment of influenza. This would leave only two other remaining antiviral medications—oseltamivir and zanamivir—that should still be effective against currently circulating strains of the H5N1 virus. Efforts to produce a vaccine for human beings that would be effective against H5N1 are on, but it is unlikely that the efforts would gain fruition within a short span of time. And still more time will elapse before such vaccines can be mass produced and made widely available at affordable costs. Till then, we can only wait, watch, and pray that the disease doesn’t reach pandemic proportions.
|
