Is US falling short on bird flu preparation? quoting : WKBW

Poultry outbreaksSymptoms of avian influenza, also known as bird flu, include fever, cough, sore throat and sometimes pneumonia. The report comes two months after China began confirming human infections of one avian influenza strain, H7N9. If an avian influenza pandemic ever hit the United States, there's only one dependable manufacturer in the country capable of making a vaccine, a government watchdog reports. Hundreds of millions of birds have been killed worldwide in an attempt to control the spread of the avian flu. Billions lostAbout 50 million birds died or were killed in the outbreak of avian flu in the US in 2014 and 2015.




WASHINGTON – If the United States were suddenly facing a potential avian influenza pandemic, just one U.S. manufacturer could be counted on to make human pandemic flu vaccine here. Controlling the virus in poultry is the main way to reduce human infection and prevent a pandemic, the GAO report says. In the event of an influenza pandemic, the government may not be able to rely on foreign countries to allow exports of pandemic vaccine, the report warns. Of the nearly 200 people who have died, most had direct contact with poultry or poultry markets. — Pandemic influenza vaccines for humans can be made using several technologies, but the most common approach relies on growing virus cultures in fertilized chicken eggs.

China H7N9 bird flu death toll fell to 24 in April: health authority

BEIJING China reported 24 human fatalities from H7N9 bird flu in April, the national health authority said on Friday, compared with 47 deaths in March. More than 400,000 birds have been culled in China since last October after bird flu cases hit poultry farms. China has reported 211 deaths from H7N9 bird flu in the first four months of the year so far. There were 529 cases of human H7N9 bird flu infections in the first four months of 2017, compared with 264 cases for the whole year of last year. Human fatalities and infections with H7N9 fell in April for a third consecutive month, government data showed.


collected by :Lucy William
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