H5N1 Avian Flu news thread

[Preciouslife1]

February 12, 2006
News Analysis

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/i...agewanted=print

A Worrisome New Front
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL and DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
As epidemics go, it was a relatively small outbreak: 40,000 chickens died in mid-January on a commercial poultry farm in Nigeria. No humans seemed to have been infected. But to many experts on avian flu, it was the outbreak they had been dreading for months.

It was the first time the fast-moving A(H5N1) virus had been reported in Africa. And while United Nations agencies are now scrambling to form medical and veterinary response and surveillance teams, scientists say its appearance there is deeply worrisome for two reasons.

First, the continent is ill prepared to deal with epidemics, whether human or animal. Second, the Nigerian outbreak comes only a month or two before birds begin migrating north from Africa to Europe, which has so far been largely untouched by the virus.

"These are horrendous developments, whether you're a human or if you're a bird," said John Oxford, a professor of virology at Queen Mary's College in London. "Everyone wondered what would happen if avian influenza came to Africa, but no one really prepared. They waited. Now it's there — and this is not the most organized continent in the world."

World health officials say they have not had the cooperation they needed from many poor countries, even those on the flight paths of migrating birds known to carry flu. They got lab samples weeks or months after problems began — and for that reason, they worry that the disease is already much more widespread.

As late as Monday, Nigerian veterinary officials were assuring the nation that the disease was not in their country. But Juan Lubroth, a senior veterinarian at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, said in an interview that there was strong evidence that bird flu took root in Nigeria "a few months ago." While the outbreak took place on a commercial poultry farm, he said, the virus may well have been percolating for months in backyard flocks.

"How long has it been trickling around, with five deaths here and five deaths there, and owners would possibly not be aware of the problem?" he asked.

The problem of sluggish reporting is not limited to Africa. It was common in the early months of the outbreaks in Asia, in 2003. In Azerbaijan, which reported its first cases last week, bird flu was only "picked up because of international pressure to come clean," Dr. Lubroth said, adding: "We've been repeating over and over to countries that they have to be vigilant, but in most countries, it's business as usual. They say, 'Avian influenza isn't here now — we'll deal with it when it arrives.' But then it's too late."

Maria Cheng, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, said her agency suspected that there might be human cases of A(H5N1) flu in Africa, but had no way to confirm that yet.
"We're getting a team ready to go," she said, "but we're waiting to get the invitation from Nigeria."

And even when scattered United Nations teams are in place, the disease could spread faster than they can track it. The health care systems of most of the continent's 52 countries are so broken down that most are unable to vaccinate children or distribute AIDS drugs without Western financial aid and technical advice.

The only laboratories on the continent with licenses from the W.H.O. and the ability to run the necessary sequencing tests on flu viruses are in Egypt and South Africa, 4,000 miles apart.

And little is known about the spread of even regular seasonal flu, said Dr. Michael L. Perdue, a scientist with the W.H.O. influenza program in Geneva. "We get samples that South Africa takes from neighboring countries," he said, "but we know very little about central Africa."

Confusion about avian flu is rife in Nigeria.

On Monday, the chief of veterinary services in Kano State assured the country that the disease that by then had killed 60,000 chickens was avian cholera — a disease with symptoms different from those of avian flu, and caused by a bacteria, not a virus. Testing in an Italian lab determined that the disease was indeed avian flu.

On Wednesday, an Agence France-Presse reporter interviewing traders in the Kano markets found that the price of chickens had dropped to $2 from $6 because farmers were dumping their birds on the market before they died or were culled.

By Friday, The Daily Sun, a large national newspaper, was reporting under the headline "Bird Flu Scare Grips Nigeria" that government ministers were shunning chicken in favor of beef and fish at banquets, apparently unaware that cooked chicken is safe.

The paper also interviewed five Nigerian doctors, all of whom said there was no treatment for the disease. That is not correct, though the usual treatment, the antiviral drug Tamiflu, is expensive and in short supply.

Also on Friday, a BBC News reporter visited one of the northern farms where 20,000 birds had died. Although the Nigerian Health Ministry had announced that the farms were quarantined and being disinfected, he reported that basic safety measures were being ignored. Carcasses were being burned in the open, letting infectious feathers and dander spread downwind. The farm workers doing the culling wore their regular overalls and had no protective gear. Villagers were still entering the property to draw well water.

Northern Nigeria is one of the world's last outposts of endemic polio, in part because people in Kano were long told by local leaders that the vaccine was unsafe. The polio eradication drive going on there now could be a boon in the effort to counter avian flu.

Dr. David L. Heymann, who is in charge of the W.H.O. antipolio campaign, said the 300 Nigerian health workers now trained to spot paralysis cases in children and collect fecal samples for polio tests could be retrained to look for cases of flu and pneumonia and possibly collect nasal swabs.

"They have vehicles and cellphones, so they're a valuable resource," he said. "It's a logical piggyback."

[Preciouslife1]

From Dr. Niman and Recombinomics:

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Recombinomics is issuing a new prediction and warning of a likely alteration in the avian influenza H5N1 hemagglutinin gene. Like the warning/prediction issued on October 22nd, 2005, this new alteration will increase the virus' affinity for human receptors and lead to more efficient transmission of H5N1 to humans. The company has notified the WHO of its prediction and warning regarding the near term likelihood of this genetic alteration occurring.

In October, Recombinomic's prediction/warning was based upon H5N1 entering the Middle East via migratory birds, where another avian influenza, H9N2 was endemic. Recombinomics, utilizing its patent pending approach, predicted that the H gene in H5N1 would exchange genetic information with the H gene in H9N2 and would acquire the genetic change S227N (also called S223N). This alteration had been previously shown to increase the affinity of H5N1 for human receptors. In late December 2005, the first human infections by the Qinghai strain of H5N1 were reported in Turkey. S227N was detected in the index case for that outbreak with six additional cases confirmed four of whom
died.

Today, Recombinomics is predicting a similar change in the adjacent
position of the H5N1 virus' receptor binding domain. The donor sequences are again on the H, but in H1N1 European swine sequences. The new genetic change, G228S, has also been previously shown to increase the affinity for human receptors. Like H9N2 in the Middle East, H1N1 is endemic in swine populations in Europe. Infection by H5N1 in H1N1 infected swine will allow the viruses to exchange genetic information via recombination and allow H5N1 to acquire S228N. The region of identity between H5N1 and H1N1 is downstream from the
S227N position, so H5N1, with and without the S227N change, can acquire this new sequence. This sequence acquisition by the H5N1 virus will also lead to more efficient transmission to humans.

"H5N1 is migrating into areas where it is encountering unique influenza
sero-types it has not encountered while largely confined to Asia over the past few years. This expanded geographical reach allows H5N1 to exchange genetic material with novel donor sequences, which under the appropriate selection pressures, enables the genetic changes to become fixed in the genome of the virus. H5N1 is in the process of acquiring genetic information that allows for more efficient infections of humans", said Recombinomics President, Dr. Henry Niman.

H5N1, like most rapidly evolving viruses, uses homologous recombination to create novel genes that enhance the ability of the virus to evolve and remain competitively viable. Recombinomics' proprietary approach predicts these changes and identifies novel gene targets for new vaccines, which in turn allows manufacturers to develop vaccine in advance of the emergence of new genetically altered, and potentially pandemic viral strains.

[Preciouslife1]

Bird Flu Spreads to India; Iraq Reports Second Death From Virus
Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu spread to India, affecting dozens of poultry farms in the western part of the country, while Iraq reported a second human fatality from avian influenza, pushing the monthly global death tally to a two-year high.

The lethal H5N1 strain was found in chickens at as many as 52 farms in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, Anees Ahmed, the state's animal husbandry minister, said by telephone today. All poultry at the farms will be slaughtered, he said. While no people are known to have been infected, some are being kept under observation, said India's Health Secretary P.K. Hota.

The outbreak in India, the world's second most-populous nation with 1.1 billion people, comes a day after the World Health Organization said a 39-year-old Iraqi man who died on Jan. 28 had tested positive for bird flu. The man was the uncle of Iraq's first bird flu case, a 15-year-old girl who died Jan. 17.

New outbreaks in birds are being reported daily across Europe, the Middle East and western Asia, creating more opportunity for human infection and increasing the risk the virus will mutate into a pandemic form. The latest death in Iraq and another reported today in Indonesia bring to 11 the number of human fatalities confirmed this month, the highest since February 2004, when 14 deaths were reported.

``We don't know, but it might only take a very limited number of mutations for it to eventually be transmissible efficiently from human to human,' potentially triggering a pandemic, Albert Osterhaus, head of the Department of Virology at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, said by phone yesterday.

Infected Fowl

A total of 91 of the 169 people known to have been infected with the H5N1 strain since late 2003 have died, mainly in Southeast Asia, according to World Health Organization's Web site, last updated on Feb. 13. Most of the people who have contracted the virus handled infected poultry or came in contact with their excrement. Cooking meat and eggs properly kills the virus, according to the Geneva-based organization.

In Hong Kong, where H5N1 first sickened people in 1997, agriculture authorities are undertaking more tests on a magpie found dead in Mong Kok suspected of having the virus, the local government said in a statement today. A magpie found dead in Kowloon's urban Sham Shui Po area yesterday tested positive for H5N1 today, the statement said.

In Indonesia, whose eight fatalities in 2006 give it the highest death tally this year, a 40-year-old woman is being treated for symptoms of bird flu at the Sulianti Saroso Hospital. She is the second suspected patient to be admitted in three days, Ilham Patu, a doctor at the Jakarta hospital, said yesterday.

EU Outbreaks

Tests by the WHO confirmed that a 23-year-old man who died last week had contracted the virus, Hariadi Wibisono, director of vector-borne disease control at the country's health ministry said by telephone today. That's the country's 19th H5N1 fatality.

Avian flu has swept across the European Union in the past 10 days, with outbreaks identified in Germany, Greece, Austria, Italy, Hungary and Slovenia, as well as in Turkey, Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan. Egypt is the second country in Africa, after Nigeria, to report infected birds.

There is growing concern that the H5N1 virus may spread to other countries in West Africa, after the discovery of the virus in Nigeria earlier this month. Niger directly borders the affected areas of Nigeria and has more than 2 million people vulnerable to acute hunger, the Rome-based UN Food & Agriculture Organization said in a statement yesterday.

``If a poultry epidemic should develop beyond the boundaries of Nigeria, the effects would be disastrous for the livelihoods and the food security of millions of people,' said Joseph Domenech, FAO's chief veterinary officer, who is now in Nigeria.

Nigeria

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo set up a crisis management center in the presidential villa to receive, coordinate and disseminate information regarding the control of avian flu, the government said on its Web site yesterday. UN agencies, including the WHO and FAO, and aid agencies of the U.S. and EU will also assist, the statement said.

Nigeria's Information Minister Frank Nweke Jr. has ordered all veterinarians on vacation back to work immediately to join in the management of the crisis. Britain donated 15,000 protective kits to help Nigeria in culling and disposing of infected birds, the Nigerian government said in a separate statement yesterday.

A wild duck found dead in Ain in central-eastern France, tested positive for an H5 avian-flu subtype, the French agriculture ministry said yesterday. France doesn't plan to destroy birds because the virus hasn't spread to poultry farms, Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau told journalists today.

Egypt

H5N1 was identified for the first time in Vienna, four days after Austria reported its first case, Agence France-Presse reported today. The lethal strain of avian influenza killed a swan in Vienna's northern suburb of Floridsdorf, AFP said, citing an unidentified municipal spokesman.

The virus was found for the first time in Egypt, the government said yesterday. Seven infections were found in poultry in the provinces of Cairo, the capital; its southern suburb, Giza; and Minya, to the south, the government said in a statement published by the official news service MENA.

An outbreak of H5N1 in migratory birds probably began in Azerbaijan on Jan. 29 in three coastal locations near the city of Baku on the Caspian Sea, Ismayil Murshud Gasanov, the country's head of veterinary services, said in a Feb. 15 report to the World Organization for Animal Health.

The World Health Organization said samples from additional patients under investigation in Iraq are being tested in Cairo and results are expected within the next few days. Duplicate samples were being sent to a WHO collaborating laboratory in the U.K. for further testing and analysis, the United Nations agency said yesterday.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aYSgiey7ZN3E&refer=europe

[Preciouslife1]

Deadly strain of bird flu virus hits India, France
India testing 8 people in area where 50,000 birdsDeadly strain of bird flu virus hits India, France
India testing 8 people in area where 50,000 birds have died from virus
An official sprays disinfectant on a chicken coop during their door-to-door search for poultries in South Jakarta, Indonesia, on Saturday.

Nightly News• Bird flu precautions in Europe
Feb. 16: European governments take steps to guard against bird flu because of a growing number of dead swans and the risk that migratory birds will spread the disease. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.

• Bird flu in Germany
• Bird flu fears in Turkey
• Containing Europe's bird flu outbreak
• Bird flu virus found in U.S. turkeys

INTERACTIVE

Updated: 3:27 p.m. ET Feb. 18, 2006
BOMBAY, India - India and France each announced their first cases of bird flu on Saturday as tests confirmed birds infected with the deadly H5N1 strain.

The French government on Saturday confirmed the country's first case of the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus, following tests on a wild duck found dead in a southeastern village. The duck was found Monday in a bird reserve some 20 miles northeast of Lyon, France's third-largest city, the Agriculture Ministry said.

In India, eight people were being checked for the disease after tests on poultry in a western state showed they were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain. About 50,000 birds have died in the area in the last few days and samples sent to a government laboratory confirmed bird flu in the western Maharashtra state, local animal husbandry minister Anees Ahmed told Reuters.

“We are treating it as an emergency,” Ahmed said.

India’s Health Ministry said up to 500,000 birds would be culled in western Maharashtra state in response to the disease.

Ahmed said 200 veterinary doctors had been sent to the affected district of Nandurbar. Officials also banned trade in poultry in a six-mile radius around the outbreak.

Federal Health Secretary P.K. Hota said eight people were being tested for the H5N1 virus while four more are being kept under observation.

“We are testing eight humans for bird flu virus in the affected area in Maharashtra. Their blood samples have been sent to testing. Four, including three children, are being kept under observation,” Hota told Reuters on Saturday.

An emergency meeting of the cabinet secretariat was called in New Delhi, a TV report said.

India is the fifth largest producer of eggs in the world. Livestock and poultry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country.

Not cluster case
In Indonesia, bird flu claimed its 19th human victim when tests showed a 23-year-old market worker who died a week ago had the H5N1 virus.

His death takes the number of known human cases of the disease worldwide to 171 and the death toll to 93. Two hundred million birds across Asia, parts of the Middle East, Europe and Africa have died of the virus or been culled.

The latest Indonesian casualty was not among the so-called “cluster” cases Indonesia has experienced, where several members of the same family become infected by the virus.

So far most victims of bird flu globally have had direct or indirect contact with chickens, but there are fears the virus will mutate into a strain easily passed among people, causing a pandemic in which millions could die.

Bird flu has also spread deep into Europe with the first likely case in France—Europe’s biggest poultry producer.

Farm Minister Dominique Bussereau said it was 98.8 percent sure that a duck found in eastern France had died of the H5N1 strain, which is transmissible to humans.

President Jacques Chirac said on Saturday the government will be vigilant and ready to act on a possible outbreak.

“It is a situation which we have to take with calm, but which also has to be taken very seriously,” Chirac told a news conference in Bangkok.

Several wild ducks were found dead on Monday near Lyon in a region famous for the quality of its chickens. Test results for one of the ducks showed the presence of bird flu, the H5 virus, and tests for the H5N1 strain were underway, Bussereau said.

Earlier this week, France extended its ban on keeping poultry outside to the whole of the country, saying there was a higher risk from bird flu following recent cases in Europe.

More discoveries
Austria found two cases of deadly H5N1 bird flu virus near Vienna on Saturday, raising the total number of cases there to seven and prompting a nationwide order to confine poultry indoors, the health ministry said.

Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat told a news conference that a dead swan found in the Vienna suburb of Donaustadt and a dead duck found in nearby Lower Austria province had tested positive for suspected H5N1 infection.

She said a poultry protection zone already established in southern Austria, where four swans and a duck tested positive for H5N1 earlier this week, had been extended throughout the Alpine republic as a result of Saturday’s discoveries.

In Bulgaria, authorities put a man in an isolation chamber and were testing him for bird flu on Saturday after two of his ducks died, but said he was not showing symptoms of the disease.

Bulgaria detected its first outbreak of the H5N1 strain in a wild swan on the Danube River town of Vidin, close to the Romanian border, at the end of January and has since stepped up measures to avoid it spreading.

Denmark, which has so far not recorded any cases of H5N1, said on Saturday tests on 17 dead birds proved negative. Results of tests on more dead birds are expected on Tuesday.

Bird flu hit an Egyptian chicken farm near Cairo on Saturday and the authorities decided to cull all 10,000 birds there, the state news agency MENA said.

Egypt reported its first cases of bird flu on Friday but all of the seven chickens infected were domestic fowl, not on large farms. No humans have contracted the virus in Egypt.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif advised people who breed poultry at home to get rid of them to prevent the spread of bird flu.

[Preciouslife1]

Recombinomics Inc. Predicts A New Genetic Change In The H5N1 (Avian Flu) Virus
Dr. Niman vindicated again
http://news.biocompare.com/newsstory.asp?id=122097

Recombinomics is issuing a new prediction and warning of a likely alteration in the avian influenza H5N1 hemagglutinin gene. Like the warning/prediction issued on October 22nd, 2005, this new alteration will increase the virus' affinity for human receptors and lead to more efficient transmission of H5N1 to humans. The company has notified the WHO of its prediction and warning regarding the near term likelihood of this genetic alteration occurring.
In October, Recombinomic's prediction/warning was based upon H5N1 entering the Middle East via migratory birds, where another avian influenza, H9N2 was endemic. Recombinomics, utilizing its patent pending approach, predicted that the H gene in H5N1 would exchange genetic information with the H gene in H9N2 and would acquire the genetic change S227N (also called S223N). This alteration had been previously shown to increase the affinity of H5N1 for human receptors. In late December 2005, the first human infections by the Qinghai strain of H5N1 were reported in Turkey. S227N was detected in the index case for that outbreak with six additional cases confirmed four of whom died.
Today, Recombinomics is predicting a similar change in the adjacent position of the H5N1 virus' receptor binding domain. The donor sequences are again on the H, but in H1N1 European swine sequences. The new genetic change, G228S, has also been previously shown to increase the affinity for human receptors. Like H9N2 in the Middle East, H1N1 is endemic in swine populations in Europe. Infection by H5N1 in H1N1 infected swine will allow the viruses to exchange genetic information via recombination and allow H5N1 to acquire S228N. The region of identity between H5N1 and H1N1 is downstream from the S227N position, so H5N1, with and without the S227N change, can acquire this new sequence. This sequence acquisition by the H5N1 virus will also lead to more efficient transmission to humans.
"H5N1 is migrating into areas where it is encountering unique influenza sero-types it has not encountered while largely confined to Asia over the past few years. This expanded geographical reach allows H5N1 to exchange genetic material with novel donor sequences, which under the appropriate selection pressures, enables the genetic changes to become fixed in the genome of the virus. H5N1 is in the process of acquiring genetic information that allows for more efficient infections of humans", said Recombinomics President, Dr, Henry Niman.
H5N1, like most rapidly evolving viruses, uses homologous recombination to create novel genes that enhance the ability of the virus to evolve and remain competitively viable. Recombinomics' proprietary approach predicts these changes and identifies novel gene targets for new vaccines, which in turn allows manufacturers to develop vaccine in advance of the emergence of new genetically altered, and potentially pandemic viral strains.
About Recombinomics, Inc. -- The Company was founded by Dr. Henry Niman, a former Scripps Institute Assistant Member, based on his pioneering work in the area of viral evolution. Dr. Niman's research identified recombination as the underlying mechanism driving rapid genetic change, allowing him to file a series of patents based on a deep understanding of this paradigm shifting process. Recombinomics is in the process of commercializing its patent-pending approach to significantly improve the standard vaccine development process. Recombinomics, through its analysis and commentary section of its website (http://www.recombinomics.com ), has been consistently ahead of both the scientific community and government agencies in anticipating the genetic evolution and geographic expansion of H5N1.
CONTACT: Dr. Henry Niman, President, Recombinomics, Inc., 1-866-973- 2662,henry_niman@recombinomics.com
Web site: http://www.recombinomics.com//

[Preciouslife1]

A flu pandemic similar to the 1918 outbreak which killed 50 million people a year could be on its way to the UK following the discovery of the deadly H5N1 strain across the English Channel.

John Oxford, Professor of Virology at Barts, claims the likelihood of a human avian flu pandemic was "high and within a span of, say, 18 months".

"I'm not alone in thinking that because, again, the World Health Organisation has begged 250 governments around the world - most of which have ignored them - to take this view on and prepare for this outbreak.

"Because what we do not want is either a New Orleans situation or a Tsunami situation - that is you could predict something was going to happen but you don't do anything about it to prepare."

The relatively small number of deaths so far do not mean the current outbreak will not pose a major risk insists Prof Oxford.

Back in 1918 the flu pandemic, which killed 50 million people in a year, also came from a bird in France, and started with just 50 deaths. The similarities are of great concern according to the Professor.

"I still personally find it pretty alarming."

"That is the danger with influenza - compared to any other virus I know - that it can suddenly transform itself, reinvent itself and spread around the world."

Prof Oxford maintained "rather more scientific nations than our own" like Holland can calculate when wild birds were migrating over them and pulled domestic poultry inside.

"That is the sort of thing you can do, in other words biosecurity," he said.

"The reason we are not doing it here, it just escapes me, quite frankly."

The Government have now acknowledged the increased risk, and Ben Bradshaw, the junior minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has today warned the public and the poultry industry to remain vigilant.

Poultry keepers have been urged to house birds indoors if needed, and to report suspicious deaths and take bio-security measures following confirmation that a dead bird near Lyon had the virus.

Mr Bradshaw says the Government are taking increased measures, including extra surveillance within the last 24 hours.

He told GMTV's The Sunday Programme: "It's not inevitable but it is clear, obviously, that it's more likely than it was when it was further away.

"The veterinary advice is the risk of imminent infection in the UK is still low but we must remain vigilant."

He added: "We are appealing to poultry keepers to be ready to house their birds should such an order be issued, which would happen if there were an outbreak to be found in this country."

He said that where the disease was discovered in France and Germany was not on migratory flight paths that carried on to the UK, but poultry keepers should monitor their flocks and report suspicious deaths.

"The most important thing is to identify an outbreak quickly," he added.

Defence Secretary John Reid said the Government had taken every precaution necessary.

"The difficulty if bird flu ever transfers to humans - and it hasn't yet so don't let's panic - if it does, up until the point that it does and mixes with human flu it isn't possible to have a vaccine in advance," he told BBC1's Sunday AM.

"It isn't possible to have a vaccine in advance. The most you can do is prepare and have a type of pill you take which diminishes the symptoms after it arrives.

"But it hasn't arrived. Don't let's panic. And I'm sure that the Government has got all necessary measures there."

The announcement in France comes as the disease spread throughout Europe.

In Austria, authorities are ordering all poultry to be kept indoors following strong indications that a wild swan found dead in the capital Vienna would test positive for H5N1.

Germany announced another 28 wild birds had been found to have the deadly strain of bird flu, with hundreds more being tested.

Greece, Italy and Slovenia have also notified outbreaks, and results are awaited on samples from Austria and Hungary sent to the EU's testing laboratory in Weybridge, Surrey.

Outside Europe, India announced its first cases of H5N1 in chickens after 30,000 birds died in the past two weeks in Navapur, Maharashtra and some tested positive for the disease.

Professor Colin Blakemore, chief executive of the Medical Research Council, said bird flu in Britain was not "inevitable".

However, he said: "The risk assessment suggests that certainly the probability is a little higher than we thought a few weeks ago."

Prof Blakemore told ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby programme there was "absolutely no evidence" that the disease can be contracted by eating infected animals.

"What seems to be required at the moment for these rare human cases seems to be very intimate, close contact between humans and infected chickens," he said.

That meant there was a potential risk to those handling poultry, Prof Blakemore said.

"That would be risk if the infection were to spread to chickens," he said.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne called for a contingency exercise to test Britain's defences to be brought forward from April.

"Given Bird Flu has been discovered in France, on our border, I think and the Conservative Party argues, this should be brought forward," he told BBC1's Politics Show.

"We should test our systems now.

"The other point I make is there needs to be much more public information here.

"There has been some communication with large holders of poultry.

"But there are many people who have small numbers of chickens and things at home.

"A better public information campaign to say this is exactly what is going to happen if we have a Bird Flu case in Britain I think is called for now."

Dr Freda Scott-Park, of the British Veterinary Association, told BBC Radio 4's World This Weekend that "significant amounts of surveillance" were already under way.

"With this new and renewed threat, a bird affected, a duck infected in France, we are going to push the surveillance levels of wild birds up again," she said.

"We are going to have to talk to people on a daily, even an hourly basis, just to see how the situation develops."

Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth said the public needed to know the lessons of Foot and Mouth had been learned.

"If I were in the Government's shoes I'd have armies of advisers and vets and scientists providing advice on what to do and it is not for me to second-guess their judgment," he said.

"What I think is pressing at the moment is a perceived lack of awareness in the public and amongst poultry owners themselves about what might be required were there to be an outbreak.

"And I think the key thing we are looking for the Government to do at the moment is to put right that public information deficit."

Mr Ainsworth added: "The fact is that we are talking about a Government department that has less than a glowing track-record in dealing with outbreaks of animal disease.

"But let's hope that is behind us and that now we have some really clear contingency plans in place and that means knowing in advance, that means being prepared.

"And I think that is where the problem is at the moment. There is a lot of confusion, for example, ministers talk about people bringing birds in doors.

"Well if anyone thinks that taking their chickens into their home is going to be the right thing to do they are sadly mistaken."

Animal welfare minister Ben Bradshaw said there had been a contingency plan in place for three and a half years that had been approved by the Tories and the NFU.

"We are satisfied we have got a good place. We think we have learned the lessons of previous animal disease outbreaks," he told the World This Weekend.

Mr Bradshaw said poultry would only be ordered inside once the disease reached this country.

However, there will be an "urgent review" of arrangements if wild birds are found with the disease on a migratory route crossing Britain.

"Neither of those two conditions is yet met. We don't have an outbreak in wild birds in this country, we don't have an outbreak on a migratory route," he said.

"The secret to this is to identify it quickly, to contain it in one place and then to eradicate it.

"In fact, both the Dutch and the Germans several months ago, back in the early autumn, brought all their birds indoors - we thought rather precipitously - and then a few weeks later had to let them out again.

"Now that caused a great deal of expense, unnecessarily, and a great deal of inconvenience to their industry."

"We think we have got a good plan, it is based on a scientific risk assessment, we are keeping the farmers and the poultry keepers informed and we are also asking the public for help."

Mr Bradshaw added: "We are confident. We aren't complacent but we think we have got a good plan, we think the poultry industry are very well prepared."

[Preciouslife1]

India quarantines six as bird flu spreads faster

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India began a door-to-door search for people with fever on Monday, quarantining six people in hospital as authorities scrambled to contain the country's first outbreak of bird flu
In Europe, officials urged people to carry on eating poultry meat despite outbreaks of the lethal H5N1 bird flu strain, saying European Union authorities had the means available to wipe out the disease.
A string of EU countries have now confirmed H5N1 in wild birds, knocking consumer confidence in poultry meat -- especially chicken.
"We have the measures and legislation for containment and eradication of such diseases," EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou told a news conference in Brussels.
In Germany, Tornado reconnaissance warplanes and soldiers in biohazard suits were deployed to prevent the spread of bird flu after H5N1 reached the mainland.
Sixty soldiers clad in disease protection suits and gas masks disinfected vehicles on the Baltic island of Ruegen where the virus was found in swans.
At least 11 countries have reported bird flu outbreaks over the past three weeks, an indication that the virus, which has killed at least 91 people, is spreading faster.
India's health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, said the situation was "under control" and there were no human cases of avian flu in the country despite fears at the weekend that a farmer had succumbed to the disease.
Officials in the remote district of Nandurbar in western Maharashtra state launched a door-to-door check for people with fever, and continued a mass cull of up to half a million birds.
Six people, including three young children, with flu-like symptoms were hospitalized on Monday, joining a woman and a child who were placed in an isolation ward the previous day.
"Eight people are in isolation. We are keeping our fingers crossed," federal health secretary P.K. Hota told a news conference in New Delhi.
He said the government had stocked 100,000 courses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu and planned to source another 50,000.
South Africa also announced it would start to stockpile Tamiflu.
EGYPTIAN POULTRY
Egyptian officials said bird flu had spread to new parts of the country, adding to the devastation in a poultry industry which provided a vital part of Egyptians' diet.
Malaysia reported its first case of H5N1 bird flu since November 2004, with the death of 40 chickens in central Selangor state last week. But Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the public need not worry as no human was affected.
Bird flu's relentless march into the heart of Europe from Asia continued with the virus reaching the German mainland at the weekend and Romania detecting further cases of dead poultry. Bosnia confirmed its first cases of bird flu on Monday.

France, Europe's biggest poultry producer, confirmed its first case of the H5N1 virus in a dead duck on Saturday.
A Reuters photographer in India's Nandurbar said health workers wearing blue overalls, anti-viral masks and goggles were culling chicken by wringing their necks or mixing chemicals in chicken feed.
Television images showed dead birds being dumped in pits covered up by heavy earthmovers. TV also reported hotels and airlines dropping chicken and eggs from menus.
Poultry workers have been warned against culling chicken without protection after television images showed many of them using their bare hands to bury thousands of culled chicken.
Indian investors sold shares in farm products makers and hotels and bought into drug firms that may begin to sell influenza medicines. Domestic poultry prices fell up to 40 percent.
On Monday, Pakistan banned poultry from its eastern and western neighbors India and Iran, which found the disease in wild swans last week. Nepal also banned Indian poultry and Bangladesh said it had ordered a high alert along its porous border with India to prevent any poultry smuggling.
More than 200 million birds across Asia, parts of the Middle East, Europe and Africa have died of the virus or been culled.
So far, most victims of bird flu have had contact with chickens, but experts fear the virus might mutate into a strain easily passed among people, causing a pandemic in which millions could die. (Additional reporting by Adeel Halim in NANDURBAR, Sambit Mohanty in SINGAPORE, Rina Chandran in MUMBAI and Kamil Zaheer in NEW DELHI)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060220/wl_nm/birdflu_dc_37

[Preciouslife1]

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Bird flu poses a major threat to Africa's fight against its AIDS epidemic, challenging overburdened healthcare systems and stretching economies already hit by the impact of HIV, the U.N.'s AIDS chief said.

UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said a human outbreak of bird flu in Africa - where the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus was detected in poultry in Nigeria this month - could be a massive blow to the campaign to rein in AIDS.

"We are on very thin ice here," Piot told Reuters in Dar es Salaam, where he was on an inspection mission.

"AIDS has made a mess of Africa's health care systems, and none of the factors that created the AIDS disaster have gone away. But with bird flu, we could be looking at things getting worse in a matter of months, not decades."

Cases of H5N1 have been confirmed on four farms in the northern Nigerian states of Kano and Kaduna and in the central state of Plateau. There have been suspected outbreaks in at least five other states in the center or north of the country.

No human bird flu case has been found in Africa so far. But detecting such a case will be difficult because mortality rates are high from other diseases and health services are almost non-existent in rural areas, where people are often buried without a medical check.

Officials are now increasingly worried the likelihood of human transmission could rise if the virus spreads to other countries in the region - many already suffering from widespread malnutrition, poverty and the effects of the world's worst HIV/AIDS pandemic.

"Africa is fragile, and this could really overburden its systems," Piot said.

"We have not seen a human outbreak yet. But if we do, the resources are going to have to come from somewhere. That is a real concern for everybody involved in development."

VIRAL INTERACTION

Piot said scientists were studying the possible interaction of bird flu and HIV, the virus which causes AIDS and which has already infected some 26 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.

While some theorise that those whose immune systems are weakened by HIV might die faster in a bird flu outbreak, others say that because bird flu overstimulates the immune response, HIV-positive people might not die themselves but instead become "supercarriers" that spread the virus.

Piot said precautionary measures such as poultry culls could spell disaster in their own right on a continent where many people survive on subsistence farming and keep chickens to feed their families.

"For many people in Africa, chicken is either the major source of protein or the major source of income. If we try to eliminate chickens it would be an economic catastrophe, and that has clear implications for AIDS," he said.

Piot - who has spent a decade at the helm of the U.N.'s AIDS effort - said he was encouraged by the rapid global response to the bird flu threat but that much more needed to be done both to organize an effective response.

"The first lesson from AIDS is to act early and not to wait until you've got a big problem," he said. "That's what happened with AIDS in Africa, and look at the impact now."
__________________
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take - but by the moments that take our breath away."

[Preciouslife1]

Germany sends more soldiers to bird flu region
20/02/2006 - 12:58:47

The German military today said it had deployed 250 troops to help clear away dead birds from a Baltic Sea coastal region as authorities tried to prevent the spread of bird flu.

Tornado planes also were being sent to the area for reconnaissance duties, the military’s regional command said in a statement.

German authorities deployed the first 40 troops yesterday and ordered a cull of poultry on the island of Ruegen, where the country’s first cases of the deadly H5N1 case of bird flu were confirmed in wild birds last week.

The virus has now been detected in a total of 81 birds, many of them swans, but no farm birds or humans have been diagnosed with it so far.

As well as removing dead birds, the troops are helping disinfect vehicles, equipment and people leaving the affected area.

Army veterinarians have been helping local authorities.

Cipla's bird flu drug likely in a week (Bird Flu India )

"We are already making the capsules and they will be in the market in the middle of next week. These capsules are for human usage and we are not making capsules for birds," Chairman of Cipla Yusuf K Hamied said.

So things may come under contorol within 15 days i think.

Jim
http://bird-flu-india.vikamsey.com/n...r-bird-flu.php

[eb0783]

By PABLO GORONDI, Associated Press Writer Tue Feb 21, 7:05 AM ET:

Test results Tuesday confirmed that three dead swans found in Hungary were infected with deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, while Malaysia began killing birds after reporting its first case of the disease in more than a year.
The three dead swans, found earlier this month near the village of Nagybaracska, about 100 miles south of Budapest, were Hungary's first confirmed cases of H5N1, government spokesman Andras Batiz said.
Hong Kong's government, meanwhile, said a dead magpie found near an urban flower market was infected with the deadly strain, and health workers in western India expanded a massive slaughter of chickens.
The H5N1 virus has devastated poultry stocks and killed at least 92 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Most human cases of the disease have been linked to contact with infected birds. But scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmitted between humans, sparking a pandemic.
More than half a million birds have been killed in India's Navapur district since the virus was found in samples from some of the 30,000 dead chickens. The government plans to kill a total of 700,000 birds within a 1.5-mile radius of the outbreak in Maharashtra state.
On Tuesday, a Maharashtra state official said the government planned to widen the culling area to include about 100,000 more birds. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Farmers distraught over their losses asked how they would survive.
"It is a question of livelihood for 5,000 families," said Ghulam Vhora, a member of a Navapur poultry farmers association, after his 30,000 birds were killed. "We are all jobless."
Authorities have ordered 48 poultry farms around Navapur, more than 250 miles northeast of Bombay, to be emptied and remain shut for three months. The government has offered farmers compensation of 90 cents per bird, a price farmers say is inadequate.
Malaysia began culling birds and launched house-to-house inspections for sick people in a central district where 40 chickens last week died from the virus, Health Minister Chua Soi Lek told reporters. The affected villages are just outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's largest city.
A panel of European Union veterinary experts on Tuesday debated the merit of letting governments vaccinate poultry to prevent avian flu from infecting commercial poultry stocks.
France and the Netherlands are pushing for poultry vaccination, while the EU Commission and several countries, including Britain, are opposed to that.
"Opinion in Europe is divided" on the effectiveness of vaccinating poultry, said Josef Proell, the Austrian agriculture minister, after chairing a meeting of EU farm ministers Monday.
German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer and others have questioned the merit of preventive vaccinations, saying it would be costly and logistically difficult since birds must be inoculated twice in a three-week period.
Seven EU nations — Austria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, France and Slovenia — have reported the disease's lethal H5N1 strain in wild birds. There have been signs that European consumers are turning away from poultry.
The Hong Kong government said in a statement late Monday that a magpie collected Friday from a congested commercial and residential district of Mong Kok had been confirmed to have the H5N1 strain.
The government has confirmed the virus in 10 carcasses of dead wild birds and chickens since January. No human cases have been reported.

[Preciouslife1]

From Dr. Niman: Are You Ready for Global H5N1?

http://www.upmc-cbn(DOT)org/dmz/index.html?whereto=%2F

by Eric Toner, M.D.
Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Increases Spread to EU Countries, Africa and India?
The last 2 weeks have brought troubling news about the continued rapid global spread of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). It is worth remembering that although H5N1 HPAI was first isolated from a goose in Guandong, China in 1996, the current strain, genotype Z, only appeared 25 months ago[1]. In those 25 months, the virus has spread throughout Asia and into Siberia, the Middle East, North and West Africa, the Mediterranean, Central Europe, India and now Northern and Western Europe (Map).

Migratory Water Fowl are Asymptomatic Carriers
In addition to being spread by the poultry trade, the virus is being carried by asymptomatic migratory water birds, primarily ducks, which are infecting other species, primarily swans and poultry. Although low pathogenic avian influenza viruses are commonly found in the guts of migratory water fowl, this is the first time that birds have been known to be asymptomatic carriers of a highly pathogenic virus, which has resulted in the first known highly pathogenic influenza panzootic[1]. At this point, it seems increasingly likely that the virus will continue be transmitted from one migratory species to another, eventually finding its way to the Americas. That could happen as early as this year.

Infected Poultry Poses the Greatest Threat to Humans
To date, most of the 170 human cases have been associated with close contact with infected poultry. Water fowl, poultry and people each have different hemagglutinin attachment receptors for influenza A viruses. Poultry receptors are more similar to the human receptors than are those from wild water fowl. Therefore, the viruses that are most likely to infect humans are those that have adapted to poultry[2]. Thus, although infected swans and other wild birds are good indicators of the geographic distribution of the virus, their infections with the H5N1 virus are not likely to directly result in many human infections. On the other hand, outbreaks among poultry, such as those seen in Asia, are likely to continue to cause occasional human infections. The extensive outbreaks in chickens in Nigeria, India and Egypt are also likely to result in human cases.

The HIV “Wild Card”
The biggest threat is the possibility of efficient human-to-human transmission either by continued gradual evolution of the virus, as has been seen in Turkey, or by a sudden reassortment event. In either case, every additional human case increases the risk that the virus will adapt to a human host. In many parts of the world, but particularly in Africa, an unpredictable wild card is the high rate of HIV infection. So far only one H5N1 patient has been reported to also be infected with HIV[3]. The literature on HIV and human influenza suggests that HIV/AIDS patients are more susceptible to adverse complications, including both viral and bacterial pneumonia[4, 5]. They also shed the H5N1 virus longer--sometimes for months[6]. In addition, antiviral resistance has recently been found to occur more frequently in immunocompromised patients [7]. The interaction of H5N1 and HIV could have significant implications for the health of those who may be co-infected. Moreover, if HIV and H5N1 co-infection amplifies the spread of H5N1, it could cause a significant increase in the numbers of people infected with the avian flu virus

Are You and Your Hospital Prepared?
Clinicians in two thirds of the world now face the real possibility of seeing human H5N1 cases in their own hospitals in the near future, even in the absence of an actual pandemic. Recent events underscore the likelihood the physicians in the western hemisphere may be faced with the same situation in the not too distant future as well. Clinicians should ask themselves, am I ready for human H5N1 in my hospital?

References:
[1] Chen H, Smith GJ, Li KS, Wang J, Fan XH, Rayner JM, Vijaykrishna D, Zhang JX, Zhang LJ, Guo CT, Cheung CL, Xu KM, Duan L, Huang K,
Qin K, Leung YH, Wu WL, Lu HR, Chen Y, Xia NS, Naipospos TS, Yuen KY, Hassan SS, Bahri S, Nguyen TD, Webster RG, Peiris JS, Guan Y.
Establishment of multiple sublineages of H5N1 influenza virus in Asia: Implications for pandemic control. Proc Natl Acad Sci.
2006;13(8):2845-2850.

[2] Horimoto T, Kawaoka Y. Influenza: lessons from past pandemic, warning from current incidents. Nature reviews/Microbiology 2005;3:591-600.
[3] Chotpitayasunondh T, Ungchusak K, Hanshaoworakul W, Chunsuthiwat S,Sawanpanyalert P, Kijphati R, Lochindarat S, Srisan P, Suwan P, Osotthanakorn Y, Anantasetagoon T, Kanjanawasri S, Tanupattarachai S, Weerakul J, Chaiwirattana R, Maneerattanaporn M, Poolsavathitikool R, Chokephaibulkit K, Apisarnthanarak A, Dowell SF. Human disease from influenza A (H5N1), Thailand, 2004. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005 Feb;11(2):201-9.
[4] Lin JC, Nichol KL. Excess mortality due to pneumonia or influenza during influenza seasons among persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Arch Intern Med. 2001 Feb 12;161(3):441-6.

[5] Radwan HM, Cheeseman SH, Lai KK, Ellison III RT. Influenza in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients during the 1997-1998 influenza season. Clin Infect Dis. 2000 Aug;31(2):604-6.

[6] Evans KM, kline MW. Prolonged influenza infection responsive to rimantidine therapy in an immunodeficiency virus-infected child. Ped Infect Dis J 1995;14:332-334

[7] Ison M, et al. Recovery of drug-resistant influenza virus from immunocomprimised patients: A case study. JID 2006;193:760-76.4

[Preciouslife1]

UK bird flu plans 'in disarray'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/s...1716407,00.html
James Sturcke
Thursday February 23, 2006


British preparations to deal with the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu are "in disarray" and consist of finger-crossing and "prayers to the Almighty", a top virologist said today.

Professor John Oxford said the Department for Environment, Rural Affairs and the Regions (Defra) was failing to learn lessons from better-prepared countries of how to deal with the disease, which has spread across Europe in recent weeks.

Writing for Guardian Unlimited, Prof Oxford, of the Centre for Infectious Diseases at the Queen Mary School of Medicine, called for poultry to be brought indoors and vaccinated against bird flu, which has resulted in the deaths of 200m birds around the world since 2003.


British preparations for a human flu pandemic, which Prof Oxford described as world leading, have not been matched by plans for the avian form of flu, he writes.

"To put it mildly, [the UK bird flu plan] is in slight disarray, with a combination of disbelief that this virus could arrive, much finger-crossing and, I suspect, prayers to the Almighty that we might escape.

"Well, we have a kind of grand plan to cull everything that moves on two legs and has feathers in particular areas, and an assurance that everything is fine. I must admit, however, that I am worried - and I am not alone."

Prof Oxford, who is also a director of Retroscreen Virology, and whose work includes vaccine development, said he believed that the UK needs to follow the lead of the Netherlands, which along with France successfully gained EU permission to start vaccinating poultry this week.

After three years ago suffering an outbreak of the less dangerous H7N7 form of the disease, which led to the culling of 28m birds, Holland leads the world in the veterinary treatment of bird flu, he writes.

The Dutch government has examined more than 30,000 wild birds for signs of H5N1, while Defra has only analysed "a minuscule" 3,000 wild animals, Prof Oxford says.

He maintains that geese and other waterfowl, which have built up resistance to bird flu viruses and often show no symptoms of the disease, are likely to spread the disease. The recent Dutch outbreak began after contaminated droppings from migrating birds mixed with poultry flocks, he says.

"The government plan is to wait until there is "'confirmed' H5N1 and then to kick the grand plan into action", Prof Oxford writes. "But the huge weakness is that the virus may arrive quietly and spread before anyone is aware, as did foot and mouth.

"So, for a few weeks, feed organic and other domestic birds inside, and so break physical contact with migrators; then stockpile some H5N1 vaccine and vaccinate organic, free-range birds. Modern vaccines do work, stopping disease and more or less extinguishing the spread of the virus."

Yesterday, senior European vets on the EU's standing committee for the food chain and animal health authorised France and Holland to vaccinate poultry against bird flu despite concerns from other member states over its cost, the limitations of the vaccine and trade implications for EU export markets.

The British government was among those that expressed reservations, saying vaccination could mask symptoms of bird flu.

The deputy chief veterinary officer, Fred Landeg, said the early detection and slaughter of infected birds and the imposition of movement controls around the infected premises were the most effective ways to ensure the eradication of avian flu as swiftly and as effectively as possible.

In response to Prof Oxford's comments, a Defra spokesman said: "Britain is not alone in the EU in considering that vaccination with current avian influenza vaccines does not have a place in either preventative or emergency vaccination at the moment.

"Our assessments of risk are carefully prepared and considered and based on the best available evidence and expert opinion from leading ornithologists, epidemiologists and others. They have gained international respect.

"They are open to challenge and to date no one has challenged them from a rationale sound evidence or science base. Professor Oxford's views are the views of single medical virologist who does not appear to have consulted the independent experts that Defra has.

"Our past experience has been that this disease may be rapidly confined and controlled by the slaughter of infected birds and dangerous contacts, and by the measures set out in our contingency plan."

Meanwhile, French officials today sealed off a turkey farm that vets suspect may have been infected by bird flu, the farming ministry said.

A ministry statement said tests were being conducted at the farm, in the south-east of the country, where bird flu was discovered in a duck last week.

Earlier, a second case of bird flu was confirmed in a wild duck in France. The duck was found dead on Sunday in the village of Bouvent, in the Ain region, around 20 miles from Joyeux, where the first case was discovered.

Last week, the French government ordered all domestic birds indoors in most regions; in the others, it ordered vaccination programmes. Those who refuse to comply will face fines of up to ?750 (£511).

[Preciouslife1]

Dr Niman on the mutation and strains of H5N1:
http://www.curevents.com/vb/showthre...2&page=4&pp=40

[Preciouslife1]

The Flu Virus could be Billions of Years Old http://www.discover.com/issues/mar-06/cover/?page=1

What this article does is give a paleomicrobiologic perspective to the H5N1 virus. It looks as if viri were there at the beginning and before the beginning of life.

Unintelligent Design
A monstrous discovery suggests that viruses, long regarded as lowly evolutionary latecomers, may have been the precursors of all life on Earth

By Charles Siebert
Photography by Jörg Brockmann
DISCOVER Vol. 27 No. 03 | March 2006 | Biology & Medicin

Now, with the recent discovery of a truly monstrous virus, scientists are again casting about for how best to characterize these spectral life-forms. The new virus, officially known as Mimivirus (because it mimics a bacterium), is a creature "so bizarre," as The London Telegraph described it, "and unlike anything else seen by scientists . . . that . . . it could qualify for a new domain in the tree of life." Indeed, Mimivirus is so much more genetically complex than all previously known viruses, not to mention a number of bacteria, that it seems to call for a dramatic redrawing of the tree of life.


"This thing shows that some viruses are organisms that have an ancestor that was much more complex than they are now," says Didier Raoult, one of the leaders of the research team at the Mediterranean University in Marseille, France, that identified the virus. "We have a lot of evidence with Mimivirus that the virus phylum is at least as old as the other branches of life and that viruses were involved very early on in the evolutionary emergence of life."

That represents a radical change in thinking about life's origins: Viruses, long thought to be biology's hitchhikers, turn out to have been biology's formative force.

This is striking news, especially at a moment when the basic facts of origins and evolution seem to have fallen under a shroud. In the discussions of intelligent design, one hears a yearning for an old-fashioned creation story, in which some singular, inchoate entity stepped in to give rise to complex life-forms—humans in particular. Now the viruses appear to present a creation story of their own: a stirring, topsy-turvy, and decidedly unintelligent design wherein life arose more by reckless accident than original intent, through an accumulation of genetic accounting errors committed by hordes of mindless, microscopic replication machines. Our descent from apes is the least of it. With the discovery of Mimi, scientists are close to ascribing to viruses the last role that anyone would have conceived for them: that of life's prime mover.

There is much much more in the article. Read the whole story at the link at the top!! Thank you Clark on CurEvents board.