There's an interesting report on NPR discussing the current threat of the bird flu ten years into becoming an issue. The report is based on a discussion with Dr. Anthony Fauci. Dr. Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases based in Bethesda, MD. 

The reason this issue is raised is that many experts have expected the bird flu to grown into a pandemic by now. It hasn't, and that is leading to some head scratching.

Photo Credit: Liza Naudé

If you would have asked me this question a few minutes ago I would have said no. I now know the answer is yes. It turns out that France is the European Union's largest producer of poultry. This was something I didn't know. 

Since France has such a large stock of poultry they've needed to increase their focus on the bird flu. They just downgraded their alert for bird flu from high to moderate. This decision was made due to the fact there have been no cases of bird flu found in the wild in the past few months.

Tamiflu is the gold standard when it comes to treating strains of flu. It's real name is Oseltamivir and it forms part of a comprehensive response to a flu outbreak. Roche, the company that makes Tamiflu, has started to grant permission for countries such as Vietnam to begin production of generic versions. The idea is that if tamiflu is used when an outbreak occurs the death rate will be smaller. 

Will it, though?

An article in the Telegraph looks at how tamiflu may actually cause a drug resistant strain of the flu to emerge. Before you panic there are certain things that need to fall in place, and the science behind the theory hasn't been proven. 

Photo Credit: Alaa Hamed

You have to wonder about China sometimes. They are close to, if not ground zero for the bird flu pandemic, but their reporting leaves alot to be desired. For instance, a Chinese soldier died in the province of Fujian . No big deal, because they reported it right?

Wrong.

The death of the soldier was reported on May 30, 2007. His diagnosis was confired through testing on May 23, 2007, but he was initially hospitalized on May 14, 2007.  At best there was a 7 day lag time in notification, at worst it was 16 days.

The National Institute of Health announced that there has been some success synthesizing a vaccine from anti-bodies of those who were infected with the bird flu and survived.

Four Vietnamese who came down with H5N1 agreed to donate some of their blood when they recovered. Using this blood, scientists have been able to formulate an effective method of treating the bird flu in mice.The actual group that did the work was the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). They were able to protect mice from a dose of bird flu that would normally kill them.

2006 was supposed to be the year of the flu pandemic. It was going to sweep out of the Far East on the wings and beaks of birds that had the bird flu. It was supposed to cause mass panic, government intervention and a possible collapse of socities. 

It didn't happen.

Why not?

A new associated press article addresses this question and walks away from the situation with some unique looks.

Dr. Malik Peiris, the man who has been on the forefront of the predictions, says:

One of the great questions facing researchers is how the bid flu becomes resistant to any available medicine. A National Geographic article looks at this phenomenon.

The article discusses Fujan-like, a new strain of the bird flu. It has become resistant to vaccinations of chickens.  

Yi Guan, director of the State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Hong Kong in China, says:

"This novel variant may have become dominant ... because it was not as easily affected as other strains by the avian vaccine used to prevent H5 infection."