Two Egyptian women die of bird flu
CAIRO, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Two Egyptian women died of bird flu on Monday, bringing to four the number of fatalities from the virus in the most populous Arab country in less than a week.
All four cases involved women and are believed to have resulted from exposure to sick or dead back-yard birds.
Firdaus Mohamed Hadad of Menoufia province in the Nile Delta was taken to hospital on Saturday and died early on Monday, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
“She suffered from a high fever and difficulty breathing and had a pulmonary infection after coming into contact with birds suspected of being infected with avian flu,” the statement said. “She was placed on a respirator but died at dawn on Monday.”
Later, John Jabbour, an Egypt-based official with the WHO, said a second, unnamed, woman died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in northern Egypt.
The deaths were the 18th and 19th bird flu fatalities in Egypt since the virus arrived in early 2006.
It is the third winter that the virus has struck after lying low during Egypt’s hot summers, when it is much less likely to spread from one carrier to another.
Bird flu story source: Reuters
Posted by on 12/31 at 03:59 PM
Transmission of avian flu by drinking water
Transmission of avian flu by direct contact with infected poultry is an unproved assumption from the WHO. Infected poultry can everywhere contaminate the drinking water. All humans have contact with drinking water.
Special in cases of decentralized water supplies this pathway can explain small cluster in households. In hot climates/tropics the flood-related influenza is typical after extreme weather and natural after floods.
Virulence of Influenza virus depends on temperature and time. If young and fresh H5N1 contaminated water from low local wells, cisterns, tanks, rain barrels or rice fields is used for water supply water temperature for infection may be higher (24°C: virulence of influenza viruses 2 days) as in temperate climates with older water from central water supplies (7°C: virulence of influenza viruses 14 days).
In temperate climates the strong seasonal waterborne infections like norovirus, rotavirus, salmonellae, campylobacter and - differing from the usual dogma - influenza are mainly triggered by drinking water dependent on the drinking water temperature (in Germany minimum feb/mar – maximum august). There is no evidence that influenza primary is transmitted by saliva droplets.
In temperate climates the strong interdependence between influenza infections and environmental temperatures can’t be explained with the primary biotic transmission by saliva droplets from human to human with temperatures of 37.5°C. There must be an abiotic vehicle like cold drinking water.
There is no other appropriate abiotic vehicle. In Germany about 98% of inhabitants have a central public water supply with older and better protected water. Therefore in temperate climates like in Germany cold water is decisive to virulence of viruses.
Dipl.-Ing. Wilfried Soddemann
eMail soddemann-aachen@t-online.de
http://www.dugi-ev.de/information.html
Epidemiological Analysis:
http://www.dugi-ev.de/TW_INFEKTIONEN_H5N1_20071019.pdf
Posted by
Dipl.-Ing. Wilfried Soddemann on 01/01 at 02:49 AM
