TORONTO (CP) - To many people trying to make sense of their newspapers or newscasts these days, it must seem like actresses Tippi Hedren (The Birds) and Sandra Bullock (Speed) conspired to write a script for a really bad horror movie.
Lethal bird viruses lurking to infiltrate the lungs of innocent people, threatening to turn a seasonal respiratory ailment into a mutant killer flu. Migratory birds winging the virus from Asia to Russia towards the heart of Europe. Ashen-faced public health authorities warning of potential fatalities ranging from the merely awful to the barely conceivable.
Pandemic influenza has a steep learning curve, ladies and gentlemen. It's time to strap on the crampons.
Setting the record straight
Experts are worried we may be watching a pandemic unfold, but there's no evidence yet that one has started. The noise and fury is about what's thought to be a serious looming threat, not an actuality.
"I think there are some people in the public who think probably with the attention that pandemic human influenza is actually here. And it isn't," notes Dr. Ross Findlater, Saskatchewan's chief medical officer of public health.
Since late 2003, a very deadly strain of avian influenza called H5N1 has been infecting and killing domestic poultry, some wild birds, zoo tigers and on rare occasions people in Southeast Asia. But it isn't spreading in a sustained fashion among people.
If it mutates to be able to do that, it would trigger a pandemic, a wave of illness that would sweep around the globe. There's no way of knowing if it ever will do that or how soon it will if it does.
About that flu shot
It seems a few people around the country are presenting themselves at flu shot clinics thinking they can get a shot to protect against "bird flu." That is not the case.
The shots offered at the clinics protect against the three main strains of human flu experts believe will circulate this winter. They won't offer any protection against a pandemic strain when it emerges.
Flu, bird flu and pandemic influenza
At the heart of the confusion is, well, more confusion. Most people aren't entirely sure what flu is for starters. Unless you've had a bad case of the flu, you won't necessarily know if the bug you have is influenza or one of the myriad pathogens that provoke respiratory hell every winter.
Human influenza causes severe cold-like illness, with fatigue, muscle aches and the potential to progress to pneumonia caused by a secondary bacterial infection.
Bird flu - more accurately called avian influenza - is a term that actually describes a large range of viruses that live in the guts of some species of wild water birds. Occasionally domestic poultry become infected with one of those viruses, which can trigger an outbreak of avian influenza among flocks.
Very occasionally a novel strain of avian flu will cross the species barrier and start transmitting easily among people. Or a bird flu virus will swap genetic material with a human or a pig flu virus, giving it the ability to transmit easily among humans. That's the start of a flu pandemic.
The death and taxes thing
Politicians occasionally talk about flu pandemics with the modifier "if" attached. That's wishful thinking.
"The first big issue is 'if', because a lot of people are still talking 'if' - and that's a fundamental misperception," says Dr. Allison McGeer, one of Canada's leading infectious disease experts.
They can't tell you when or how often, but the experts are united - flu pandemics will continue to occur.
The myth of quarantine
George W. Bush recently talked about using the National Guard to cordon off affected parts of the U.S. when a pandemic strikes. Nice notion, but it can't work.
Flu is too infectious a disease to be contained through quarantine. And people can pass on the virus before they know they're sick, so how would you know who to quarantine if you tried?
"Quarantine will not work. Closing the borders will not work. Closing schools will not work. Nothing will stop the transmission of the pandemic," says McGeer, head of infection control at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.
Lowering expectations
People may be tempted to think modern medicine can curb pandemic influenza. Heck, it stopped SARS.
In actuality, experts say medicine still doesn't have much to offer when an individual goes into acute respiratory distress syndrome - which can be triggered by pandemic influenza. When hundreds or thousands in a community need medical care, the sheer volume of illness will swamp medical systems, planners believe.
Infectious disease expert Dr. William Schaffner says there has to be some realism attached to discussions about how much any government can do to prepare for pandemic flu. Schaffner, from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, likens it to preparing for a hurricane.
"We can't prevent the hurricane. But what we're trying to do is gear ourselves up so that our response to the hurricane is as good as we can reasonably hope it can be," he says.
"There is out there an expectation of perfection on the part of some people in the government and many citizens. They expect us to be 'completely prepared.' That's not a relevant concept when you're dealing with hurricanes. It's not a relevant concept when it comes to potential pandemic influenza."
Back to that vaccine
Canada and some other countries have plans in place to make pandemic vaccine. But because we don't know in advance what strain of flu will cause the next pandemic, it can't be prepared in advance.
Making vaccine isn't a quick process.
"If you could get full production of a licensed vaccine up within six months of the start of a pandemic, we'll be doing very, very, very, very well," says Dr. Perry Kendall, chief medical officer of health for British Columbia.
"So if we're talking about a pandemic that comes in a number of waves, each of which lasts about 15 or 16 weeks, separated by some months, then we won't have vaccine for the first wave.
"But we might be able to get vaccine ready for the second wave and give it to the most vulnerable people - health care workers, essential service workers, police, firemen, etc. ... before then giving it to the broader population."
(CP) - Canada will endorse and promote a plan to have wealthy nations contribute 10 per cent of their flu drug stockpiles and later vaccines to help less affluent countries weather an influenza pandemic, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh said Wednesday.
Dosanjh said the idea will be on the table next week when health ministers from about 20 developed and developing countries meet in Ottawa to advance global preparations for a flu pandemic.
"That is a proposal that is being floated that is going to be before the international health conference," the health minister said in an interview.
Dosanjh said he heard of the idea from Julio Frenck, Mexico's health minister.
"I wholeheartedly endorse it and we will be promoting it.... And we will do it."
Dosanjh said the idea of giving away 10 per cent of Canada's stockpile of antiviral drugs will have to receive cabinet approval. But he said he didn't feel that would be difficult to get.
"I'm sure our cabinet would approve it. Because we are in a sense one of the leaders in the world on these kinds of issues. People look to Canada."
He was less clear on whether the idea would fly with the other countries at the table who are in a position to donate.
"We may not come to a consensus on this at this meeting," he said. "But this is the beginning of a discussion. We need to have it."
The idea of redistributing stockpiles of precious antiviral drugs was floated last month by Dr. David Nabarro, the public health veteran who is co-ordinating the UN system's response to a pandemic.
"We're going to have very little stuff and it's already stuck away in stockpiles ... that people will protect with their lives. And yet we're going to have to find some way to ration these things so that they are given to the folk who need them the most," Nabarro said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
The federal, provincial and territorial governments currently have a combined total of 22.5 million pills of the drug Tamiflu in pandemic stockpiles.
Under the current treatment regime, that is enough drug to treat about 2.5 million Canadians. Experts believe, though, that if the H5N1 avian influenza strain triggers a pandemic higher doses of the drug might be needed.
Other countries - notably Australia and Britain - have larger supplies or have ordered larger amounts of the drug.
Tamiflu, made by Hoffman-La Roche, is moderately expensive, costing around $60 a treatment course in Canada.
While that price tag puts it well beyond the means of many developing countries, cost isn't the only limitation.
Roche is the sole company that makes the drug, one of only two believed to be effective against all potential pandemic flu strains. At the current time it is capable of making only 10s of millions of treatment courses a year - it refuses to be more precise about capacity. Countries around the globe are clamouring for a share of that output.
The second drug, Relenza (made by GlaxoSmithKline) is made in even smaller quantities than Tamiflu, though GSK has hinted it may significantly step up production to meet heightened demand.
Dosanjh said Canada is looking at purchasing some Relenza for its stockpile. And he insisted that if his advisers feel the country needs to add more antivirals to stockpiles, Canada will do so.
"If the experts believe we need more, we will get more. There is absolutely no question."
But Dosanjh made a point of underscoring that while pandemic preparations are crucial, no government will be able to fully insulate its people from the economic impact and human health toll of a pandemic.
"I believe that you've got to be candid with people," he said.
"People have got to know that fear is not only in their minds. It's also in my mind and in our minds, collectively. And that is why we're . . . preparing."
"According to tests by the Regional Animal Health Center in Can Tho city, the fowl were infected with a type A bird flu virus strain," said Nguyen Phuc Tai, director of the provincial Animal Health Department.
Some 400 out of over 500 ducks raised by a local farmer in Hong Dan district died by Monday, he said, adding that the whole flock, which had yet to be vaccinated against bird flu, was culled Tuesday morning.
Bac Lieu had vaccinated more than 400,000 fowls out of its poultry population of over 1.1 million, said Lam Tri Thong, deputy head of the provincial Animal Health Department.
The Vietnamese government has recently decided to spend VND700 billion (US$44.3 million) on vaccinating fowls. Vietnam is importing 260 million doses of bird flu vaccines from China so as to complete the first round batch of vaccination by late next month.
All fowl will have been vaccinated by late March 2007. To date, 37 out of 64 cities and provinces have vaccinated over 56 million out of the targeted 156 million poultry.
Vietnam said it needed some VND6.87 trillion, or almost $434 million, for its plan to deal with a possible bird flu pandemic.
Last week, foreign donors pledged to disburse $6.8 million over the next six months to meet short-term needs of Vietnam's animal breading and healthcare sectors.
Vietnam has detected 22 bird flu outbreaks in 10 provinces since April, which have killed and led to the forced culling of nearly 14,400 fowl, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Since December 2003, the H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus has killed 41 of the 91 known infected people in Vietnam. The country has culled almost 50 million poultry to prevent the spread of the disease.
(Source: Tuoi Tre, Xinhua)
Vietnam needs some VND6.87 trillion, or almost $434 million, for its plan to deal with a possible bird flu pandemic, heard a meeting of the national committee for bird flu control in Hanoi Monday.
The committee said the money would be used to buy equipment, disinfectants and respirators, and to fund massive exercises on fighting a possible pandemic amongst human beings.
The plan of action also focused on measures to protect foreigners living in Vietnam, the committee said.
They would be provided with health supervision and protective measures, including the same medical checks and treatment as those given to Vietnamese citizens.
Vietnam has declared that it has temporarily contained the epidemic, yet the nation is still facing a high risk of relapse. A tough struggle against the evolving virus also lies ahead.
The country detected no bird flu outbreaks in September and early October. However, the avian influenza virus has been found in a large number of aquatic fowl, sparking worry of a potential spread of the pandemic in the country, according to the committee.
Since December 2003, the H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus has killed 41 of the 91 known infected people in Vietnam. The country has culled almost 50 million poultry to prevent the spread of the disease.
Delayed vaccination
Due to a three-week delay in the arrival of imported vaccine shipments from China, the committee asked provinces and cities to readjust their vaccination schemes with top priority given to high-risk areas.
The delivery of 260 million doses of Chinese bird flu vaccines was due on October 15, but the importer, Navetco Company, said Monday it had yet to receive the shipment.
Vietnam was facing a serious shortage of bird flu vaccines due to the unexpected rising demand, Pham Quang Thai, director of Navetco, told Thanh Nien.
Navetco imported 120 million batches of vaccines based on the original plan of vaccinating poultry in only 15 provinces and cities, with many other provinces and cities rushing for vaccines, Thai elaborated.
Besides, many provinces had miscounted the number of fowl in their region, he added.
Navetco had requested the Vietnamese embassy in China and other concerned agencies to help speed up the shipment, he said.
According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Animal Health Department, 32 provinces and cities have completed the first round of mass poultry vaccinations.
Northern Nam Dinh province and Mekong delta Tien Giang province, which have been selected as hot spots in the vaccination drive, have accomplished the second round of vaccinations.
Vietnam and several United Nations organizations launched Friday last week a US$6.8 million joint program to prevent epidemics, particularly the highly pathogenic avian influenza A (HPAI).
The US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Agency for International Development have also allocated $6 million for Vietnam’s fight against bird flu.
(Source: VNA
'Is Tamiflu A Prescription For Survival?'
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Further down this page, you'll also find a comprehensive selection of the finest books on Urban Survival and Survival in the City. You can also click on the Amazon.com button under each of these titles to read extracts from, or reviews of them, or to place an order.
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Whether you want to learn useful rural, homesteader or "back-to-the-land" survival skills, acquire invaluable money-saving or food-raising and preserving techniques, or to use and enjoy the astonishing wealth of over 1,000 recipes and hundreds of proven tips for cutting your personal living costs or becoming more self-reliant, or you just want regular access to Carla Emery's unparalleled storehouse of experience and advice on everything related to self-sufficient living, this is a book that you must have!
This amazing 864 page volume, now in its ninth printing, is the result of an extraordinary fusion of Carla Henry's vast experience in every area of self-reliant living with the feedback and comments [many of which are reproduced in the book] of her more than thirty thousand readers around the world. The book, in consequence, is an invaluable treasure-trove of well-tested, practical and ingenious recipes, formulas, ideas and advice. Whether you live in the city or the country, you'll find yourself consulting Carla Henry's 'Encyclopedia Of Country Living' frequently and profiting by it - or just sitting down and reading it for sheer pleasure! It is perhaps the most comprehensive resource available on the topics it covers.
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Outsize paperback; 864 pages
And it seems that we're not alone in our high opinion of this superb modern classic!
What reviewers across America thought of this superb reference and instructional resource book:
"It is a superb reference book, better than any number of those that pretend to teach you survival skills by concentrating on just a few crafts." - Survival Tomorrow
"This is really an encylopedia and, like a good encyclopedia, the narrative is clear and complete, the illustrations are plentiful and the whole thing is thoroughly indexed. You can spend a fortune on a library of neo-pioneer books or you can buy "BACK TO BASICS" - Times & World News, Roanoke, Va.
"If you're going to go back to the good old days you'll need some the good old days didn't have...an instruction manual." - Cincinnati Enquirer
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"...it would be an asset to anyone's personal library at home. We recommend it highly." - Kansas City TimesFrom the Introduction:
"'Back To Basics' is a book about the simple life. It is about old-fashioned ways of doing things, and old-fashioned craftsmanship, and old-fashioned food, and old-fashioned fun. It is also about independence - the kind of down-home self-reliance that our grandparents and great grandparents took for granted, and that we moderns often think has vanished forever, along with supermarket tomatoes that taste good, packaged bread that does not have additives, and holidays that are not commercialized.In a period of terrorism, war, and increasing oil and gasoline prices, with the disruptions, shortages, and inflation which are likely to result, that last paragraph reminds us that we may all have an increasing need for improved personal survival, budgetary, and independent-living skills over the next few years! This is an essential book that anyone concerned with saving money and with deveoping practical living-skills must have.At its heart 'Back To Basics' is a how-to book packed with hundreds of projects, step-by-step sequences, charts, tables, diagrams, and illustrations to help you and your family reestablish control over your day-to-day lives. The book is organized into six main sections. The first deals with shelter, the second with energy, the third with raising food, the forth with preserving food, the fifth with home crafts, and the sixth with recreation. The subjects presented lead in logical sequence along the way stations on the road to self-sufficiency. An added feature, "Sources and Resources," lists suggestions for further reading plus names of suppliers of hard-to-find equipment.
Practical, useful information is provided on just about every skill and handicraft under the sun. You will learn how to make your own cheese, raise your own chickens, harvest your own honey, generate your own electricity, and brew your own applejack. You will be able to try your hand at blacksmithing, broom-making, and stone masonry. You will discover how to make soap, tan a hide, build an igloo, heat with wood, smoke a salmon, and create your own cosmetics. Some projects are difficult and demanding - building a log cabin or installing a solar water heating system are tasks for someone with experience, skill, and a strong back. But most of the jobs are well within the capabilities of the average person, and many are suited for family participation, especially for the kids.
While 'Back To Basics' is a book for doing, it is also a book for dreaming. There is no need to run out and start baking adobe bricks in order to enjoy learning the ins and outs of adobe construction. [It might even set you thinking about putting up your own adobe home someday]. Similarly, your imagination is apt to be fired by the interviews with folks around the country who are already practicing the skills and crafts described in 'Back To Basics'. Among others, you will hear from a husband-and-wife team who built a log cabin in Alaska, some suburban kids who raise goats and pigs in their backyard, a city worker who specializes in urban gardening, and a New Hampshire artisan who is keeping alive the Indian art of building birchbark canoes. There are also descriptions of by-gone ways of doing things: the technique of pitsawing, the Indian way of smoking a deer hide and making jerky, the inner workings of a water-powered gristmill. These - along with the historical background of each skill and charming old prints that illustrate many of them - make for fascinating reading.
Americans are a contradictory people. No nation has ever moved further from the harsh realities of wilderness existence. Yet. paradoxically, no nation has clung more tenaciously to its early ideals - to the concept of personal independence, to the mystique of the frontier, to the early pioneers' sense of rugged self-reliance. It is as if somewhere, deep in the American spirit, there has always lurked a distrust of the very technology that we, more than any other people, have spawned. Perhaps this distrust was an accident, but perhaps it was fate; for in the light of recent events that have called into question our easy dependence on modern technology, it seems to have been prophetic. Americans have long yearned for a return to basics; now, suddenly, it has become a necessity. 'Back To Basics' can do much to guide the way."
This is an absolutely essential book if you wish to increase your self-reliance and personal survival skills, as well as provide yourself with an essential reference and how-to resource in preparation for any future food or energy disruptions and shortages. We urge you to order your own copy quickly to be sure of obtaining one! This is an ideal companion to the equally-essential, bestselling 'ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COUNTRY LIVING' [see above].
Take this opportunity to add the superb, comprehensive, and invaluable 'BACK TO BASICS' to your survival, independent-living, or home library!"
Large hardback; 456 pages pages
