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November 5, 2006: If you thought the bird flu scare is dead and gone, think again. The fear has taken a rebirth with a new strain of the virus popping up yet again. The new strain of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, which has spread out from southern China to South East Asia, is seen as a possible threat. Virologists feel that the virus may have become resistant to vaccines.
The current revival of the bird flu virus has also refocused attention on the lack of transparency among Chinese officials about the disease in China. The new H5N1 strain was first isolated in Fujian province in March 2005, and has surfaced in several provinces in China since October 2005, and elsewhere in the South East Asian region, including Hong Kong, Laos Thailand and Malaysia.
Research studies indicate that the new virus variant has already initiated a third wave of transmission throughout Southeast Asia and may spread further in Eurasia. Researchers feel that the current controls are probably ineffective in dealing with H5N1's evolutions. The fears have surfaced following the studies conducted by scientists who had collected bird faecal samples from poultry markets in six Chinese provinces, and about 1,300 of these samples tested positive for H5N1.
Further, other samples, collected from October 2005, showed that the Fujian strain has grown in strength, and scientists attribute this predominance to immunity towards bird flu vaccines. The resurfacing of the bird flu virus is seen by scientists as causing a scare across the region yet again. Though India is not part of the “possible threat” list of countries, it is likely that the fear might reign high triggering a scare amongst the poultry industry players as well as the healthcare scenario.
BY OUR PHARMA CORRESPONDENT
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