critical illness

IMAGE CAPTION: A Vietnamese woman lies in critical condition along with her sister with a respiratory illness similar to the Bird Influenza ( also called Avian Flu) at the Bach Mai hospital, National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases January 22, 2004 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The World Health Organisation (WHO) February 1, 2004 has said the deaths of two sisters on January 23, after contracting the deadly avian flu virus, possibly from their brother who died of respiratory ailments before any tests could be conducted on him, could be the result of human-to-human transmission since finding they had no contact with sick poultry. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) <a href="http://en1.chinabroadcast.cn/2239/2005-8-11/64@265360.htm">en1.chinabroadcast.cn/2239/2005-8-11/64@265360.htm</a> <b>WHO Warns of Global Bird Flu Pandemic</b> 2005-8-11 20:44:55 CRIENGLISH.com A World Health Organisation official warned of a possible global bird flu pandemic on Thursday, and urged governments and health workers around the world to prepare for a possible worst-case scenario. Doctor Shigeru Omi, WHO Regional Director for Western Pacific, said the disease still kills people. &quot;It is true that this virus continues to kill people and birds, and as a matter of fact, this virus is very active in north Asia and also south Asia, but now, it is spreading to neighbouring parts of Europe, so this is not the time to be complacent.&quot; Bird flu has killed 61 people in Asia and devastated poultry stocks across the region since late 2003. The virus has now been found in five regions in Siberia over the past month, although no cases of human infection have been found. Officials have warned that the virus could spread to European Russia, which is more densely populated than Asian Russia, in the autumn when birds migrate south from Siberia. Omi, however, says that there is still a window of opportunity to protect humans, by aggressively implementing measures to contain the virus. &quot;Despite a wide spread of the virus in this part of the world, I think, still we see the opportunity to protect the humans by containing the virus both in domestic and wild birds.&quot; And with the very aggressive vaccination campaign, with also the culling of the poultry, also He says much more is to be done, including an aggressive vaccination campaign, the immediate culling of infected poultry, as well as close monitoring of the virus. For discussion of this article, see <a href="http://discuss.agonist.org/yabbse/index.php?board=6;action=display;threadid=22993">this thread</a> in the Infectious Diseases forum on agonist.org. More articles and links at <a href="http://flickr.com/groups/influenza">flickr.com/groups/influenza</a>