Saturday, January 19, 2008

The H5N1 updates

Ok the H5N1 is still in Egypt despite the confirmations of the government that it is not serious and dangerous like in other countries , despite that we are only country outside Asia that suffers from the virus.
Now the news came Thursday as follows just before the week end  :  12 human cases  in 4 Governorates were detained in hospitals for suspicion of being infected  with the bird flu:
- Two women were detained in "Bani Sawif"  : Mona Hamadi from Bapa , Hamdia Abd El-Aziz  from Bi'ad Al' Arab village , their ages were n't included , but I think  they are housewives , who were infected from the domestic poultry
- A 5 years old "Hagar Alam" suffering from Bird flu symptoms was detained from one of the villages in "Malawi"  at  "Mania"  Governorate  "hopefully she will get soon" , again here the infection may have come from the domestic poultry.
- A  33 years old woman "Samira Abbas Al-Arabi" was detained in hospital in "Qena" Governorate, she used to raise domestic poultry "Ducks" and already they executed 20 infected birds from her house !!!
- A 2 years old "Ahmed Ali Hassan" was detained in hospital in "Damanhur" Governorate along with his uncle's wife 27 years old "Hanam Haggag Mohammed"  ,Domestic poultry over and over.
-  A 3 years old Fares Ahmed Saad became Alexandria's first case in the new outbreak , still he is not from the city of Alexandria itself , he comes from "Kafr El-Dowar" beside it, it is a country side area , again domestic poultry main suspect and I just wish he will recover soon insh Allah
Now Qena,Bani Sawif and Mania are in Upper Egypt , Damanhur is in Delta , "Kafr El-Dowar" is between Alexandria and Delta . It is no longer women , it is children , the small Children especially that this week was so cold and their immunity will be weak
This comes at the same time the Supreme Committee For Avian Influenza's announcement that Egypt has the lowest rate in human infection !!! And that less infection was recorded this week !!!
Now what should I believe !!??
Dr. Hussein Al-Gaz'ari ,the head of the regional bureau said other things in his interview with Daily El-Masry Youm on Friday the 18th , Here is a summary for what he said  :
  • 95% of the human H5N1 cases in Egypt is caused by domestic poultry.
  • 19 human cases in Egypt from 43 died because of the implications and this is not a dangerous number.
  • In Most cases especially involving the housewives in the country side ,the infection happens when the lady slaughters the bird,already these women suffer from the lack of the education , health knowledge and they suffer from Poverty
  • Egypt is the most infected in country in the region "Mediterranean-23 countries" with H5N1, the total countries with H5N1 recorded cases are 11 , Egypt is number one  !!  The only time we are number one , it will be for a virus !!
  • It is estimated that 5 Million Egyptian families raise domestic poultry. This is the least number , because I believe they are more than 5 million families
  • The virus will continue in Egypt for unknown time.
  • The State must educate the people and let them know about the dangers of this virus.
  • We live in Pre- Human Epidemic period worldwide
  • The danger of Egypt is its geographical location. Oh boy we are also doomed with this location in the middle , I mean we were occupied and invaded because of it !!
  • The Egyptian government was transparent in this issue. Really !!?? it will be the first and may be the last time they do so !!
  • The WHO can't ban or force the Egyptian Government to ban or transfer the Pigs farms despite the warnings.
  • The problem in the health care in Egypt is not in the hospital capabilities but in the doctors who forget the Bird Flu and misdiagnose the virus as regular flu , also some people fear to say that  they raise Poultry .
Again whom I should believe ??
Here is the complete interview in Arabic
Anyhow the Poultry industry in Egypt is facing a new challenge Matrouh , a city which survived the first wave of the Bird flu is now facing another challenge killing its poultry : New Castle !!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Zeinobia!

    Yes, it's difficult to know who or what to believe when it comes to H5N1 -- not just in Egypt but in almost all countries, unfortunately.

    The good news in Egypt at the moment is that there haven't been any new confirmed cases in the last couple of weeks, even though there have been a total of 464 suspected cases only this month!

    http://birdflu.sis.gov.eg/ahtml/flu01001.htm

    Let's hope it stays that way!

    There are some bird flu forums out there if you'd like to read more on what's going on:
    http://www.flutrackers.com
    http://www.newfluwiki2.com/

    Thanks for blogging on this. Beautiful photos, btw. :)

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  2. Hi! Thank you so much for the information you posted as an H5N1 Update. I would like to invite you to visit the Egypt Diary on Fluwiki. We would love to see your comments on the news articles that are posted daily on H5N1 in Egypt. I am keeping a spreadsheet on the suspected cases and that is posted too. Please visit us at http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2065
    Carol@SC

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  3. @Theresa , this is great and what makes me comfort somehow the fact you mentoned we haven't any new confirmed cases in the last couple of weeks , but these different statements and the fact that the Egyptian government has a very long record in lying do not make us very comfort , and what is wore is how the government is dealing with the problem , yes the people have big responsbility , but the main responsbiliy is on the government
    anyhow second for the links , I will visit them insh Allah

    @Carol , thanks for the invitation , I will visit the fluwiki insh Allah

    ReplyDelete

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