Unit 9 New

Flu vaccines can only be made to protect against a particular virus, and, since the virus had yet to be passed from human to human, no vaccine has been developed. In Asia, many people live with ducks and chickens in their homes and in their yards. Health and veterinary officials worldwide announced that a key way to stop the spread of the disease is to improve farming practices, segregating poultry from humans, and culling birds that have been infected with the deadly virus.
Deadly outbreaks among poultry in several countries in eastern and central Asia between 2003 and mid-2005 were accompanied by more than 100 human cases, about half of them fatal. The causative agents are virus subtypes related to the human influenza type A viruses, the most virulent and contagious being the H5N1 subtype. A specific protective vaccine for this virus remains to be developed. Studies suggest that some antiviral drugs that work against human influenza may be effective in treating bird flu in humans.
H5N1 has killed millions of poultry in a growing number of countries throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. Health experts are concerned that the co-existence of human flu viruses and avian flu viruses (especially H5N1) will provide an opportunity for genetic material to be exchanged between species-specific viruses, possibly creating a new virulent influenza strain that is easily transmissible and lethal to humans.

The three new cases are the first to be reported in China in almost a year. The toddler is now in hospital in her home province of Shanxi and all those who had been in contact with her are being watched. The toll from bird flu in China is now reported by state media as 22 since 2003. China's ministry of agriculture said on Sunday that no bird flu epidemics were detected in Shanxi and Hunan provinces after the two-year-old's infection was confirmed.
Introduction

Bird flu ----viral respiratory disease, mainly of birds including poultry and waterbirds but also transmissible to humans. Symptoms in humans include fever, sore throat, cough, headache, and muscle aches. Severe infections can result in life-threatening complications such as pneumonia and acute respiratory illness. The first known human cases occurred in Hong Kong in 1997, resulting in six deaths.
Questions to consider:
1. What do you know about bird flu ? 2. How does this disease transmit ? 3. Talk about bird flu in China.
About bird flu



现代汉语中“禽”字意味着“鸟”，但古汉语中的“禽” 字 却是鸟兽的总称,所以“bird flu”一般被翻译成“禽流 感”。这个定义解释很准确(古人还是很聪明),因为鸟 类以外的动物也有可能感染禽流感。 自2003年以来全世界共确诊399例人感染H5N1高致病性 禽流感病例，其中252人死亡。 H5N1禽流感病毒主要是在禽类中传播。但是专家担心， 这种病毒有可能出现变异，导致人与人之间相互传染。
pan- ( overall ) -penia ( deficiency ) e.g. pancytopenia leuc/o ( white ) thromb/o ( blood clot ) glyc/o ( sugar ) ante- ( before ) -mortem ( death )

Grim threat The ministry said China now faces "a grim situation" in bird flu prevention, threatened by frequent outbreaks in neighbouring countries, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported. Other threats came from brisk poultry trade ahead of the Spring Festival and difficulties in taking prevention measures at loosely managed household farms, it said. Bird flu often resurges in the winter months in China, but not every case is fatal.

流感的病毒抗原結構分H和N兩大類: H代表 Hemagglutinin(血細胞凝集素),有如病毒的 鑰匙，用來打開及入侵人類或牲畜的細胞； N代表 Neuraminidase(神經氨酸酶),是幫助病毒感染 其他細菌的ቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱ素。
New death from bird flu in China

A Chinese woman has died from bird flu in the eastern Shandong province, state media has said. It says Ms Zhang, aged 27, died at the weekend after becoming infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza. It is the second reported death from bird flu in China this year. Two weeks ago, a 19-year-old woman died in Beijing after handling ducks. The latest death was announced the day after the infection of a two-year old with bird flu in Hunan was reported.

China has the world's biggest poultry population and is seen as critical in the fight to contain H5N1, which resurfaced in Asia in 2003, killing at least 247 people. H5N1 does not transmit easily to humans but experts fear it could mutate and cause a worldwide pandemic. Date: 2009-02-08
Unit 9
Bird Flu
Word Formation zoo- (animal) -zoon,-zoa(pl.) e.g. protozoa, epizootic ser/o (serum) e.g. serosa, serotonin nos/o (disease ) e.g. nosocomial pleur/o ( pleura ) -gram ( picture ) supra- ( above ) tachy- ( fast ) pneum/o ( lung ) thorac/o ( thorax )
Background: With the flu spreading around the world, the virus has turned up in birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. So far, bird flu has mostly been passed from birds either to other birds or, in isolated cases, to humans. In June 2006, WHO reported the first case of human transference of the disease, when an Indonesian man died after catching the flu from his 10-year-old son. If the flu mutates into a strain that can pass more readily from human to human, people will have no immunity and the flu will probably pass rapidly from person to person, creating a pandemic.
H5N1
The highly pathogenic Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 virus is an emerging avian influenza virus that has been causing global concern as a potential pandemic threat. It is often referred to simply as "bird flu" or "avian influenza" even though it is only one subtype of avian influenza causing virus.