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Title: FAO seeks clarification from China on use of human Post by 深藍 Owen on Jun 21st, 2005, 11:13am FAO seeks clarification from China on use of human flu drug on birds BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said it is seeking clarification from China of a report that the country has been using a human anti-flu drug on poultry, possibly rendering it useless. Related Topics Health and Medical The Washington Post reported that Chinese farmers, with government encouragement, have widely used the drug amantadine to combat bird flu in poultry since the 1990s. The Post cited experts as saying the use of the drug on poultry has caused it to lose its effectiveness to protect humans. Amantadine is one of two types of medication for treating human influenza, according to the Post. An alternative drug is difficult to produce in large amounts and much less affordable. The FAO said it is still awaiting information from China's Ministry of Agriculture. "I do understand the fear in human medicine. You need to have the right dose sustained for the right amount of time. To do it for a bird, cat or horse is more difficult (than) for your child or grandfather," Juan Lubroth, senior officer of animal health services at the FAO's headquarters in Rome, told Agence France-Presse. "If it is misused, the chances for drug resistance is high." Experts fear that since the bird flu virus can be transmitted from birds to humans, if birds develop resistance to the drug then a human who gets the virus will no longer be able to use the medicine. The Post said researchers determined last year that the H5N1 bird flu strain circulating in Vietnam and Thailand, the two countries hardest hit by the virus, has become resistant to amantadine. "It's definitely an issue if there's a pandemic. Amantadine is off the table," Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, told the Post. The newspaper said international researchers had concluded that the use of amantadine on animals means it would no longer protect people in the event of a worldwide bird flu epidemic. The WHO has asked governments to prepare for a possible pandemic after a study in Vietnam showed signs of a greater risk of human-to-human transmission of bird flu. cs/mp/sm/zr/ap (c) 2005 Xinhua Financial Network, Ltd. All rights reserved Xinhua Financial Network (XFN) News |
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Title: Re: FAO seeks clarification from China on use of h Post by 深藍 Owen on Jun 21st, 2005, 11:15am China aims to curb use of flu drug on birds-report BEIJING, June 21 (Reuters) - China's agriculture ministry will send investigation teams aimed at curbing the use of a human anti-viral drug by farmers on birds infected with a deadly strain of avian flu, the China Daily reported on Tuesday. Related Topics Health and Medical "We'll take measures soon to curb the action," Xu Shixin, the agriculture ministry's veterinary bureau division director, was quoted by the newspaper as saying. It said the government denied reports it had encouraged the use of the drug, amantadine, on chickens to check the spread of bird flu, breaking international guidelines. Xu said the government had never permitted farmers to do so. Scientists fear bird flu, which is infectious in birds but does not spread easily among humans, could mutate and generate a pandemic that could kill millions of people. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Chinese farmers, acting with government encouragement, had tried to suppress major bird flu outbreaks among chickens with amantadine, possibly making it useless in fighting human influenza. (c) 2005 Reuters Limited Reuters News |
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Title: Re: FAO seeks clarification from China on use of h Post by 深藍 Owen on Jun 22nd, 2005, 9:25am BEIJING, June 21 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation gave tacit confirmation on Tuesday that Chinese farmers had used controversial anti-viral drugs on poultry to curb the spread of bird flu, a practice China denied approving. China told another U.N. agency, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, it had confirmed a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease in the city of Changji in the far western region of Xinjiang. Scientists fear that bird flu, which is infectious in birds but does not spread easily among humans, could mutate and generate a pandemic, likely to start in Asia, that could kill millions of people. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Chinese farmers, acting with government approval and encouragement, had tried to suppress major bird flu outbreaks among chickens with amantadine, possibly making it useless in fighting human influenza. China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday the government had never given its approval for amantadine to treat birds but that it would investigate its use. "We are not completely sure about how widespread (amantadine use in China) is, but it has not been a complete surprise to us that it has been used," WHO representative Henk Bekedam told Reuters. Misuse of anti-virals could make bird flu viruses, including the deadly H5N1 strain, resistant to the drugs and give doctors fewer weapons to handle outbreaks among people. "We know in general these resistances are gradually building up," Bekedam said. "The part that concerns us ... is these things should not be unnecessarily speeded up. And therefore the use of anti-virals in agriculture needs to be very closely monitored. And the same thing for the use of anti-virals in humans." H5N1 first surfaced in poultry in Hong Kong and China eight years ago and his killed at least 37 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four in Cambodia. Vietnam reported on Monday that two more people had contracted bird flu in the country's north. The FAO sought an official response on the amantadine issue on Tuesday and was told by China's Agriculture Ministry that a third outbreak was found in China that had infected 128 domestic birds, including 63 that died. "The national reference lab diagnosed H5N1 again," FAO's representative in China, Noureddin Mona, told Reuters on Tuesday. He said FAO was told the outbreak was under control. "It makes us very concerned about this issue," he said. There have been no human incidents reported in China. "But we have really to be prepared for something which we don't like," Mona said, adding that 1,490 birds had been culled. Representatives of the WHO and FAO and counterparts from China's health, agriculture and state forestry ministries on Sunday flew to China's western Qinghai province to inspect avian flu prevention efforts after wild birds killed by H5N1 were found in the region in May. China successfully curbed an avian flu outbreak in Qinghai last year, culling thousands of birds. No infections of domesticated birds or humans have been reported in the recent outbreak. (Additional reporting by Marie Frail and John Ruwitch) (c) 2005 Reuters Limited Reuters News |
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Title: Re: FAO seeks clarification from China on use of h Post by Bob Thompson on Jun 22nd, 2005, 9:56am http://www.recombinomics.com/whats_new.html |
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