It had been a long established scientific fact that when a flu virus obtained an immunity to particular anti-viral flu medications, they would become less effective in transmission between humans.
Now scientists have found the deadly H7N9 bird flu in China does not lose any of its infectivity when it becomes resistant to commonly used drugs like Tamiflu.
The researchers were quick to add that the drug-resistant H7N9 was not more infectious than in the past. They reiterated that the virus is one of the less transmittable viruses between humans.
H7N9 emerged earlier this year in China and has killed 45 of the 139 people confirmed to have been infected with the virus. Scientists had initially believed H7N9 could not transmit between humans but found cases in August of human-to-human transmission.
A separate study in the United States this week said that it was not impossible for H7N9 to mutate into a form that could be easily passed among humans.
Health officials in Hong Kong have quarantined 19 people after a second man has been found infected with the deadly H7N9 bird flu.
The latest case is an 80-year-old man who normally lives in the mainland China city of Shenzhen.
The man developed a fever and was taken to a hospital Friday where later tests revealed the deadly virus. Government officials then rounded up 19 people who had close contact with the elderly victim for testing and safety reasons.
According to sources, one of the 19 people had an “indeterminate” test meaning it’s possible they have been infected. The other 18 have tested negative.
Officials said they are investigating if the latest victim had contact with poultry while he was on the Chinese mainland. Investigators found no link between the latest victim and the first case discovered last week. That patient remains in critical condition.
The World Health Organization says that 138 human cases of H7N9 have been confirmed in China this year with 45 deaths.
Health officials in Hong Kong have announced confirmation of the country’s first case of H7N9 bird flu.
The announcement is a sign that the deadly virus is spreading beyond the borders of mainland China.
The announcement of the confirmed case comes on the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) that killed 300 people in Hong Kong and seriously damaged the country’s travel and retail industry.
The 36-year-old H7N9 victim reportedly traveled to Shenzhen in mainland China and had contact with poultry during his visit. Officials say the patient is in critical condition in a Hong Kong hospital.
Just a week after Islamic terrorists attacked Tiananmen Square killing two pedestrians and three terrorists, another attack took place on the provincial government headquarters in Taiyuan.
Police say the blasts struck just after 7:40 a.m. local time from what appeared to be “home-made explosive devices” that were filled with ball bearings.
State broadcaster CCTV reported one person was injured and two cars seriously damaged. The bombs were reportedly hidden inside flowerbeds by the roadside.
Police have sealed the area and are restricting access in a manner similar to last week’s closure of Tiananmen Square. Witnesses claimed hearing as many as seven blasts.
Fresh human cases in eastern China of a deadly new strain of bird flu signal the potential for “a new epidemic wave” of the disease in coming winter months, scientists said on Thursday.
The strain, known as H7N9, emerged for the first time in humans earlier this year and killed around 45 of the some 135 people it infected before appearing to peter out in China During the summer.
But a new case in October in a 35-year-old man from China’s eastern Zhejiang province shows that the virus “has re-emerged in winter 2013” and “indicates a possible risk of a larger outbreak of H7N9 this winter,” according to Chinese researchers writing in the online journal Euro surveillance.
Source: FOX News – FOX News: New China H7N9 bird flu cases ‘signal potential winter epidemic’
Smog so thick it reduced visibility to half the length of a football field has essentially shut down the Chinese city of Harbin.
Schools were forced to close and the airport was shut down because of the thick, choking pollution.
State run media agency Xinhua reported that air quality was significantly worse than World Health Organization recommended limits. The PM2.5 level test, which measures particulates in the air smaller than 2.5 micrometeres, was more than 20 times higher than the WHO’s recommended daily concentration.
Earlier this year, air quality in the capital city of Beijing had also soared past dangerous levels, resulting in disruptions to air travel and causing health issues.
In Heilongjiang province, where Harbin is located, officials closed every highway. A red alert for thick smog was issued and remains in effect for the entire area.
A new report on human trafficking and slavery worldwide shows that around 30 million people are enslaved, nearly half of them in India.
The survey by Australian-based group Walk Free said that the found human trafficking in all 162 countries surveyed.
“Today some people are still being born into hereditary slavery, a staggering but harsh reality, particularly in parts of West Africa and South Asia,” the report states. “Other victims are captured or kidnapped before being sold or kept for exploitation, whether through ‘marriage’, unpaid labour on fishing boats, or as domestic workers. Others are tricked and lured into situations they cannot escape, with false promises of a good job or an education.”
India, where almost 14 million people are enslaved either in bonded labor or commercial sex exploitation, was the clear leader in the statistics. China was second with 2.9 million people in slavery, followed by Pakistan (2.1 million), Nigeria (701,000) and Ethiopia (651,000).
The survey also listed countries based on slavery totals per capita. Moldova, where Stella’s Voice is located, was in the top 6 nations of slaves per capita.
Calling the United States “hypocritical” and “meddling”, China’s official news agency has printed an editorial calling for the world to move on from the United States.
“As U.S. politicians of both political parties are still shuffling back and forth between the White House and the Capitol Hill without striking a viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world,” writes the Xinhua News Agency.
The country’s ruling Communist Party controls Xinhua.
The editorial also references the world’s economic problems from the last few years and attributes them to “voracious Wall Street elites.” Xinhua called for a new world order.
“Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated, and a new world order should be put in place, according to which all nations, big or small, poor or rich, can have their key interests respected and protected on an equal footing,” Xinhua wrote.
Chinese media is reporting at least five dead and four confirmed missing in the wake of Typhoon Fitow.
The tropical cyclone struck early Monday with sustained winds of more than 93 m.p.h. Officials said homes were flattened and many villages were completely flooded by the massive rainfall.
More than 4.5 million people were impacted by the floodwater.
Officials in the Fujian and Zhejiang provinces say economic losses have already reached $3.4 billion dollars.
State media said shrimp farms and seaweed farms were destroyed by the storm.
“We have basically lost everything this year,” a seaweed farmer told the BBC.
The biggest foreign creditor of the United States is telling the U.S. Congress it needs to get the debt ceiling impasse resolved before the country reaches default. Continue reading →