Results From Bahamas Bird Flu Tests Expected in Days
- From: "Jules" <joolio11@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2006 14:11:14 -0500
March 1 (Bloomberg) -- Officials are testing whether dead birds found in the
Bahamas, a country located less than 60 miles from Florida, have lethal
avian flu, the Pan American Health Organization said today. The results may
be ready in four days.
The Bahamas Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources is collecting
samples from the dead birds, found on the island of Inagua, about 300 miles
from the main island of Nassau, said Sonia Mey, a spokeswoman for PAHO in
Washington. Officials are testing to see whether the H5N1 virus has spread
to the Western Hemisphere for the first time.
The Bahamas is comprised of a group of 700 islands extending 760 miles from
the Florida coast. A finding that the virus has arrived there could be
troublesome for a country in which tourism accounts for 40 percent of gross
domestic product.
``This is just a case of unexplained deaths in birds and we are not
excluding anything at this point in time,'' said Yitades Gebre, adviser for
disease prevention and control for the PAHO office in Nassau. ``We are not
panicking with the situation.''
PAHO officials said they are advising Bahamian health officials to send the
samples to a U.K. lab for testing, which is just a nine-hour flight from
Nassau. The branch of the World Health Organization is providing assistance
to the Bahamas government in obtaining and assessing the samples.
Calls to Agriculture Minister Leslie Miller of the Bahamas weren't returned.
Bahamas Health Minister Bernard Nottage's office referred calls to Public
Health Director Baldwin Carey, who didn't return several calls.
14 Countries
The H5N1 bird virus has already spread from Asia to the Middle East, Europe
and Africa. It has appeared in 14 countries since the beginning of February,
including Nigeria, Niger, Iraq, Egypt and India.
The virus has infected 174 people since late 2003, mainly through contact
with birds. At least 94 of those patients have died, and researchers say if
H5N1 gains the ability to spread quickly among people it could touch off a
lethal, worldwide epidemic, or pandemic.
Gebre said Pan American Health Organization officials had been informed of
the testing ``at the highest level.'' Health and agriculture agencies in the
U.S. and Florida said they had no information about the testing.
``We advised authorities about the how to package the samples, where to send
them, the need for personal protective equipment for the team and any
necessary information on those areas,'' Gebre said.
Testing Options
The other option for testing is a World Health Organization linked
laboratory in Ames, Iowa, that would take longer to transfer samples to, he
said.
The Bahamas government is handling all aspects of the collection of the
tissue for testing, Gebre said. A two-person team of workers from the
Bahamas health and agricultural ministries flew to the island this morning
to begin collecting tissue for testing, he said.
The team is expected back tomorrow, and results could be available 24 to 48
hours after the samples arrive at the laboratory, Gebre said.
``We haven't had contact with the Bahamas but we wouldn't expect to,'' said
Terence McElroy, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agricultural and
Consumer Services. ``They've simply found dead birds and there are birds
that die all the time from all kinds of causes.''
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, and Department of Health and Human Services said they had not
been contacted and were not involved, officials said.
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