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| Science & Technology |
| Scientist: No hope of eradicating bird flu |
| 2006-08-01 |
| AN Australian scientist credited with a major role in eradicating smallpox says humanity may not be able to wipe out any more infectious diseases - including bird flu. Professor Frank Fenner, who launched his autobiography in Canberra today, said the world has changed since he announced smallpox eradication at the World Health Assembly in 1980. The 91-year-old, whose other major achievement was controlling Australia's rabbit plague using the myxomatosis virus – which he famously injected into himself to prove its safety to humans – said smallpox was the only disease scientists had wiped out. Prof Fenner chaired the global committee charged with determining if smallpox had been eradicated, and his knowledge was instrumental in demonstrating that no animals carried the virus. Ridding the world of smallpox was made easier because it could be diagnosed easily from a distinctive skin rash, whereas the majority of people infected with the other most likely candidates for eradication - polio and rubella - display little or no symptoms, he said. Prof Fenner said smallpox cost $200 million to eradicate, while polio had already cost $4 billion and was still present in several countries. "Despite enormous efforts, really astonishing efforts, it's very hard to get rid of it entirely," he said. "The world has got so much more difficult. "There was no air travel to speak of, or not much, in the smallpox days compared to nowadays. "And that is why we are so worried about the possibility of this H5N1 (bird) flu, because if it retains its virulence and is transmissible from person to person, then it will be around the world whatever you do about it." Prof Fenner, who won the Prime Minister's Prize for Science in 2002 and the Japan Prize in 1988, said influenza was humanity's greatest disease threat. "The 1918 epidemic is said to have killed between 20 and 40 million people, and this is much more virulent that that," he said. "That only had a five per cent mortality, and there was no air travel. "If it got into Africa, there is no way in which you could get vaccination running throughout Africa. It would be hard enough in the industrialised countries to get it going." Prof Fenner's 23rd book, which also details the life of his father Charles, covers almost a century of the family's involvement in Australia's research community. Prof Fenner, who remains a visiting fellow at Australian National University's John Curtin School of Medical Research, said his father – a geologist, science writer and geographer as well as a state director of education – was his inspiration to become a medical researcher. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #8 WHO hasn't been the same since Moon died |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-08-01 16:44 |
| #7 WHO is the only thing worth saving at the U.N. |
| Posted by: djohn66 2006-08-01 16:10 |
| #6 Credit is to WHO, not UN. From the WHO webpage: The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health. The WHO is part of the UN. I would argue that it is (or was) the least sucky part of that now useless organization. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2006-08-01 12:23 |
| #5 wxjames: A lot of people have been working overtime to minimize the US casualties. Stuff in our favor: the US is underpopulated, good public health and sanitation, good public understanding of hygiene, good communications to get information out, and high disease fear factor. Problems: rapid spread because of good transportation, push shortage of all medical supplies (almost no reserves), ability to produce only 30M vaccinations within six months of obtaining the 'actual' pathogen. What we have done. There is now a worldwide system of alert/notification, and now even many third world nations have high quality outbreak response. That is an amazing achievement right there. The US has changed its vaccination policy to reduce the spread of the avian flu. Instead of the "old, very young and infirm", the emphasis will be "school aged children (the best flu vector), and 'ring' vaccinations around outbreak areas." This is an older technique used in other epidemics in past. Some individual States and some cities are creating effective plans with novel and intelligent preparations, such as plans to create civilian door-to-door auxiliaries, for para-medical and body recovery purposes. Other plans include traditional quarantines, isolation areas in airports, telephone hotlines, and computer-made mass phone dialings for public notifications of recorded messages. Even some corporations are getting into the act, with plans for how to continue operations with staff reductions of maybe 50%, and other problems. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-08-01 11:49 |
| #4 SteveS: Credit is to WHO, not UN. The first person to call for the eradication of smallpox was Jenner, but the first modern call was from the Soviet Union in 1958. An international team was set up by an American, Donald Henderson, a heck of a guy. The eradication program legitimized the WHO, worldwide, and its credibility is good enough to go anywhere, even North Korea, for give and take with their medical services. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-08-01 11:31 |
| #3 Not only will air travel cause the rapid spread of bird flu, so many people are living in refugee camps and other overcrouded conditions like illegal immigrants packed into small rooms. The bird flu has a great chance of stopping civilization dead in it's tracks. I hope the US government will tend to assure the survivorship of Americans, but somehow I doubt it. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-08-01 11:27 |
| #2 Mmmm, carrion. Dr. Fenner is a hero, but the article is the usual media science drive-by that cruises past the details. Money quote: "The world has got so much more difficult." Indeed. Polio would already be gone if it were not for the evil stupidity of Islamic leaders stopping vacination programs in the countries where polio is still endemic. Eradicating smallpox was a great accomplishment for the UN. Let's give credit where credit is due, even if it was a couple of decades ago. Influenza is a harder problem because the virus mutates so easily that any vaccine must be made specifically for that strain. We see the same problem every year with plain vanilla flu vaccines. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2006-08-01 10:37 |
| #1 To stop eating dead carrion birds would a good place to start, unless Commie factories are gonna explode, AGAIN, due to any future secret FRANKEN-BIRD projects. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-08-01 02:44 |