Now there is an outbreak in Siberia:
The newspaper Kommersant quoted the state veterinary service as saying laboratory experts had found the H5N1 strain in samples from the Novosibirsk region, where an outbreak of bird flu was reported last week.
Bird flu is split into strains such as H5 and H7, which in turn have nine different subtypes. H5N1 subtype is highly pathogenic and can be passed from birds to humans, although there have been no known cases of human-human transmission.
More than 50 people have died in Asia from H5N1 since late 2003, raising fears it could mutate and form the basis of a new global epidemic.
Officials were not immediately available for comment. There have been no reports about people contracting bird flu.
Itar-Tass news agency quoted the deputy regional governor as saying the situation was under control after a quarantine had been imposed in four districts of the Novosibirsk region where about 1,300 farm birds had died.
With Chinese legal and illegal immigrants flooding Russia's Far East, is this possibly a sign that the flu is breaking loose? The Russians are establishing a quarantine but given the poor controls on the movement of people in the area, I have little confidence that this can be stopped there.
If our government isn't stockpiling medicines to innoculate against the flu and to treat it, and preparing procedures to cope, this should be a warning sign to move fast.
Been a long time since we had a really lethal pandemic. Our people just don't know how to deal with this once-common situation anymore. We could have difficulty coping.
And just how will the Chinese people react when they realize their communist government let this problem grow to dangerous levels in secrecy? Will the mandate from heaven be withdrawn?
UPDATE: Here's an article thinking about what would be necessary. Quarantines and travel restrictions in the outbreak areas would be necessary:
To work, they said such an emergency plan must be enacted within two days and the spread of the virus limited to a few dozen cases, even though communications in much of the region are rudimentary and entire economies and transportation networks could be disrupted.
Of course, as I said, if communist secrecy keeps us from finding out early, how doe we rapidly put an emergency plan into effect?
