1 conjoined twin talking after separation surgery

AP – In this August 2009, image provided by the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, 2-year-old Bangladeshi …

Thu Nov 19, 1:35 am ET

MELBOURNE, Australia – A Bangladeshi toddler separated this week from her conjoined twin sister was talking and behaving normally Thursday after waking from a medically induced coma, the head of the surgery team said.

Trishna is already doing well enough that she could leave intensive care, said Wirginia Maixner, director of neurosurgery at Royal Children's Hospital.

"She looks brilliant, she is talking, she is being Trishna, she is behaving the way she always has," Maixner told reporters. "She's phenomenally good."

Her sister, Krishna, will be slowly brought out of the coma later Thursday, Maixner said. Krishna will have a longer period of adjustment as the separation brought more changes to her body and brain's blood circulation.

Maixner said they hoped to have an indication Thursday night or early Friday about how Krishna's brain was responding. MRI scans Wednesday showed no signs of brain injury.

Maixner said there may be minor changes to the girls from where their brains were separated but that overall the brains looked good.

"I can tell you that it's not until I saw that scan that I had my first breath of relief," she said, revealing she did a short "chicken dance" when she saw the positive images. "The scans look great. I believe we've brought them through safely. I believe that the girls will come out really, really good."

The twins, who turn 3 next month, had been joined at the top of their heads and shared brain tissue and blood vessels. They were separated Tuesday after 25 hours of delicate surgery, and then underwent an additional six hours of reconstructive work.

Maixner said after the girls have recovered, their next hurdle will be learning to walk.

"There will be a process before the girls start walking and they have gone through so much in the last two years that it will take a bit of time — but they will get there," she said.

Doctors had earlier said there was a 50-50 chance that one of the girls could suffer brain damage from the complicated separation.

An aid worker first saw Trishna and Krishna in a Bangladeshi orphanage in 2007 when they were only a month old, and arranged for them to be brought to Australia.

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H1N1 Pig Flu, Swine Influenza Virus

The swine flu scare, H1N1, effects on tourism and industries, and whether it is manmade.

A new mongrel variant of the swine influenza virus, similar to Spanish Flu, (influenza A subtype H1N1) that has struck Mexico and now spread to the United States and many other countries has Indonesia preparing for its possible arrival.

Real time map of swine flu cases.
Key - Pink markers are suspect. Purple markers are confirmed or probable. Deaths have no dot in marker. Yellow markers are negative.

In general the reaction has been calm. Health minster Siti Fadilah Supari says the fatality rate for H1N1 is only 6%, compared to 80-90% for H5N1, or bird flu. Nevertheless she says 80 hospitals in the country have prepared special facilities to deal with any outbreak.

Siti Fadilah Supari

Ever suspicious Siti Fadilah Supari said there was a chance swine flu was man-made:

I’m not sure whether the virus was genetically engineered but it’s a possibility

She also said Indonesia was too hot for the virus: [1]

H1N1 survives in countries with four seasons. The type A H1N1 virus hopefully won’t be able to sustain itself once it enters the tropical climate of Indonesia.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a special ministerial meeting to discuss the matter and said afterwards: [2]

We have to watch the airports, especially flights originating from Mexico, United States, and other pig flu affected countries.

While in Bali tourism authorities pleaded with the national government to not impose any hasty travel bans. Ngurah Wijaya of the Bali Tourism Board said surveillance at airports was sufficient for now. Visitor arrivals to the island were still normal, at 2,500 to 3,000 per day, said Ida Bagus Subhiksu of the Tourism Department. [3]

Farmers, Pigs & Pork

Drh Sigit Hanggono of the East Java Livestock Office (Dinas Peternakan (Disnak)) said he was worried the livestock industry would be harmed by the swine flu issue, and that the matter was overblown. [4]

Of the same department but in North Sumatra Drh Hj Teti Lubis said Disnak would try to educate the public about swine flu, so as to minimise the risk that irresponsible people would cause trouble for pig farmers and consumers of pork, considering that the disease was passed person to person, not via contact with pigs or pork. [5]

Pig farmers in Boyolali, Central Java, complained that pork prices have fallen 15% in recent days, largely because many producers are trying to offload what they have quickly. [6]

Indonesia is a large exporter of pork, mainly to Singapore, but as of writing no bans have been placed on this trade by partner countries. Indonesia has however banned the import of pork, however this trade is small.

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Deadly new flu breaks out in Mexico, U.S.

Source: Reuters

* New mixture of viruses in flu never seen before * Eight cases found in California and Texas * WHO says Mexico, U.S. well-equipped to handle outbreak * No need to change travel plans, say WHO and CDC (Adds eighth case in United States; details) By Alistair Bell and Noel Randewich MEXICO CITY, April 24 (Reuters) - A strain of flu never seen before has killed as many as 61 people in Mexico and has spread into the United States, where eight people have been infected but recovered, health officials said on friday. Mexico's government said at least 16 people have died of the disease in central Mexico and that it may also have been responsible for 45 other deaths. The World Health Organization said tests showed the virus in 12 of the Mexican patients had the same genetic structure as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in eight people in California and Texas. [nLO274836] Because there is clearly human-to-human spread of the new virus, raising fears of a major outbreak, Mexico's government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas. "Our concern has grown as of yesterday," U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing. It first looked mostly like a swine virus but closer analysis showed it is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses, according to the CDC. [nN24420522]. "We do not have enough information to fully assess the health threat posed by this new swine flu virus," Besser said. Humans can occasionally catch swine flu from pigs but rarely have they been known to pass it on to other people. The WHO said it was ready to use rapid containment measures if needed, including antivirals, and that both the United States and Mexico are well equipped to handle the outbreak. Both the WHO and the CDC said there was no need to alter travel arrangements in Mexico or the United States. CLOSE TO 1,000 SUSPECTED CASES IN MEXICO Eight people were infected with the new strain in California and Texas, but all of them have recovered. Mexico said it had close to 1,000 suspected cases there. The CDC's Besser said scientists were working to understand why there are so many deaths in Mexico when the infections in the United States seem mild. Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year, but the flu season for North America should have been winding down. The U.S. government said it was closely following the new cases. "The White House is taking the situation seriously and monitoring for any new developments. The president has been fully briefed," an administration official said. Mexico's government cautioned people not to shake hands or kiss when greeting or to share food, glasses or cutlery for fear of infection. The outbreak jolted residents of the Mexican capital, one of the world's biggest cities and home to some 20 million people. One pharmacy ran out of surgical face masks after selling 300 in a day. "We're frightened because they say it's not exactly flu, it's another kind of virus and we're not vaccinated," said Angeles Rivera, 34, a federal government worker who fetched her son from a public kindergarten that was closing. The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1. It contains DNA from avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses, the CDC has said. [nN23355101] The Geneva-based U.N. agency WHO said it was in daily contact with U.S., Canadian and Mexican authorities and had activated its Strategic Health Operations Center (SHOC) -- its command and control center for acute public health events. The CDC said it will issue daily updates at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swine/investigation.htm. Surveillance for and scrutiny of influenza has been stepped up since 2003, when H5N1 bird flu reappeared in Asia. Experts fear that or another strain could spark a pandemic that could kill millions. [nN24440477] In Egypt, a 33-year-old woman died of bird flu, becoming the third such victim there in a week. The H5N1 bird flu, a completely different strain from the swine flu, has infected 421 people in 15 countries and killed 257 since 2003. An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, killed 44 people in Canada in 2003. (Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Maggie Fox in Washington; Writing by Kieran Murray; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Human toll in pig flu outbreak baffles scientists

Experts worried that germ may have mutated to create deadlier version

	A farmer tries to give one of his pigs a flu shot on a farm near Chengdu, China, on Aug. 1.
Peter Parks / AFP - Getty Images

Experts on a strep germ that’s sickening people and pigs in China are baffled by reports of 37 farmers suddenly falling ill, bleeding under the skin and dying — all previously unheard of with the disease.

While not uncommon in pigs, Streptococcus suis is seldom seen in people and never dozens of cases all at once — raising bigger questions about whether the germ has mixed with some other bacteria or virus.

“Something is different,” Marcelo Gottschalk, one of the world’s leading experts on the disease, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

“We are worried and we wonder what’s happening. We would like to have the strain to identify.”

Gottschalk works in the world’s only reference laboratory for Streptococcus suis at the University of Montreal in Canada and says no one in China has contacted him for help since the outbreak was reported last month.

So few people have studied this disease, he’s unsure how the Chinese have been able to identify it and what type of vaccine they plan to use since immunizations typically are not effective. Chinese state media have reported that enough vaccine for 350,000 pigs has already been sent to Sichuan province from a company in southern Guangdong province and that enough doses for 10 million swine will be shipped later.

More than 200 human cases in China
Gottschalk said Streptococcus suis usually takes a while to develop in people and often causes meningitis followed by partial or permanent hearing loss. Most people also survive after being treated with antibiotics and cases are typically few and far between — Thailand, for example, usually has less than 20 known cases a year, he said. China has reported more than 200 confirmed or suspected human cases since June.

The infected farmers who handled or butchered sick pigs have experienced nausea, fever, vomiting and bleeding under the skin.

The World Health Organization and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization have questioned whether Streptococcus suis could possibly have combined with some other disease or bacteria in China. One case has also been reported in Guangdong province, hundreds of miles southeast of Sichuan. Hong Kong has reported two infections since the latest outbreak, but Chinese health officials have not announced whether those are connected to the Sichuan cases.

“Why is it behaving differently all of a sudden?” said Juan Lubroth, an animal health official at FAO in Rome. “One explanation is you have additional problems and it’s not just Streptococcus suis that’s causing it.”

Thomas Alexander, retired deputy director of the University of Cambridge’s School of Veterinary Medicine, was a pioneer in studying this particular strep germ. He said the bacteria is commonly found in the tonsils of healthy swine in different parts of the world. However, it sometimes becomes pathogenic when too many pigs are crammed together in unsanitary conditions.

“In my experience, it’s much more chronic. They’re describing death within 24 hours,” he said by telephone from England. “What they’re describing doesn’t fit the picture.”

More information from China needed
The disease is typically spread from pigs to people through cuts or wounds on the hands. Pork that has been thoroughly cooked is not a problem, but eating undercooked or raw meat can infect humans.

Asia has been particularly aware of cross-species infection since 2003 when it fought SARS, which is believed to have first jumped from animals to people in southern China; it eventually killed nearly 800 people worldwide. The region is also currently battling bird flu in which poultry has infected humans, killing at least 60 people since 2003.

China was accused of withholding information about SARS, and WHO has recently said health officials are not sharing enough information about bird flu.

Based on his limited information, Gottschalk said he’s not overly concerned about the pig disease spreading across borders since bacterial diseases tend to change more slowly than viruses like flu. There have been no cases of Streptococcus suis spreading from person to person.

He would, however, like the Chinese to send samples so he can try to identify the strain.

“It’s extremely difficult for us get the real information for Chinese agriculture,” he said. “I’m not really sure if they have all the background necessary to study this bacteria or infection. Few labs in the world are capable of studying this.”

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Kellogg's recalls more peanut butter products

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - First it was bulk peanut butter shipped to nursing homes and institutional cafeterias. Now the salmonella case has touched the Kellogg Co., which has recalled 16 products as federal officials confirm contamination at a Georgia facility that sent peanut products to 85 food companies

Kellogg had asked stores this week to pull some of its Keebler crackers from shelves as a precaution. But in a statement late Friday, the Battle Creek, Mich., company said voluntarily was recalling the crackers and other products.

The nationwide outbreak has sickened hundreds of people in 43 states and killed at least six.
"The actions we are taking today are in keeping with our more than 100-year commitment to providing consumers with safe, high-quality products," said David Mackay, Kellogg's president and chief executive.

The recall includes Austin and Keebler branded Peanut Butter Sandwich Crackers, in addition to some snack-size packs of Famous Amos Peanut Butter Cookies and Keebler Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter Cookies.

Sandra Williams, a compliance officer with the Food and Drug Administration in Detroit, advised consumers not to eat the products and to contact a doctor if they have any symptoms.

"This is a very active investigation, but we don't yet have the data to provide consumers with specifics about what brands or products they should avoid," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's food safety center. Although salmonella bacteria has been found at the Georgia plant, for example, more tests are needed to see if it matches the strain that has made people sick.

The investigation includes not just peanut butter, but baked goods and other products that contain peanuts and are sold directly to consumers. Health officials say as many as one-third of the people who got sick did not recall eating peanut butter.

Officials said they are focusing on peanut paste, as well as peanut butter, produced at a Blakely, Ga., facility owned by Peanut Corp. of America. Under scrutiny are 32 of the 85 companies that Peanut Corp. supplies, because of when they received shipments of peanut butter or paste. The companies are being urged to test their products, or pull them from the shelves as Kellogg did.

The processing plant passed its last inspection this summer.

Peanut Corp. initially recalled 21 lots of peanut butter made at the plant since July 1 because of possible salmonella contamination. But late Friday the company expanded its voluntary recall to include all peanut butter produced at the Georgia plant since Aug. 8 and all peanut paste produced since Sept. 26. The company, which suspended peanut butter processing at the facility, said none of its peanut butter is sold directly to consumers but is distributed to institutions, food service industries and private label food companies.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday wrote the company requesting inspection and internal records dating back four years.

Health officials in Minnesota and Virginia have linked two deaths each to the outbreak and Idaho has reported one. Four of those five were elderly people, and all had salmonella when they died, although their exact causes of death have not been determined. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the salmonella may have contributed.

An elderly North Carolina man died in November from the same strain of salmonella that's causing the outbreak, officials in that state said Friday.

The CDC said the bacteria behind the outbreak — typhimurium — is common and not an unusually dangerous strain but that the elderly or those with weakened immune systems are more at risk. Salmonella is the nation's leading cause of food poisoning; common symptoms include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.

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Preventing colds may be as easy as vitamin Zzz

Those who slept 8 hours a night were less likely to get sick during study

CHICAGO - Fluff up the pillows and pull up the covers. Preventing the common cold may be as easy as getting more sleep.

Researchers paid healthy adults $800 to have cold viruses sprayed up their noses, then wait five days in a hotel to see if they got sick. Habitual eight-hour sleepers were much less likely to get sick than those who slept less than seven hours or slept fitfully.

"The longer you sleep, the better off you are, the less susceptible you are to colds," said lead author Sheldon Cohen, who studies the effects of stress on health at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University.

Prior research has suggested that sleep boosts the immune system at the cell level. This is the first study to show small sleep disturbances increasing the risk of getting sick, said Dr. Michael Irwin, who researches immune response at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was not involved in the study.

"The message is to maintain regular sleep habits because those are really critical for health," Irwin said.

Up against the virus

During cold season, staying out of range of sneezing relatives and co-workers may be impossible. The study, appearing Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, mimicked those conditions by exposing participants to a common cold virus — rhinovirus — and most became infected with it.

But not everyone suffered cold symptoms

The people who slept less than seven hours a night in the weeks before they were exposed to the virus were three times more likely to catch a cold than those who slept eight hours or more.

To find willing cold victims, researchers placed ads and recruited 78 men and 75 women, all healthy and willing to go one-on-one against the virus. They ranged in age from 21 to 55.

First, their sleep habits were recorded for two weeks. Every evening, researchers interviewed them by phone about their sleep the night before. Subjects were asked what time they went to bed, what time they got up, how much time they spent awake during the night and if they felt rested in the morning.

Then they checked into a hotel where the virus was squirted up their noses. After five days, the virus had done its work, infecting 135 of the 153 volunteers. But only 54 people got sick.

Weight of tissues

Researchers measured their runny noses by weighing their used tissues. They tested for congestion by squirting dye in the subjects' noses to see how long it took to get to the back of their throats.

Sleeping fitfully also was tied to greater risk of catching a cold. Those who tossed and turned more than 8 percent of their time in bed were five times more likely to get sick than those who were sleepless only 2 percent of the time.

Surprisingly, feeling rested was not linked to staying well. Cohen said he's not sure why that is, other than feeling rested is more subjective than recalling bedtime and wake-up time.

The researchers took into account other factors that make people more susceptible such as stress, smoking and drinking, and lack of exercise, and they still saw a connection between sleep and resisting a cold.

Cold symptoms like congestion and sore throat are caused by the body's fight against a virus, rather than the virus itself, Cohen said. People whose bodies make the perfect amount of infection-fighting proteins called cytokines will not even know they are fighting a virus. But if their bodies make too many, they feel sick.

Fine-tuning response

Sleep may fine-tune the body's immune response, Cohen said, helping regulate the perfect response.

Prior research has tied lack of sleep to greater risk of weight gain, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes.

Dr. Daniel Buysse, a sleep researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, said spending too much time in bed can lead to more interrupted sleep, which in this study "seems to be even worse than short sleep" for increasing the risk of catching a cold.

If it takes a long time to fall asleep or if you are restless during the night, "you would probably benefit from spending a little LESS time in bed," Buysse said in an e-mail. "If you fall asleep instantly, have no wakefulness during the night, and are sleepy during the day, you would probably benefit from spending a little MORE time in bed."

Buysse was not directly involved in the research, although he commented on an early draft of the study. The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the MacArthur Foundation.

Harvard sleep researcher Sat Bir Khalsa said people do not need to turn to prescription sleep aids to improve their sleep. Setting a regular bedtime, moving computers and televisions out of the bedroom and, when restless, getting out of bed for a while and doing something soothing can help. His research focuses on treating insomnia with yoga.

As preventive measures, vitamin C and herbal supplements have not lived up to their reputation in rigorous studies. Cohen said research has shown people who get more exercise, drink moderately and have lower stress also get fewer colds.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Officials: Toss salmonella-linked peanut butter

Outbreak in 43 states with more than 400 sickened; 3 possible deaths

MINNEAPOLIS - Health officials are urging nursing homes, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants to toss out specific containers of peanut butter linked to a salmonella outbreak in 43 states.

The recalled peanut butter — distributed by King Nut Companies of Solon, Ohio — was supplied only through food service providers and was not sold directly to consumers. King Nut challenged the finding, saying it could not be the source of the nationwide outbreak since it distributes to only seven states.

The outbreak has sickened more than 400 people and Minnesota health officials announced Monday they had found a match between samples from a King Nut container and the strains of salmonella bacteria making people sick across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak may have contributed to three deaths.

Officials are concerned the peanut butter is still being used, and Heidi Kassenborg of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture urged all institutions to throw it away.

State health and agriculture officials said last week they had found salmonella bacteria in a 5-pound package of King Nut peanut butter at a nursing facility in Minnesota. Officials tested the bacteria over the weekend and found a genetic match with the bacterial strain that has led to 30 illnesses in Minnesota and others across the country.

"The commonality among all of our patients was that they ate peanut butter," said Doug Schultz, a spokesman with the Minnesota Department of Health. While the brand of peanut butter couldn't be confirmed in every case, the majority of patients consumed the same brand, he said Monday.

Minnesota officials were coordinating their investigation with the CDC, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other states.

410 confirmed casesKing Nut Companies on Sunday asked its customers to stop using peanut butter under its King Nut and Parnell's Pride brands with a lot code that begins with the numeral "8."

However, company president and chief executive Martin Kanan argued that King Nut could not be the source of the nationwide salmonella outbreak because the company distributes only to Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, Arizona, Idaho and New Hampshire. No other King Nut products have been voluntarily recalled.

The peanut butter King Nut distributed was manufactured by Peanut Corporation of America, a Virginia company. In an e-mail earlier Monday, President Stewart Parnell said the company was working with federal authorities.

The peanut butter was distributed to establishments such as care facilities, hospitals, schools, universities and restaurants. King Nut says it was not distributed for retail sale to consumers.

The CDC on Monday raised the number of confirmed cases to 410, from 399 as of Friday, and Mississippi became the 43rd state to report a case. All the illnesses began between Sept. 15 and Jan. 7, but most of the people became sick after Oct. 1.

Kanan held out the possibility that the contamination came from another source, since the salmonella was found in an open container.

"That means there's a possibility of cross-contamination, somebody could have been cutting a piece of chicken and then stuck the knife into the peanut butter for a peanut butter sandwich," he said. "There have been no tests that have come back positive on a closed container."

The peanut butter contamination comes almost two years after ConAgra recalled its Peter Pan brand peanut butter, which was eventually linked to at least 625 salmonella cases in 47 states.

CDC officials say the bacteria in the current outbreak has been genetically fingerprinted as the Typhimurium type, which is among the most common sources of salmonella food poisoning.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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China finds no new bird flu outbreak

No trace of virus found in Beijing, where woman died, or surrounding areas

YANJIAO, China - China said Thursday that no other cases of bird flu have been detected in Beijing and neighboring provinces after a woman died from the avian influenza in the capital.

The Agricultural Ministry said in a notice on its Web site that authorities had investigated poultry in Beijing, the port city of Tianjin and neighboring Hebei province, but no other cases have been found.

"Bird flu epidemic was not found in any of these three provinces and cities," it said.

Inspectors have stepped up checks of poultry markets and slaughterhouses and have banned live poultry from entering the capital after the death.

Medical professionals are also visiting families in all districts in Beijing to look out for bird flu symptoms, the China Daily newspaper said.

The World Health Organization said the case did not appear to signal a new public health threat.

China raises more poultry than any other country, many on small farms. The Agricultural Ministry said it will step up checks before the traditional Spring Festival holiday, or Chinese New Year, when hundreds of millions of people return home to their families and rural farms.

21st death
China's Health Ministry said tests confirmed that Huang Yanqing, 19, had contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus. She died Monday in a Beijing hospital.

It was the first such death in the country in almost a year, and the 21st to date in China.

The virus is generally more active during the cooler months between October and March, although the new Chinese case points to holes in surveillance of the virus in poultry.

Experts also say that many species of ducks are natural reservoirs of the virus and unlike chickens, they show no signs of disease.

China's Agriculture Ministry said it would step up an inoculation campaign and surveillance for the disease.

"The ministry has many times demanded that every part of the country must maintain a high state of alert to prevent the spread of bird flu and other animal viruses," it said.

Mutation feared
The WHO said Huang's case was similar to others reported worldwide in that it does not appear to involve human-to-human transmission.

Official Xinhua News Agency said the woman had cleaned the insides of several ducks.

Workers disinfected the market in neighboring Hebei province where the woman bought nine ducks, Xinhua said. The market's five poultry shops have been closed.

Officials worry the virus could mutate into a much-feared form that could spread easily among people. But, for now, it remains hard for people to catch, with most human cases linked to contact with infected birds.

According to the latest WHO tally, bird flu has killed 248 people worldwide since 2003, including 21 in China.

The H5N1 bird flu virus continues to devastate poultry stocks around the world. China has vowed to aggressively fight the virus.

Not a public health threat, says WHO
Tests on 15 people who worked in the poultry market were negative. Over 100 people had also been in close contact with the patient, and one nurse who treated her had come down with a fever but had now recovered, the official Xinhua agency said.

"We are concerned by any case of human H5N1 infection, however, this single case, which appears to have occurred during the slaughtering and preparation of poultry, does not change our risk assessment," the WHO said in a statement.

"WHO expects the ministry will continue to keep it updated on this case, and is prepared to offer technical assistance if requested," it added, referring to the Health Ministry.

Chinese Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qunan was quoted in state media as saying the government would step up monitoring.

"This year we must, on the basis of what we have done in the past, increase monitoring for the transmission of the highly pathogenic bird flu virus in humans," Mao said.

No signs of disease in birds
Lo Wing-lok, an infectious disease expert in Hong Kong, said the case highlighted the danger of ducks in the spread of H5N1.

"The nine ducks the woman purchased were probably carrying the virus and she was exposed. Duck innards have high concentration of the virus and cleaning nine of them is so risky," Lo told Reuters.

Paul Chan, microbiologist at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, said it was worrying this case was not accompanied by the detection of the virus in poultry nearby.

"The source of this infection seems to be poultry or the market (where the girl bought the ducks). If that is true, we need to know why we missed the outbreak of the virus in poultry or in the market," Chan said.

"If there was an outbreak in the market, there should have been large numbers of poultry (chicken) deaths. If people in the markets and the government can't recognize this, then we have a serious problem on our hands," he added.

The H5N1 strain remains largely a disease among birds but experts fear it could change into a form that is easily transmitted among people and kill millions of people worldwide.

With the world's biggest poultry population and hundreds of millions of farmers raising birds in their backyards, China is seen as crucial in the global fight against bird flu.

Since the H5N1 virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003, it has infected 391 people, killing 247 of them, according to WHO figures released in mid-December.

Vietnam's agriculture ministry has confirmed an outbreak of bird flu among poultry in the northern province of Thanh Hoa, where a girl was hospitalized with the deadly disease last week.

Thanh Hoa is the second province in two weeks to report an outbreak of the bird-borne illness among poultry, the other being Thai Nguyen, directly north of the capital.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

© 2009 msnbc.com

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Senam Mata, Bikin Awet Muda

SELAIN melatih lengan, kaki, perut, dan dada untuk kebugaran fisik, mata juga ternyata dapat dilatih demi kebaikan indera penglihatan. Memang tak semua pakar sepakat bahwa olahraga mata (eye-robics) dapat membantu mempertahankan penglihatan. Akan tetapi, makin banyak spesialis terapi penglihatan percaya senam mata setiap hari dapat membuat mata Anda awet muda.

“Logika di balik terapi penglihatan ini adalah bila Anda dapat merusak sistem penglihatan karena kebiasaan mengerjakan sesuatu dalam jarak dekat, berarti Anda dapat memulihkannya,” kata Steven Ritter, O.D., dari State University of New York College of Optometri di New York City.

Spesialis terapi penglihatan atau vision therapist dapat meresepkan sampai sekitar 280 macam latihan. Tak satu pun dapat mengatasi masalah penglihatan semua orang. Akan tetapi tidak ada salahnya bila Anda mencoba beberapa di antaranya.

1.Membaca koran dari jauh.Apabila pekerjaan mengharuskan Anda duduk di depan komputer selama berjam-jam, cobalah yang berikut ini: Tempelkan satu halaman koran pada dinding yang kurang lebih berjarak 2,5 meter dari tempat Anda biasa duduk. Hentikan pekerjaan Anda setiap sekitar sepuluh menit untuk mengarahkan pandangan ke koran tadi. Berusahalah membaca tulisan di koran itu. Kemudian lihat lagi layar komputer Anda. Kerjakan ini berulang-ulang, masing-masing selama 30 detik, sekitar enam kali dalam satu jam. Latihan ini dapat membantu menghindari kekaburan yang sering dialami oleh para operator komputer di penghujung hari kerja.

2. Melempar bola ke dinding.Berdirilah pada jarak sekitar satu hingga satu setengah meter dari sebuah dinding yang kosong, menghadap ke arah dinding. Minta seorang teman berdiri di belakang Anda kemudian melontarkan sebuah bola tenis ke dinding. Ketika bola itu memantul dari dinding, cobalah menangkapnya. Latihan ini dapat membantu meningkatkan koordinasi tangan/mata Anda.

3. Membaca jempol sendiri.Acungkan jempol Anda sejauh-jauhnya. Buat gerakan melingkar, huruf X dan tanpa +, dekat dan jauh secara bergantian. Ikuti dengan mata Anda. Sementara itu, usahakan menangkap bayangan ruangan dalam medan pandangan Anda sebanyak mungkin. Teruskan latihan ini dengan sebelah mata tertutup. Ulang dengan sebelah mata yang lain. Ini dapat meningkatkan penglihatan periferal Anda.

4. Mengikuti sorotan lampu senter.Latihan yang menyenangkan ini dapat meningkatkan kemampuan Anda mengikuti sebuah benda dengan mata. Latihan ini memerlukan seorang teman dan dua buah lampu senter. Berdirilah di sebuah ruangan yang gelap, menghadap ke dinding. Mintalah kepada teman Anda agar menyorotkan lampunya ke dinding dan menggerakkannya dengan gerakan menyapu membentuk sebuah gelombang. Dengan lampu senter yang Anda pegang, ikuti lingkaran cahaya itu sambil berusaha menyeimbangkan sebuah buku yang diletakkan di atas kepala. Dengan begini Anda terpaksa mengikuti gerak cahaya dengan mata, tanpa menggerakkan kepala.

5. Membaca bola.Tulis sejumlah huruf atau angka pada sebuah bola softball atau bola dari styrofoam, pasang sebuah kaitan, kemudian gantung bola itu pads langit-langit dengan seutas tali. Makin kecil tulisan Anda, makin sulit latihan ini. Ayunkan bola itu. Cobalah menyebutkan huruf atau angka yang Anda lihat. Latihan ini membantu Anda tetap terampil mengikuti benda bergerak secara fokus.

6. Membuat untaian manik-manik.Latihan ini melatih kedua mata agar terpusat ke sebuah benda sasaran. Ini juga melatih otak untuk menggunakan kedua mata secara beruama-sama. Ambil benang sepanjang kira-kira 180 cm, masukkan ke dalam lubang tiga buah manik-manik yang mempunyai warna berbeda. Ikat salah satu ujung benang ke dinding dengan ketinggian sejajar mata, sedangkan ujung yang lain nanti Anda pegang di depan hidung. Geser salah satu manik-manik ke ujung dekat dinding, tempatkan manik-manik kedua pada jarak sekitar 120 cm dari hidung, sedangkan yang ketiga pada jarak sekitar 40 cm dari hidung.

Arahkan pandangan Anda ke manik-manik yang paling jauh. Anda akan melihat bayangan dua buah benang membentuk huruf V dengan manik-manik sebagai pusat. Pindahkan arah pandangan Anda ke manik-manik di tengah. Perhatikan huruf X yang terbentuk oleh bayangan benang dengan manik-manik tengah sebagai pusat. Kemudian pindahkan lagi pandangan Anda ke manik-manik paling dekat, dan saksikan huruf X yang serupa. Pindahkan pandangan Anda dari manik-manik sate ke yang lain dengan cepat, dan jangan lupa memperhatikan huruf V atau X yang terbentuk.

Apabila kedua mata Anda bekerja sebagai sebuah tim, Anda selalu harus menyaksikan dua bayangan benang saling menyilang ketika memusatkan perhatian Anda ke salah satu manik-manik. Jika mata Anda tidak bekerja sama, Anda akan menyaksikan pola-pola yang berbeda atau hanya sebuah benang.

sumber: kompas.com

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