INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raised Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

[Snowy Owl]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

I would like to thank our member Siam for these Indonesian news.

[colormyquilt]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Media seems to have reported only a limited number of human bf cases since beginning of July. Along with many suspected cases. A huge jump to make, it would seem, from keeping the alert at the same level following the Ginting cluster to to raising the level for the relatively few new cases being reported in Indonesia. It may just be that Indonesia is sitting on a hotbed of information. I am wondering: Is this the level 4 from old Who alert system- or from WHO's new system to have been formulated some time back.

[Theresa42]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Another version of the story (right-hand columns):

zhttp://www.indomedia.com/sripo/2006/07/12/1207H05.pdf

[Siamese]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Snowy Owl said

I would like to thank our member Siam for these Indonesian news.

Thank you for your guidence, on this. I can only hope that I have posted a reliable source, not that I want it to be a level four.
It seems to be true, I see we have another version of the same story. I fear that I am right. I hope someone has emailed WHO on this to get the facts, straight.

[Laidback Al]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Media seems to have reported only a limited number of human bf cases since beginning of July. Along with many suspected cases. A huge jump to make, it would seem, from keeping the alert at the same level following the Ginting cluster to to raising the level for the relatively few new cases being reported in Indonesia. It may just be that Indonesia is sitting on a hotbed of information. I am wondering: Is this the level 4 from old Who alert system- or from WHO's new system to have been formulated some time back.

Good question. Has WHO finalized a new system and does anyone have a link to these "new" WHO pandemic levels?

[Theresa42]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Snowy Owl said
Thank you for your guidence, on this. I can only hope that I have posted a reliable source, not that I want it to be a level four.
It seems to be true, I see we have another version of the same story. I fear that I am right. I hope someone has emailed WHO on this to get the facts, straight.

Now we've seen three different sources of the story. That still doesn't verify it, of course -- but you'd think there must be something to it.

Maybe it's just all a misunderstanding -- a translation error or something -- but it's much better to get it out and cleared up than to ignore it. Many, many thanks for bringing it to everyone's attention! If the story is genuine, it's quite a big one! If it's not genuine, no bad reflection on you or anyone else here. Quite the opposite -- I think it's just a good thing that we're trying to get to the bottom of it!

[Siamese]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Was it really a slip-up??

French travel warning was "slip-up" : FM

Foreign Ministry said a warning for Thai travellers to cancel or postpone their trips to France was a "technical slip-up."


The government only meant to urge travellers to exercise greater caution while travelling in France after its diplomats suffered a number of violent robberies around Paris, the foreign ministry said.

"The advice for Thai travellers 'against non-essential travel to France' was a technical slip-up," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The French foreign ministry has assured Thailand that "the French authorities attach great importance to this matter and will take necessary measures to ensure the safety of Thai tourists in Paris," it said.

The ministry continues to urge Thais traveling in France to take greater precautions against crime by keeping their personal possessions with them at all times and avoiding traveling alone.

On Wednesday, Thai Foreign Ministry cautioned Thai citizens to consider postponing or cancelling travelling to France particularly this period because of the threat of crime.

The ministry issued the warning in a statement on Tuesday which said that several robberies or thefts had occurred involving cars belonging to the Thai Embassy in Paris.

"In the past month, at least four robberies occurred to embassy cars and we would like to warn Thais who plan to travel to France to increase their safety measures or consider postponing or canceling travel to France in the summer which would be crowded with tourists and possibly criminals," read the statement.

A thief broke the window of an embassy car in which the Thai commercial attache was traveling when it had stopped at the intersection of a busy road. The diplomat was slightly injured when he resisted the thief, who attempted to snatch his bag, it added. The thief is still at large.
The Nation and Associated Press

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/07/27/headlines/headlines_30009707.php

[Laidback Al]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Here is an email response I received from WHO in Indonesia this morning.

[quote]

From: Tallis, Graham
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 10:35 PM
Subject: Pandemic Phase



<dir>I refer to your request to Dr Petersen, WHO Representative to Indonesia, regarding whether it is correct that WHO has raised the pandemic level to 4 for Indonesia in mid July. Dr Petersen has asked me to respond to your query on his behalf.
It is NOT correct that the pandemic phase has been changed. Please note that the WHO Pandemic Phase is applied to the entire world, and not to individual countries. The world remains in WHO pandemic alert phase 3, which means that the new influenza virus (H5N1) causes primarily animal infection but also some human infections. The world will go to WHO pandemic alert phase 4 only if there is sustained human-to-human transmission contained in a local area. Limited human-to-human transmission that is not sustained, as may have occurred in Indonesia as well as other parts of the world, is NOT a reason to go to phase 4.
I trust this information clarifies the current situation for you.




</dir>Dr Graham Tallis
Medical Epidemiologist
CSR Team - Influenza
WHO Jakarta

[Reeves]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Level 4 ??? Level 5 ?

WHO failing to report human-to-human transmission of H5N1 bird flu virus
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 width=530 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>WHO failing to report human-to-human transmission of H5N1 bird flu virus







</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>http://Vwww.newstarget.com/019764.html

NewsTarget) Statements published by the U.N.'s World Health Organization (WHO) concerning bird flu outbreaks have not been candid, say critics who accuse the organization of being less than truthful to the public for fear of causing panic.
Although cluster outbreaks have occurred in Asia, Turkey, and Iraq this year, WHO refused to admit that they could be caused by human-to-human transmission, even though it was aware such transmissions were possible years earlier. Following an Indonesian outbreak that was difficult to conceal, WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng finally admitted that there were "about a half dozen" instances of human-to-human transmission. WHO maintains that these clusters occurred due to group contact with a common infected animal source; however, no other agency has been allowed to examine the evidence to determine if WHO's conclusion is correct.
WHO stated that "even if human-to-human transmission did occur, it was in a very limited way," and immediately reassured the scientific community that it did not extend beyond the immediate community. Scientific evidence has shown that the H5N1 strain, which is deadly to humans, can be passed from person to person.
After genetic data leaked from a conference, Researcher Dr. Henry L. Niman was able to determine that although WHO did not give incorrect avian flu data, it withheld important truths. Extensive viral mutations had occurred to a greater extent than WHO implied.
Certain nations will not allow WHO to have access to or publish their genetic data, in order to have an advantage in developing vaccines that may soon have worldwide demand.

[sharon sanders]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Thank you very much Al.

[sharon sanders]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO reportedly raises Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Donaldson - That news source is not reliable. It is a sales site that issues press releases to generate business.

[sharon sanders]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Thank you Theresa42, Snowy Owl, Siam for your contributions to a very interesting thread.

[Siamese]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Just a thought here, why would WHO ever admit, to changing the levels and not announcing it. Maybe they decided to keep it as quiet as they can? There must be a reason why three different papers decided to run the story. What happened to BF in Indonesia, it's very quiet there except for the occasional story.

[Theresa42]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

I emailed Dick Thompson who wrote back and said: "WHO has definitely NOT changed its pandemic alert level. It remains where it has been, at level THREE."

Which didn't actually answer my question because I asked if there are separate WHO levels for different countries (I know the WHO hasn't changed its global pandemic alert level). I also asked if he could offer an explanation for the reports somehow -- I was thinking perhaps the journalist(s) mistook Indonesia gov't levels for WHO levels -- or perhaps they just got it wildly wrong.

I've emailed one of the newspapers in question to see if they can clarify.

Maybe it's a problem with the machine-translation and the article was merely speculating on what might happen -- or that the WHO was perhaps contemplating the idea. Maybe the journalist in question got the story completely wrong. I dunno. I'd still like some clarification.

Thanks for sending an email, LaidbackAl!

[sharon sanders]

Re: INDONESIA - WHO does not raise Indonesian pandemic warning to level 4

Also, thanks to you Theresa for sending yours.