REMEMBER the panic caused by the Hong Kong flu epidemic, which killed six
people in Hong Kong in 1997? It was caused by a new avian virus. To contain it,
the Hong Kong authorities slaughtered a million chickens.
Avian viruses caused widespread flu epidemics in 1957 and 1968, and most
experts believe there is a constant danger of another outbreak or even of a
pandemic. After 快猫短视频
(24 March, p 16) reported that closely
related strains of the flu virus had been found in pet birds, I asked the health
minister Yvette Cooper about Britain鈥檚 preparations for a flu pandemic.
Cooper, who kept her job as a junior health minister in the recent
post-election reshuffle, confirms that the 1997 outbreak of avian flu in Hong
Kong was the first known occasion in which 鈥渂ird flu鈥� had been transmitted
directly to humans. Transmission was mainly through contact with infected
poultry.
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Britain was one of the first countries to draw up a plan for dealing with a
pandemic, Cooper says. Although the 1997 outbreak did not reach Britain, it
triggered the contingency plan and provided a valuable exercise from which, she
says, much was learned.
鈥淲e cannot stop a pandemic happening,鈥� says the minister, 鈥渂ut we can be as
best prepared as we can to recognise it, to protect those who are most at risk
and to treat those who are ill.鈥�
PEOPLE living under the flight paths of major airports have to put up with
the noise of a continual stream of aircraft. With today鈥檚 quieter aircraft, the
noise may not be as ear-splitting as it once was, but it is incessant. Austrian
researchers recently found a definite link between relatively low levels of
noise and stress
(快猫短视频, 17 March, p 5).
Low-level noise pollution, whether it is aircraft landing or the persistent
thud of the neighbour鈥檚 sound system, is an increasing problem. So I asked the
Department of Health what it is doing about it.
The department says that it launched a major research programme in 1998 to
find out more about this neglected subject. The research is intended to find out
how much noise people have to put up with, and the effect it has on their
health鈥攆rom causing insomnia to affecting the performance of
primary-school children.
I have been concerned about low-level noise for a long time. The results of
this research should become available later this year. The new government should
then seize the opportunity to do something about noise pollution, especially
constant low levels of noise. I for one would sleep more easily.
FOR 4000 years, the timbers of Seahenge survived under the sand off the coast
of Norfolk, until the shifting sands exposed this ancient structure, which
archaeologists think was a pagan temple. The dilemma now is what to do with the
timbers. Should they be conserved away from the site or reburied in the
sands?
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport tells me that a decision is likely
in about six to nine months. In the meantime, archaeologists are producing some
fascinating findings. A study of axe marks on the Seahenge timbers reveals that
38 similar, but distinct, bronze axes were used in its construction, showing
that a large group of workers were involved in building the henge. It鈥檚 the
first time such evidence has been found in European prehistory, says the
department. The evidence is being recorded digitally, because it is unlikely to
survive either conservation or reburial.