Sat Sep 6, 10:23 PM ET VietNamNet Bridge - The provision of accurate information
regarding avian influenza will help the government make
correct decisions in preventing and controlling the disease,
said a workshop in Hanoi. (VIETNAM) (BIRD FLU) Sat Sep 6, 10:23 PM ET Addressing the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop for
journalists on Sept. 4, the Rector of the Hanoi School of
Public Health (HSPH), Le Vu Anh, said that economic losses
caused by bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam constituted one
percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). The US Deputy Chief of Mission , Virgina E. Palmer,
praised Vietnam for its achievements in bird flu prevention
and control, which has set an example for other countries to
follow. As one of the first of the 61 countries reporting an
outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus in poultry, Vietnam
experienced four major outbreaks between Dec. 2003 and Aug.
2008, with 106 reported human cases, 52 of which were
fatal. According to the Head of the Preventive Medicine
Department of the Health Ministry, Nguyen Huy Nga, Vietnam
is one of the nations facing a high risk of bird flu
re-emergence, as 97 percent of those infected were exposed
directly or indirectly to the virus. However, he confirmed
that there is no evidence of human-to-human H5N1
transmission in Vietnam . At the workshop entitled "Getting the story", jointly
held by the HSPH and the US Embassy in Hanoi , participants
discussed challenges to bird flu prevention and control in
Vietnam , such as clamping down on the smuggling of poultry
and the lack of knowledge amongst vets in dealing with the
virus. There is currently no effective bird flu vaccine for
humans, and one of the conclusions arising from the workshop
is that more effective measures should be in place to
prevent the spread of the disease from wild animals and
migrating birds. (Source: VNA) Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari (right, in
blue) sets slaughtered poultry on fire during a mass culling
operation in Jakarta, in January 2007. With nearly half the
world's human bird flu deaths, concern is building over
Indonesia's refusal to share virus samples and its health
minister's increasingly strident denunciations of global
'conspiracies'. Photo:Adek Berry/AFP (INDONESIA) (BIRD
FLU) Sun Sep 7, 12:47 AM ET JAKARTA (AFP) - With nearly half the world's human bird
flu deaths, concern is building over Indonesia's refusal to
share virus samples and its health minister's increasingly
strident denunciations of global "conspiracies". Indonesia stopped sharing the samples with the World
Health Organisation (WHO) in December 2006 on fears
pharmaceutical companies would use them to make vaccines
that are too expensive for poor countries. The initial move by Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari
earned international plaudits for taking on an unfair global
system, but with WHO negotiations at an impasse, Supari's
increasing belligerence is raising alarm. The minister has broadened her critique of an "unfair,
neocolonialist" global health system, raising the
possibility earlier this year the United States was using
the virus to develop biological weapons in her book "It's
Time for the World to Change: Divine Hands Behind Avian
Influenza." Supari told a rapturous crowd at a book discussion last
week that rich nations were creating "new viruses" and
sending them to developing nations in order create markets
for drug companies to sell vaccines. "Indonesia sends a virus to the WHO but it suddenly it
ends up with the US government. Then the US government turns
the virus into dollars and we don't know what kind of
research," Supari said. "Then the virus is turned into vaccines (that are sent
to) Indonesia and Indonesia has to buy them and if they
don't buy them, it turns and turns again, and in the end
developed countries make new viruses which are then sent to
developing countries," she said. "The conspiracy between superpower nations and global
organisations isn't a theory, isn't rhetoric, but it's
something I've experienced myself." Bird flu scientists abroad and in Indonesia have raised
concerns that while Supari seeks to reshape the global
order, time is being wasted in understanding a virus that
could potentially kill millions if it mutates into a form
transmissible between humans. Indonesia announced in August that 112 people have died
from the virus, out of more than 240 worldwide since late
2003. Only a handful of samples and genetic sequences have
been shared with the WHO and researchers. The health ministry also earlier this year stopped
publicly announcing bird flu deaths, only releasing
information information weeks or months after victims have
died. "I'm a bit suspicious what she's doing is more politics
and not in fact for the global health system," said Ngurah
Mahardika, a virologist from Udayana University on Bali
island. "This will lessen the strength, the power of the
preparedness of the global system ... (withholding samples
means) we don't have any epidemiological and virological
signal now of what the virus looks like," Mahardika
said. "This is really increasing our pandemic risk (because) we
don't know about any signals of a pandemic." While Supari has insisted Indonesia and other developing
countries can stand on their own in researching the virus,
Indonesian scientists say they too have been shut out from
access to flu samples. "The minister of health is keeping the virus in the
laboratories but they are giving no access to Indonesian
scientists at the moment," said Amin Subandrio, the head of
the national bird flu committee's expert panel. Subandrio, who has supported Supari in trying to extract
a change in WHO rules to allow developing nations to secure
supply of and revenue from vaccines taken from their virus
strains, said withholding samples was nonetheless risky. He said Supari's claim of a Western-led global conspiracy
was not backed by evidence. "I really cannot explain it 100 percent, but probably she
received the wrong information from the wrong person," he
said. But while scientists and global health authorities
express worry, Supari continues to enjoy popularity at
home. Her book has entered into multiple print runs in
Indonesian and English and plans have reportedly been made
for a film adaptation. Mainstream academics have also
rallied to her side. "I believe she represents a kind of minister or
politician who has a very clear political standing,"
political scientist Bima Arya Sugiarto said. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has distanced himself
from Supari's more controversial comments but has made no
sign of moving her from her post. "In Indonesia we recognise that there are issues to be
resolved in the world health system but certainly we don't
believe in conspiracy theories," presidential spokesman Dino
Patti Djalal said. by Aubrey Belford Sun Sep 7, 8:53 PM ET With no reports of bird flu cases close to the last three
months in the country, India is considering an approach to
the France-based Organisation for Animal Health (OIA) for
according it 'the avian influenza free country' soon.
(INDIA) (BIRD FLU) Sun Sep 7, 8:53 PM ET With no reports of bird flu cases close to the last three
months in the country, India is considering an approach to
the France-based Organisation for Animal Health (OIA) for
according it 'the avian influenza free country' soon. Besides, India and neighbouring Bangladesh have set up a
joint mechanism through a series of meeting held amongst
officials to share and monitor information on bird flu cases
in the poultry industry. India has been maintaining that the virus came from
Bangladesh through the illegal poultry trade. Even agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had supported this
view. The animal husbandry department under the ministry of
agriculture, in February 2008, had made a formal request to
the Bangladesh government through the ministry of external
affairs to share the genetic history of its virus. After much deliberation, Bangladesh shared data on the
genetic make up of the H5N1 virus strain, which had been
found 'similar' to the bird flu virus and had caused India's
worst Avian Influenza outbreak earlier this year. "Bangladesh has been proactive and most forth coming in
sharing information," an official with the animal husbandry
department told FE. India and Bangladesh share a 4,095-kilometre border. India had reported its first case of bird flu in
Maharashtra back in 2006 but later that year declared itself
'bird-flu free'. However, the country has suffered two more outbreaks
since then, the latest and worst being in West Bengal, where
it erupted earlier this year. According to OIA, the avian influenza-free country status
is given if a nation reports no outbreak of bird flu for a
stretch of three months from the time it completes
disinfection and clean-up of the previous outbreak site. "We are closely monitoring the situation, and will
approach OIA soon," the official said. The country produces more than 2.0 million tonne of
broiler chickens annually and is the fifth largest producer
in the world. The country is the largest producer of eggs, with a
production of around 44 billion pieces. The Rs 40,000-crore domestic poultry industry provides
direct and indirect employment to more than 2 million
people. Mon Sep 8, 10:24 AM ET In order to eradicate bird flu at the grassroots,
Nasarawa State government has involved traditional rulers,
women groups and community leaders in the fight against the
disease. (NIGERIA) (BIRD FLU) Mon Sep 8, 10:24 AM ET In order to eradicate bird flu at the grassroots,
Nasarawa State government has involved traditional rulers,
women groups and community leaders in the fight against the
disease. This was disclosed to newsmen in Lafia by the Avian
Influenza Control Project Communication Desk Officer, Mallam
Abubakar Tanko. He said the involment of community leaders and other
interest groups was to ensure that the disease was reduced
to minimal level, adding that students and pupils were also
involved in order to carry everyone along in the fight He said that through the local government desk offices
and the three components of animal, human and community
health, the project confrontating the disease through
continuos disinfection . He explained that the personnel were now concentrating on
affected communities, bird markets and pockets of reported
outbreaks. The officer also said that women groups, traditional
opinion, religious and community leaders were being
sensitised on the dangers of the disease and the need for
them to report suspected cases to the appropriate
organs. He commended the desk officers in the fight against the
disease and urged them not to relent in their efforts. He also appreciated the determination of the state
government in the fight especially in meeting all the
logistical needs of the project and called on local
government administrators to also give more support to the
project. Tue Sep 9, 5:58 PM ET A file photo of a bird vendor on his way to a Buddhist
pagoda in Vientiane. Laos. Authorities in Laos detected a
fresh outbreak of bird flu in the north of the country last
week and slaughtered all poultry affected, a government
spokesman says. "We have killed all of the poultry within a
kilometre radius - about 7,000 of them," and a quarantine
zone has been set up on the area's perimeter, foreign
ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy told AFP. (BIRD FLU)
(LAOS) Tue Sep 9, 5:58 PM ET Authorities in Laos detected a fresh outbreak of bird flu
in the north of the country last week and slaughtered all
poultry affected, a government spokesman says. The government did not say how many birds were infected
with the deadly virus, which was detected in a village about
150km north of the ancient royal capital Luang Prabang, a
UNESCO World Heritage site. "We have killed all of the poultry within a kilometre
radius - about 7,000 of them," and a quarantine zone has
been set up on the area's perimeter, foreign ministry
spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy told AFP. No human infections were suspected, he said. Two people have died of bird flu in communist-ruled Laos
since 2003, when the virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia,
according to World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics.
Both deaths were reported last year. The WHO says 243 people have died from bird flu
worldwide. The H5N1 avian influenza virus mainly kills birds
but scientists fear it could mutate to easily jump from
human to human, sparking a global pandemic. Tue Sep 9, 6:18 PM ET LOME, Togo - An outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed
in the West African nation of Togo for the first time since
last year, the Health Ministry said Tuesday. A Togolese
poultry farmer cares for his animals in the town of Baguida,
June 2007. (TOGO) (BIRD FLU) Tue Sep 9, 6:18 PM ET LOME, Togo - An outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed
in the West African nation of Togo for the first time since
last year, the Health Ministry said Tuesday. The virus was detected at a poultry farm housing more
than 4,500 birds in the village of Agbata outside the
capital, Lome, said a ministry statement read over state
television. It was not known how many birds died, but more
than 80 per cent of those infected by the flu were
fatalities, the ministry said. The statement did not say whether the birds were infected
with the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, which has
scientists concerned because it has the potential to infect
humans. At least 235 people have died of bird flu worldwide
since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Most human cases have been linked to contact with
infected birds, but health experts worry the virus could
mutate into a form that passes easily among humans, sparking
a pandemic that some say could kill millions of people and
overload health care systems. The Health Ministry banned the sale of all chicken and
poultry products in the region around the farm.
Accurate information helps reduce losses from bird
flu
Alarm as Indonesia thumbs nose at West over bird
flu
India may approach OIA due to no bird flu report
Nigeria: Nasarawa Seeks Support of Community Leaders
Over Bird Flu
Bird flu found in northern Laos
Togo says bird flu hits poultry farm
Fri Aug 01, 2:45 AM ET Bird flu was discovered in a flock of 1,000 chickens in
the southern province of Dong Thap on July 31, reported the
Veterinary Agency. Image - Burying pigs in Thua Thien - Hue.
(VIETNAM) (BIRD FLU) Fri Aug 01, 2:45 AM ET VietNamNet Bridge - Bird flu was discovered in a flock of
1,000 chickens in the southern province of Dong Thap on July
31, reported the Veterinary Agency. With this new discovery, bird flu is currently in two
provinces, Dong Thap and the central province of Nghe
An. Twelve provinces and cities in Vietnam have blue ear
epidemic in pigs. This disease is spreading its wings in the central
province of Quang Nam. Local authorities have decided to buy 20,000 doses of
blue ear vaccine. Another central province, Thua Thien-Hue, has said it
will allocate VND270 million ($15,900) to prevent this
disease. So far, the province has culled more than 1,800 pigs. (Source: NLD) Fri Aug 01, 1:32 PM ET The global threat of bird flu saved the Australian horse
industry, experts say. (AUSTRALIA) (BIRD FLU) (GLOBAL
PANDEMIC) Fri Aug 01, 1:32 PM ET The global threat of bird flu saved the Australian horse
industry, experts say. In 2004, the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory
developed a molecular diagnostic test for bird flu, at a
time when equine influenza (EI) was not even on the
radar. Three years later, the same test was used in the effort
to stop the spread of EI, with Agtrans Research saying it
allowed authorities to determine the best ways to contain
it. "It's fortuitous that this diagnostic test could be
applied to horse flu, as it's highly unlikely that a similar
test could have been developed in a timely manner once the
outbreak had been detected," Agtrans' Dr Peter Chudleigh
said in a statement. "The use of the test supported the decision to try for
eventual eradication." Dr Chudleigh said the main benefit from the diagnostic
test was how quickly EI could be detected. Australian Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre chief
executive Dr Stephen Prowse said the economic benefit of
using the diagnostic test was more than $134 million. "It took 125 days to eradicate equine influenza," he
said. But using the test enabled Australia to demonstrate
freedom from the disease to the international community much
earlier than would have otherwise been possible, he
said. "(And) at a much reduced expense to the industry, and
freeing up horse movements," Dr Prowse said. EI entered Australia through a Sydney quarantine centre,
then spread through NSW and Queensland, shutting down the
racing industry in those states for three months. The breakout led to the cancellation of the 2007 Sydney
Spring Carnival and the Queensland Summer Carnival,
threatened the Melbourne Cup and disrupted breeding, exports
and equestrian events. The federal government is facing millions of dollars in
compensation claims from the racing industry after a damning
report blamed the quarantine authority for the devastating
outbreak. Australia was officially declared EI free on June 30, six
months after the last detected case. Sun Aug 3, 2:59 AM ET Chickens are seen at a poultry house in Jakarta August 3,
2008. A 19-year-old Indonesian man died from bird flu last
week, a health ministry official said on Sunday, bringing
the total death toll from the virus in the Southeast Asian
country to 112. REUTERS/Supri (INDONESIA) (BIRD FLU) (GLOBAL
PANDEMIC) Sun Aug 3, 2:59 AM ET JAKARTA, Indonesia - An Indonesian factory worker died of
bird flu, bringing the death toll in the country worst hit
by the virus to 112, a top health official said Sunday. The 19-year-old died last week in a hospital just west of
the capital, Jakarta, Nyoman Kandun, the director general of
communicable disease control at the Health Ministry, said by
text message. He gave no additional information. Indonesia has regularly recorded human deaths from bird
flu since the virus began ravaging poultry stocks across
Asia in 2003. Its toll of 112 accounts for nearly half the
240 recorded fatalities worldwide. Bird flu remains hard for people to catch, but health
experts worry that the virus could mutate into a form that
passes easily between humans, possibly triggering a pandemic
that could kill millions. So far most human cases have been
linked to contact with infected birds. Scientists have warned that Indonesia, which has millions
of backyard chickens and poor medical facilities, is a
potential hot spot for the start of a global pandemic. Mon Aug 4, 7:12 AM ET A few times each year, the world is reminded that a
pandemic threat is immanent. In 2003, it was SARS. Today, it
is a potential avian virus similar to the one that killed 30
million people after 1914. (BIRD FLU) (GLOBAL PANDEMIC) Mon Aug 4, 7:12 AM ET A few times each year, the world is reminded that a
pandemic threat is immanent. In 2003, it was SARS. Today, it
is a potential avian virus similar to the one that killed 30
million people after 1914. "Bird flu" has already shown that it can jump from fowl
to humans, and now even to cats, which indicates that it
might be the next global killer. But there are many other
potential pandemics, and many are not even viruses.
Bacteria, prions, parasites, and even environmental factors
could suddenly change in a way that slays us. It is widely
predicted that when this happens, the economic and human
losses will exceed that of any previous war. Indeed, it is humbling to remember that some of history's
most deadly invasions were carried out by single-cell
organisms, such as cholera, bubonic plague, and
tuberculosis. Countries with the resources to do so are
making resistance plans against pandemics &endash; limited
strategies that would protect their own citizens. Most
governments are hoping that early detection will make
containment possible. Containment depends heavily on vaccines, but vaccines are
only part of the answer. While they are a good defense
against many viruses, each vaccine is highly specific to the
threat. Viruses are parasites to cells, and each virus
attacks a particular type of cell. The virus is shaped so
that it can drill into a particular feature of that cell and
inject parts of itself inside, confusing the cell into
making more viruses and destroying itself in the process.
With their very specific forms, the most effective
anti-viral vaccines must be designed for a narrow range of
factors. Sometimes the tailored nature of viruses works in our
favor. For example, they usually find it difficult to jump
between species, because they would have to change their
structure. But if large numbers of a host, say, birds,
encounter a great number of people, eventually the virus
will find a way to prosper in a new type of cell. Birds are the greatest concern today only because the
spread is easy to see. But AIDS jumped from monkeys and
several types of flu jumped from swine. Deadly mutations of
any kind need to be identified urgently, so that an
effective vaccine can be designed before the strain becomes
comfortable in the human body. Unfortunately our present
methods of detection are not sensitive enough. This is even more worrying when you realize that
scientists should also be monitoring bacteria, prions, and
parasites. There are more bacteria than any other life form.
Many live harmlessly in our bodies and perform useful
functions. They evolve and adapt easily, which means that
they learn to sidestep our drugs over time. Bacteria should
be checked for two types of mutation: adaptation by a
hostile form that enables it to become super-immune to
drugs, or a deadly mutant strain that appears in one of the
multitude of "safe" bacteria. Prions are a relatively new discovery. They are made from
proteins similar to those that the body uses during healthy
operations, which means that they are able to fool the
body's tools into making more prions. They have only
recently been recognized as the cause of several infectious
diseases, including mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease, which kill by crowding out healthy brain cells.
Many nerve, respiratory and muscle diseases might also be
caused by prions. Finally, parasites, simple animals that infect us, are
already classified as pandemics. Malaria afflicts 300
million people and is the world's biggest killer of
children. Many parasites are worms: hookworm (800 million
people infected), roundworm (1.5 billion), schistosomes (200
million), and the worm that causes Elephantiasis (150
million). There are also antagonists that are currently ignored.
Environmental chemicals and particulates might warrant their
own categories. Or consider combinations of problems, such
as these chemical infectors mixing with airborne pollens,
and apparently pushing up incidences of asthma. New fungal
infections are even scarier and might be harder to
treat. The bottom line is that we can't predict where the threat
will emerge, so we need a distributed, intelligent detection
system. In practical terms, how should it be built? "Detectors" would have to be expert enough to know when
an ordinary-looking symptom is actually an emergency. They
would be located everywhere, with an emphasis on vulnerable
regions. Initial warning signs of a pandemic are most likely
to appear in the developing world, but detection nodes
should be positioned in every country, with the least
possible expense. This is not as difficult as it sounds. The
key is to harness existing infrastructure. Medical infrastructure exists everywhere, in some form.
It also tends to be the least corrupt of institutions in
regions where that is a problem. Medical centers and clinics
would be expected to investigate the cause of ailments in a
large number of their patients, even in cases where the
symptoms seem common. A small amount of additional
scientific expertise and lab equipment would need to be
added to a public health system that serves ordinary
needs. Enhancing existing resources would be effective for two
reasons. First, illness is more likely to be reported in a
city hospital than at a specialist institute. Second, the
investment would boost latent public health in that
region. For poor regions, investment in equipment and training
would have to come from wealthier counterparts. Rich
countries could justify the expense in terms of the savings
that would result from early detection of a major threat.
Tropical climates and urban slums are humanity's front line
against pandemics, and they should be equipped properly. Public health is an important asset for any nation. With
so much at stake, it makes sense to place sentinels near
every swamp, city, public market, and farmyard on earth. By H. T. Goranson is the Lead Scientist of Sirius-Beta Corp
and was a Senior Scientist with the US Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency. Wed Aug 6, 3:54 PM ET State livestock and poultry officials say Arkansans can
have complete confidence in the system that worked to
quickly contain the bird flu outbreak back in June. (BIRD
FLU) (AR) Wed Aug 6, 3:54 PM ET State livestock and poultry officials say Arkansans can
have complete confidence in the system that worked to
quickly contain the bird flu outbreak back in June. Thousands of chickens had to be destroyed at a farm near
West Fork in Washington County after testing positive for
the disease. Thorough testing completed three weeks later gave the
state the all clear. "We did all of the surveillance work, tested birds in the
area in a 6.2 mile area which is part of the protocol, and
were completed and we had no more positives, it was just an
isolated incident and hope we won't have anymore," says Jon
Fitch, Director of the Arkansas Livestock & Poultry
Commission. Fitch says the state was well prepared thanks to training
completed before the bird flu incident, but that there's
nothing like learning from the real thing. KARK 4 News Wed Aug 6, 12:23 PM ET MEDAN, Indonesia (AFP) - Three people have died and 13
have been admitted to hospital with symptoms of bird flu in
Indonesia, a nurse treating the patients said Wednesday.
(BIRD FLU) (INDONESIA) Wed Aug 6, 12:23 PM ET MEDAN, Indonesia (AFP) - Three people have died and 13
have been admitted to hospital with symptoms of bird flu in
Indonesia, a nurse treating the patients said Wednesday. Officials and residents in Asahan district of North
Sumatra province said villagers began showing symptoms of
avian flu after a large number of chickens died suddenly
last week. The nurse at Asahan district's Kisaran hospital said
three people had died after suffering bird flu-like symptoms
in Air Batu village. "According to residents there, a number of chickens died
suddenly last week followed by several pigeons. Days later,
three people died with the same ailments," the nurse,
Mariana, told AFP. Another 13 people had been admitted to the hospital with
"high temperatures and respiratory problems," she said. Two of these -- a baby boy and a seven-year-old girl --
were transferred early Wednesday to a bird flu isolation
unit at Adam Malik hospital in the provincial capital of
Medan, officials said. Adam Malik hospital spokesman Sinar Ginting confirmed
that blood samples from the two children were sent Wednesday
to a health ministry laboratory in Jakarta for analysis. "We are now waiting for the result," he said. The father of the baby boy, Slamet Riadi, said a lot of
poultry had died in the village a week ago. His baby
developed a high fever and respiratory problems shortly
afterward. A spokeswoman for the health ministry could not be
reached for comment. The ministry, which has stopped giving regular bird flu
updates, announced earlier this week that the human toll
from avian influenza in Indonesia had risen to 112 with the
recent death of a 19-year-old man. The man was from a town adjoining the capital Jakarta on
Java island. Indonesia is the country worst-hit by the deadly H5N1
strain of bird flu, which can be passed from bird to
human. Experts fear it could mutate into a form easily
transmissible between humans and kill millions in a global
pandemic. Thu, Aug 7 12:59 PM A rooster perches on a cage at a traditional market in
Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008.
Thirteen people hospitalized with high fevers and
respiratory problems are being treated as suspected bird flu
patients after dozens of chickens died of the disease in
their tiny Indonesian village, a health official said
Thursday. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara) (BIRD FLU)
(INDONESIA) Thu, Aug 7 12:59 PM JAKARTA (Reuters) - Thirteen people from a village in
North Sumatra are due to be tested for bird flu after
falling sick, Indonesian health. The 13, from Air Batu village, were hospitalised this
week after suffering fever, but their conditions had
improved on Thursday and they might not be suffering from
the disease, a health official said. A bird flu surveillance team from Indonesia's health
ministry has been sent to the area. "Although they found dead chickens in the area, the
symptoms are not like bird flu," said Erna Tresnaningsih,
the health ministry's director of animal-borne disease
control. A seven-year-old girl and an eight-month-old child were
being treated in Adam Malik hospital in North Sumatra's
capital Medan with Tamiflu, the medication most often used
to treat bird flu, said hospital spokesman Sinar
Ginting. A spokeswoman for the World Health Organisation said she
was not authorised to comment on the case. The country's largest known cluster of bird flu cases in
humans occurred in May 2006 in the Karo district of North
Sumatra province, where as many as 7 people in an extended
family died. The World Health Organisation said at the time that
limited human-to-human transmission could not be ruled out
but that the virus samples from the scene did not show any
significant genetic mutations. Ginting was quoted by media as saying on Wednesday that
not all the patients were believed to have had contact with
fowl, which is the most common way of contracting the H5N1
bird flu virus, after some chickens in the area had died
suddenly and were found to have been infected. Suspected cluster cases can raise concerns about rare
human-to-human transmission or that the virus might have
mutated into a form that can pass easily among people,
triggering a pandemic. Bird flu remains mainly an animal disease but experts
fear the H5N1 virus might mutate into a pandemic strain that
would sweep the globe, possibly killing millions and
hobbling economies. Health experts say monitoring of the virus across
Indonesia's thousands of islands to detect any genetic
changes is vital, but there has been some confusion over the
government's stance on reporting cases. Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari, who has
clashed with the international community over virus sharing,
said in early June her ministry would only report cases
every six months, although the ministry has reported three
deaths since. The virus is known to have infected 385 people in 15
countries, killing 243 of them since late 2003, according to
the WHO's June 19 tally. Indonesia reported on Sunday that a 19-year-old man died
from bird flu last week, bringing the total death toll in
the Southeast Asian country to 111, the highest of any
nation. Sat, Aug 9 5:00 AM Geoffrey Buchanan was fined by Bury St Edmunds
magistrates. (UK) (BIRD FLU) Sat, Aug 9 5:00 AM A Suffolk farmer whose business was at the centre of a
bird flu outbreak has been fined £4,000 for breaching
regulations during the crisis. Geoffrey Buchanan, 38, a director of Gressingham Foods,
based in Debach, admitted eight offences relating to the
storage and movement of carcasses. Magistrates in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, sat late into
the evening to sentence Buchanan He was also ordered to pay £3,510 costs and a
£15 victim surcharge. Suffolk County Council's trading standards department,
which brought the prosecution, said the charges followed,
but were not directly linked to, the outbreak of the deadly
H5N1 strain of the disease in Redgrave, Suffolk in November
last year. 'Significant concerns' After the case, Mike Collins, who investigated the case,
said he was happy with the outcome. "The legislation is there for a reason - to stop the
spread of the disease," he said. "During an avian influenza outbreak, when there are
significant concerns about the about the disease and the
implications for other farmers, breaking the rules is a very
serious offence. "During an outbreak, even greater care should have been
taken and clearly it wasn't by Mr Buchanan." Buchanan, in a statement read outside court, said: "We
very much regret our involvement in this offence and accept
the sentence imposed by the court." He added: "We wish to make it abundantly clear that these
offences are not linked with the avian influenza outbreak in
2007." The bird flu virus was discovered at Redgrave Park Farm,
which is owned by Gressingham Foods, near Diss, in November
2007, where thousands of birds were slaughtered. Sat, Aug 9 7:36 AM Thirteen people in Indonesia suspected of having bird flu
have tested negative for the feared disease, the country's
health ministry said Saturday. (INDONESIA) (BIRD FLU) Sat, Aug 9 7:36 AM Thirteen people in Indonesia suspected of having bird flu
have tested negative for the feared disease, the country's
health ministry said Saturday. Experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) arrived
Friday in the affected village in North Sumatra to help
investigate a possible outbreak after three people died and
the 13 were admitted to hospital. "All specimens collected from suspect cases have given
negative results. They are all recovered," I Nyoman Kandun,
director general of the ministry's communicable diseases
department said on a text message. Officials and residents in Asahan district in North
Sumatra province said villagers began showing symptoms of
avian flu after a large number of chickens died suddenly
last week in Air Batu village. The local husbandry office took preventive action this
week by slaughtering and burning some 400 chickens and
ducks. The ministry, which has stopped giving regular bird flu
updates, announced earlier this week that the human toll
from avian influenza in Indonesia had risen to 112 following
the recent death of a 19-year-old man. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than
240 people worldwide since late 2003. The virus typically spreads from bird to human through
direct contact, but experts fear it could mutate into a form
easily transmissible between humans, with the potential to
kill millions in a pandemic. Sun, Aug 10 12:03 PM During the bird flu scare, duck sales soared while
chicken suffered. Among the fast-changing trends of
international cuisine, Peking Duck is a rare enduring
classic, with a history stretching back 1,600 years. (BIRD
FLU) Sun, Aug 10 12:03 PM Among the fast-changing trends of international cuisine,
Peking Duck is a rare enduring classic, with a history
stretching back 1,600 years. Indeed, demand for the dish is so high that the most
popular venues are not just single restaurants but chains of
restaurants. Quanjude, for example, is listed on the stock
exchange. Quanjude (the name means "a complete gathering of
virtues") is currently top of the pops for Peking Duck but
is no longer the only famous chain serving it. Da Dong,
named after its chef and founder, is popular among expats
and has become famous for its light and healthy twist on
Shandong and Beijing foods. The grand-daddy of them all, Bianyifang has just opened
its latest branch by the 4th Ring Road in southwest Beijing,
with both a modern and traditional dcor. It even has a
Peking Duck museum to illustrate the history and techniques
involved in the making of the legendary dish. Bianyifang was established in 1416, while Quanjude would
be founded in 1864. It is also making constant innovations
to its duck dishes, including a roast duck de-greased with
vegetable juice. Other popular roast duck restaurants include Ya Wang
(King Roast Duck) and Li Qun, a courtyard restaurant. For a
more Western-style Peking Duck, many people visit Made in
China, which offers a wide range of Chinese foods with a
modern twist, with wines to match them. But if Peking Duck were an Olympic event, it would be
Quanjude that has a clear lead. Its founder, Yang Quanren,
made a living 140 years ago by selling ducks and chickens at
a meat market, before moving on to having his own shop.
Within a year, Yang had hired several assistants and changed
the old closed-oven roast method to new open-oven roasting,
so as to simplify and expand production. Quanjude is now so
famous it has been featured in several Chinese films and TV
dramas. Today, it issues a certificate to every customer who
orders Peking Duck. The number of ducks it has roasted now
exceeds 100 million, which explains why Quanjude has become
a popular choice for investors since being publicly
listed. At all major roast duck restaurants, the duck is roasted
upon order and sliced right next to you. It is served with
slices of spring onion, cucumber, sweet brown sauce and
flour pancakes to wrap the duck and side dishes into a roll.
The roast duck looks temptingly golden brown and the
fragrance is or should be irresistible. For the more adventurous diner, restaurants often have
dishes prepared with duck parts and giblets, such as
quick-fried duck heart with coriander, salty poached duck
liver and duck feet with mustard. The bones can also be made
into a milky white tasty soup. The success of any dish depends primarily on its great
taste, and competitors are constantly experimenting to
improve the flavor. Da Dong's super-lean Peking Duck
prolongs the 45-minute roasting process to an hour and 10
minutes, further reducing the grease and improving the
flavor. Quanjude has introduced new flavors such as mustard
to accompany duck dishes, while Bianyifang adds lettuce,
fresh mint, turnip and leafy sprouts. Over the years, the
dish has become less oily but just as tasty. Last year, Quanjude got a public roasting over its plan
to use more electric ovens, citing them as a cleaner and
more practical way of cooking. An Internet survey showed 77
percent of netizens were against the move, because fruitwood
used in roast ovens had become part of the attraction of
Peking Duck over the years. People worried that the famous
old dish would become more like simple fried chicken. The
age-old image of a master chef roasting a duck at a
6-foot-high drum-shaped oven heated with fruitwood proved
resilient to the new notion of replacing it with a piece of
metal. Quanjude eventually backed down. Taste is not the only reason for Peking Duck's unique
status, though. The Chinese believe that other poultry is
hot in nature and therefore brings excessive heat to the
body. Duck, however, is considered moderate, even slightly
cold, because it comes from water and it is believed to be
good for the lungs and other parts of the respiratory
system. During the bird flu scare, duck sales soared while
chicken suffered. Moreover, roasting duck neutralizes its
innate coldness and is thought to make it a really balanced
food. So where is Peking Duck headed? Chain founder Da Dong
believes it must become "a living piece of history",
combining elements of old and new. "Today's science and
technology can guarantee the efficient filtering of smoke
and oil, ensuring that the fruitwood heating system meets
health and environmental requirements," he says. Quanjude and Bianyifang are both applying for their
roasting processes to be declared worthy of cultural
heritage status and thus worth preserving. The two
restaurants have also set up museums showcasing how Peking
Duck has stood the test of time and remained a favorite food
for the Chinese. Meanwhile, restaurants like Da Dong keep in touch with
master chefs from other countries, so helping to keep them
in the forefront of world cuisines. "But most importantly, we've followed the traditions of
Chinese cuisine," says Dong. "Although we are modern and
fashionable, the core of our cuisine is Chinese." By Ye Jun (China Daily) Tue Aug 12, 8:12 AM ET A poultry market in Lagos in 2007. The UN food agency has
said that a strain of highly pathogenic bird flu previously
not recorded in sub-Saharan Africa has been detected in
Nigeria. (AFP/File/Pius Utomi Ekpei) (BIRD FLU) (NIGERIA)
(BIRD FLU STRAINS) Tue Aug 12, 8:12 AM ET ROME (AFP) - A strain of highly pathogenic bird flu
previously not recorded in sub-Saharan Africa has been
detected in Nigeria, the UN food agency said Tuesday. Laboratory results from Nigeria and a Food and
Agriculture reference laboratory in Italy show that the
newly discovered virus strain is genetically different from
the strains that circulated in Nigeria in 2006 and 2007, the
Rome-based agency said in a statement. "The detection of a new avian influenza virus strain in
Africa raises serious concerns as it remains unknown how
this strain has been introduced to the continent," warned
Scott Newman of the FAO's Animal Health Service. The new strain is similar to ones previously identified
in Italy, Afghanistan and Iran last year, the FAO said. "It seems to be unlikely that wild birds have carried the
strain to Africa, since this year's southerly migration into
Africa has not really started yet," Newman said, suggesting
"other channels for virus introduction (including)
international trade or illegal and unreported movement of
poultry. He warned that this increased the risk of avian influenza
spreading to other countries in western Africa. Since the avian influenza epidemic caused by the H5N1
strain started five years ago in Asia, the disease has
affected more than 60 countries, most of which have
succeeded to eliminate the virus from poultry, the FAO
said. In Nigeria, the virus was first confirmed in February
2006 and infected poultry in 25 states before being
contained, but the west African economic powerhouse has
recently reported two new highly pathogenic bird flu
outbreaks in the northern states of Katsina and Kano. Tue Aug 12, 8:02 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Countries around the world may be
preparing for a possible H5N1 bird flu pandemic, but another
strain called H9N2 also poses a threat to humanity,
researchers reported on Tuesday. (RESEARCH) (BIRD FLU) Tue Aug 12, 8:02 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Countries around the world may be
preparing for a possible H5N1 bird flu pandemic, but another
strain called H9N2 also poses a threat to humanity,
researchers reported on Tuesday. Tests on the H9N2 strain of the virus show it is capable
of infecting and spreading with very few changes, a team
from the University of Maryland, St. Jude's Children's
Research Hospital in Memphis, and elsewhere reported. "Our results suggest that the establishment and
prevalence of H9N2 viruses in poultry pose a significant
threat for humans," the researchers wrote in the Public
Library of Science journal PLoS ONE. Most influenza experts agree that a pandemic -- a deadly
global epidemic -- of some kind of flu is inevitable. No one can predict what kind but the chief suspect is the
H5N1 bird flu virus, which has infected 385 people and
killed 243 of them since 2003. It is entrenched in birds now
in some areas and has killed or forced the slaughter of 300
million. Just a few mutations could turn it into a virus that
people catch and transmit easily. But flu experts caution
H5N1 is not the only virus with this potential. H9N2, a virus seen mostly in birds, has infected at least
four children in Hong Kong, causing mild illness, and is
found in birds, pigs and other animals in Europe and
Asia. Maryland's Daniel Perez and colleagues tinkered with the
virus and tested it in ferrets, animals whose biology is
very close to humans when it comes to flu. A single mutation made H9N2 more virulent and pathogenic,
and also helped it transmit more easily from one ferret to
another, they reported in their study, available on the
Internet at
http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002923. They also mixed H9N2 with an H3N2 virus, a type of
influenza virus that causes seasonal flu in people.
Scientists believe that if a human or animal is infected
with two strains of flu at the same time, this
"reassortment" can happen in nature. The reassorted virus was easier for the ferrets to catch
and transmit. One reassuring finding -- neither of the lab-engineered
viruses could be transmitted in the air, via aerosol. This
might make them somewhat less transmissible, although people
pick up flu from surfaces touched by an infected person. "Although no aerosol transmission was observed, the virus
replicated in multiple respiratory tissues and induced
clinical signs similar to those observed with the human H3N2
virus," the researchers wrote. There are hundreds of strains of avian influenza viruses,
but only fou , H5N1, H7N3, H7N7, and H9N2, are known to have
caused human infections, according to the World Health
Organization. (Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Will Dunham) Wed Aug 13, 1:33 PM ET ABUJA (Reuters) - Infected migratory birds from Europe or
Central Asia were probably to blame for spreading a new
strain of H5N1 bird flu to Africa, Nigeria's chief bird flu
expert said on Tuesday. (BIRD FLU) (NIGERIA) (BIRD FLU
STRAINS) Wed Aug 13, 1:33 PM ET ABUJA (Reuters) - Infected migratory birds from Europe or
Central Asia were probably to blame for spreading a new
strain of H5N1 bird flu to Africa, Nigeria's chief bird flu
expert said on Tuesday. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
reported on Monday that the strain of avian influenza
recently found in Nigeria was genetically different from the
strains in previous African outbreaks. Mohammed Saidu, head of Nigeria's bird flu control
program, said the H5N1 strain was discovered last month in a
duck at a poultry market in northeast Gombe state. "Since that location is among the 24 wetlands we have in
Nigeria and along the two migratory routes, we suspect that
the strain could have come from the migratory birds," Saidu
said. A senior FAO official on Monday expressed doubts that
wild birds carried the strain to Africa since this year's
southerly migration has yet to begin. Scott Newman, International Wildlife Coordinator of FAO's
Animal Health Service, said the virus may have instead
reached the continent via international trade. In late July, Africa's most populous country discovered
its first cases of H5N1 bird flu virus in almost 10 months.
The virus, which can spread to humans, was found in poultry
markets in the northern cities of Kano and Katsina. Avian influenza is common, but the H5N1 strain is
particularly worrying both to poultry producers and
doctors. It rarely infects people but has killed 243 out of 385
known to have been infected since 2003, according to the
World Health Organization. It has killed or forced the
slaughter of 300 million birds. (Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Tume Ahemba) Wed Aug 13, 6:31 PM ET A worker selects chickens before sending them to the
market from a poultry house in Jakarta August 3, 2008.
REUTERS/Supri (INDONESIA) (BIRD FLU) Wed Aug 13, 6:31 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Late diagnosis and treatment means
that more than 80 percent of people infected with H5N1 avian
influenza in Indonesia have died, researchers reported on
Wednesday. An analysis of outbreaks in Indonesia, the country
hardest hit by bird flu, affirms that quick treatment with
antiviral drugs can save lives. But local health care
workers are not properly trained in diagnosing bird flu and
often do not have the needed drugs to treat it. Indonesia has had one-third of the world's known cases of
human infection with H5N1 avian influenza. It rarely infects
people but globally has killed 243 out of 385 sickened since
2003. In Indonesia, 135 people have been infected and 110
have died, according to the World Health Organization. Dr. Toni Wandra of the Ministry of Health in Jakarta and
colleagues analyzed the known cases as of February and found
it took on average six days for patients to be admitted to a
hospital. By the time they were admitted, 99 percent had a fever,
88 percent were coughing and 84 percent had breathing
problems, they reported in the Lancet medical journal. But for the first two days they were ill, most patients
had hard-to-identify symptoms, only 31 had both fever and
cough, and nine had fever and breathing problems. On average it took seven days to get oseltamivir, Roche
AG and Gilead Sciences Inc's Tamiflu. More than a third of patients who got Tamiflu within six
days survived, compared to 19 percent treated at seven days
or later survived. This confirms other research that shows treatment with
flu drugs such as Tamiflu needs to start right away to be
effective, they said. "There is a clear need to identify definite causes for
high-case fatality," Wandra's team wrote. "Poultry surveillance is being stepped up, and active
human case finding by local health centers and village
officials is being instituted in areas of poultry
deaths." Workers need to be trained in getting information about
whether patients with flu-like symptoms were around sick
poultry, they added. "Finally, all health-care workers should be trained in
case management of early H5N1 influenza, and should be
equipped with oseltamivir to enable timely
administration." H5N1 currently infects mostly birds and has killed or
forced the destruction of 300 million in Asia, Europe, the
Middle East and Africa. It rarely infects humans and almost all cases have been
infected by sick birds. Doctors fear it could change into a
form that easily infects people, in which case it could
sweep the world, killing millions of people in months. Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's and Biota's Relenza can
treat the infection, but are in short supply, and a vaccine
would take months or years to manufacture and deliver. Thu Aug 14, 2:45 PM ET Officials from the Ministry of Health and Social
Services, marine experts, and representatives of the Police
and the Namibian Defence Force are in Walvis Bay for a
two-day workshop on avian influenza, commonly referred to as
bird flu. (BIRD FLU) Thu Aug 14, 2:45 PM ET Officials from the Ministry of Health and Social
Services, marine experts, and representatives of the Police
and the Namibian Defence Force are in Walvis Bay for a
two-day workshop on avian influenza, commonly referred to as
bird flu. The workshop is aimed at formulating a Rapid Response
Team at local level to complement the country's efforts as
part of SADC countries' efforts to control the spread of the
disease. The workshop follows an earlier visit by
representatives of the FAO to the coastal towns to assess
the implementation of avian influenza response. At SADC level, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in
South Africa organised similar workshops where training and
sensitisation on bird flu was provided. The training was
aimed at passing on knowledge to the various countries'
representatives, who would in turn pass over the knowledge
to relevant stakeholders in their own countries. Avian influenza is an infection caused by avian (bird)
influenza viruses. These influenza viruses occur naturally
among birds. Wild birds worldwide are reported to carry the
viruses in their intestines, but usually do not get sick
from them. However, avian influenza is very contagious among
birds and can infect domesticated birds, including chickens,
ducks, and turkeys, often killing them. Infected birds shed influenza virus in their saliva,
nasal secretions, and faeces. Susceptible birds become
infected when they have contact with contaminated secretions
or excretions or with surfaces that are contaminated with
secretions or excretions from infected birds. Domesticated
birds may become infected with avian influenza virus through
direct contact with infected waterfowl or other infected
poultry, or through contact with surfaces (such as dirt or
cages) or materials (such as water or feed) that have been
contaminated with the virus. Migratory birds making their way into other countries
beyond their origins have been reported as one of the major
factors fuelling the spread of bird flu to those countries.
Due to the large presence of migratory birds often found
along the Namibian shores and coastline, the Ministry of
Health deemed it necessary to convene the workshop as a
direct response to earlier regional efforts to prevent a
catastrophe in the event of another outbreak of the
disease. Infection with avian influenza viruses in domestic
poultry causes two main forms of disease that are
distinguished by low and high extremes of virulence. The
"low pathogenic" form may go undetected and usually causes
only mild symptoms (such as ruffled feathers and a drop in
egg production). However, the highly pathogenic form, H5N1 virus, spreads
more rapidly through flocks of poultry. This form may cause
diseases that affect multiple internal organs and has a
mortality rate that can reach 90-100 percent often within 48
hours. The State veterinarian at Walvis Bay, Dr Elizabeth
Homateni-Kamberuka, who is facilitating the workshop, said
the workshop became vital in order to form a Rapid Response
Team that would be deployed in the event of an outbreak of
bird flu. "This workshop is important for the region to be prepared
and respond as rapidly as possible in the case of an
outbreak, as these people will be deployed in the field to
deal with a confirmed or suspected outbreak of Avian
influenza in humans or birds," she said. Although the H5N1 virus does not usually infect people,
infections with these viruses have been reported in humans.
Most of these cases have resulted from people having direct
or close contact with H5N1-infected poultry or
H5N1-contaminated surfaces. Of the human cases associated with H5N1 outbreaks in
poultry and wild birds, more than half of the people
reported to be infected with the virus have died. Most cases
have occurred in previously healthy children and young
adults and have resulted from direct or close contact with
H5N1-infected poultry or H5N1-contaminated surfaces. In
general, H5N1 remains a very rare disease in people. The
H5N1 virus does not infect humans easily, and if a person is
infected, it is very difficult for the virus to spread to
another person. While there has been some human-to-human spread of H5N1,
it has been limited, inefficient and unsustained.
Nonetheless, because all influenza viruses have the ability
to change, scientists are concerned that H5N1 virus one day
could be able to infect humans and spread easily from one
person to another. Charles Tjatindi Walvis Bay Thu Aug 14, 5:15 PM ET A file photo of a bird vendor on his way to a Buddhist
pagoda in Vientiane. Laos. A new Veterinary Law passed on 25
July is good news in the fight against avian influenza (AI -
bird flu), given that Laos is surrounded by neighbours that
have suffered severe AI outbreaks. (BIRD FLU) Thu Aug 14, 5:15 PM ET VIENTIANE, A new Veterinary Law passed on 25 July is good
news in the fight against avian influenza (AI - bird flu),
given that Laos is surrounded by neighbours that have
suffered severe AI outbreaks. "This is a significant milestone in infectious disease
preparedness for this country," Subhash Morzaria, the AI
programme team leader of the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) in Laos, told IRIN. "It is an indication
that the government recognises the significance of animal -
and public - health and the importance of ensuring bio-food
security," Morzaria said. The Veterinary Law 2008 establishes a regulatory
framework to strengthen veterinary services, contains
provisions for greater transparency in reporting AI and
other emerging diseases, and sets out disease control
measures, including animal and by-product movements,
bio-security and hygiene standards. Because poultry is one of the cheapest sources of
protein, Morzaria explained, failure to protect it could
worsen food security and poverty. Strong measures to
safeguard the health of animals against infectious diseases
such as AI are therefore of the utmost importance, he
said. Last year, two people died in Laos from highly pathogenic
avian influenza (HPAI), and another outbreak earlier this
year resulted in the culling of 5,000 poultry in six
northern villages of Luang Nam Thaa Province, according to
the authorities. However, mountainous Laos, with its low population
density and scattered poultry farming, has been spared the
severity of AI outbreaks in Vietnam and China, according to
Kristina Osbjer, operations officer with the FAO AI
Programme. Laos thus has some breathing space to develop
disease preparedness strategies, she said, but the country
lacks basic infrastructure, and its porous borders make it a
likely victim of further AI outbreaks. FAO working with government on capacity building "Short- and long-term capacity are major issues in Laos,"
explained Osbjer. "We are therefore working with the
government to provide capacity building at grassroots level
so they can identify the disease and respond faster to nip
it in the bud before it becomes entrenched." The programme includes training veterinary staff, animal
health workers and village veterinary workers in
surveillance techniques; improved detection; and systematic
recording and reporting of suspected AI cases. FAO is also leading an active surveillance project on
domestic fowl with the Department of Livestock and
Fisheries, focusing on the most at-risk sites. To complement
the enhanced surveillance and identification capacities, FAO
is expanding the laboratory capacity of the National Animal
Health Centre to conduct improved serology and virus
isolation on an increased number of samples, said
Osbjer. Awareness raising Reinforcing all this work is the communications programme
led by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) which is ensuring
that prevention, recognition and containment information
reaches all strata of society. "Getting out the message about the threat posed by AI has
been absolutely central to the whole campaign," said UNICEF
head of communications in Laos Simon Ingram. "Thanks to some
generous funding that we received from the government of
Japan in 2006, UNICEF has supported a massive public
information campaign delivering key prevention messages to
millions of families, using everything from radio and TV
spots to touring puppet troupes and networks of village
leaders." While considerable achievements have been made to prepare
Laos for future AI outbreaks, Osbjer said the new Veterinary
Law alone would not be enough. "We must stress the need for
long-term capacity in the animal and public health sector -
not just to deal with avian influenza but all infectious
diseases. And for that, the government must educate more
staff." Fri Aug 15, 6:56 AM ET A chicken among 2,700 birds about to be slaughtered by
workers from the Health and Environmental Hygiene Department
is seen in a market after it was declared an infected area
in Hong Kong June 7, 2008. (Bobby Yip/Reuters) (BIRD FLU)
(HUMAN BIRD FLU) Fri Aug 15, 6:56 AM ET HONG KONG (Reuters) - The H9N2 bird flu strain,
identified as a possible pandemic threat, could be infecting
more humans than commonly thought but its mild symptoms mean
it often goes undetected, a leading Hong Kong bird flu
expert said. "It's quite possible, H9N2 is infecting humans quite a
lot, much more than we appreciate merely because it is
beyond the radar," Malik Peiris, a Hong Kong-based
microbiologist, told Reuters. "In humans, it is very mild, so most of the time it's
probably not even recognized or biologically tested," said
Peiris, who has co-authored several papers on the strain in
recent years. So far, only a handful of human H9N2 cases have been
documented worldwide, including four children in Hong Kong
in 2003 who suffered from mild fevers and coughs, as well as
a batch in China's Guangdong province, where people often
live in close proximity to poultry, Peiris said. The Hong Kong cases were only picked up by chance given
the city's rigorous influenza testing regime, Peiris
said. "It's quite a silent virus, it's not highly pathogenic
and sometimes it causes some morbidity in poultry but by and
large it is just there and it's unnoticed," Peiris said of
the H9N2 strain. The strain occurs mostly in birds, although it has also
affected pigs and other animals in Europe and Asia. Most influenza experts agree that a pandemic, a deadly
global epidemic, of some kind of flu is inevitable. No one can predict what kind but the chief suspect is the
H5N1 bird flu virus, which has infected 385 people and
killed 243 of them since 2003. However, flu experts at the University of Maryland, St.
Jude's Children's Research hospital in Memphis and elsewhere
recently wrote in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS
ONE that the H9N2 strain posed a "significant threat for
humans." They found that just a few mutations could turn it into a
virus that people catch and transmit easily. Peiris said that while the H9N2 strain might be more
transmissible, its effects would be far less devastating
than a possible H5N1 pandemic. "There are other viruses out there besides H5N1 that
could be the next pandemic," Peiris said. "But I suspect
(H9N2) will not be so severe in its outcome." Peiris pointed out that the last three major pandemics
vastly differed in their severity, with the 1918 Spanish flu
pandemic killing an estimated 50 million people worldwide,
whereas the "Hong Kong" flu in 1968 killed around one
million. There are hundreds of strains of avian influenza virus
but only four: H5N1, H7N3, H7N7, and H9N2, are known to have
caused human infections, according to the World Health
Organization. (Reporting by James Pomfret; Editing by Paul Tait) Sat Aug 16, 2:45 AM ET VietNamNet Bridge - The Food and Agriculture Organisation
of the United Nations (FAO) recommended yesterday that Viet
Nam consider moving from a fully publicly-funded bird flu
mass-vaccination campaign, to a public-private funded one to
ease the burden on the State as donations are on the
decline, according to FAO's senior avian influenza technical
consultant Dr Tony Forman. (BIRD FLU) Sat Aug 16, 2:45 AM ET "We have to recognise that this disease is going to
continue for a long time. One thing that the Government and
FAO are concerned about is that the strategies we have for
controlling bird flu be sustainable," said the animal health
expert on the sidelines of a two-day meeting to review the
Strategy for Control and Prevention of Highly Pathogenic
Avian Influenza in the Agriculture Sector in Ha Noi. Cost-sharing was one of strategies being discussed in a
bid to sustain control as donations drop, he said. Viet Nam has spent around US$20 million a year on bird
flu vaccinations, including about 500 million doses of
vaccines since the disease first broke out in the country in
2003; this fund comes mostly from donors. Free Tamiflu The Government of Japan will provide Viet Nam with
Tamiflu, enough to help about 74,000 people. The donation ceremony was held yesterday in Ha Noi
between the Japanese Embassy and the Ministry of Health. According to Forman, the level of funds from major donors
is still good, the US Agency for International Development
being the largest one, but support from other donors have
already started dropping off. He explained the problem was that a lot of international
support came from various governments' emergency funding for
Viet Nam. But the country had escaped being one of the bird
flu centres in the world, said Agriculture and Rural
Development Deputy Minister Bui Ba Bong. Forman said Viet Nam was without question, doing a much
better job in controlling the disease than other countries
in the world thanks to the Government's strong commitment,
but it was very expensive to undertake control in this
way. Le Thanh Binh, a farmer in Vinh Phuc Province, said if
she had to pay for vaccinations, she would only vaccinate
her family's small chicken flock in case there was an
outbreak in her area. Some believe the new mechanism might discourage farmers
from vaccinating their birds, because ironically, the
Government's success in controlling the disease had led to a
drop in their awareness of the dangers. The FAO agreed it was a risk and a challenge to encourage
cost sharing. Therefore, they recommended implementing the
mechanism on a trial basis to see what level of support from
the Government would be appropriate, said Forman. "That is why the Government will continue one mass
vaccination each year [instead of the current two]
in October and November, to ensure that the birds are
covered over this high risk period of Tet (Lunar New Year),
in case the funding fails." According to the FAO representative in Viet Nam, Andrew
Speedy, public-private cost sharing will not only enable the
Government at the central, provincial and district levels to
have some budgetary reserves for supporting other key
disease prevention and control programmes, but is also
likely to bring about a sense of ownership and stronger
participation in the vaccination policy by all those
involved in the poultry business. (Source: VNS) Sat Aug 16, 5:45 AM ET The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)
has asked localities, agencies and farmers to strictly
observe bird flu inoculation regulations to ensure that all
poultry is vaccinated. (VIETNAM) (BIRD FLU) Sat Aug 16, 5:45 AM ET The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)
has asked localities, agencies and farmers to strictly
observe bird flu inoculation regulations to ensure that all
poultry is vaccinated. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui
Ba Bong told a recent meeting that vaccination against H5N1
virus is the most efficient measure in preventing bird flu,
as more than 90 percent of affected poultry are not
vaccinated or inadequately vaccinated. The Prime Minister in June decided not to provide
financial assistance for those bird flu-hit farmers who did
not observe regulations on vaccination against the deadly
virus. In an effort to prevent the spread of bird flu, the MARD
also requested veterinary agencies at localities to closely
monitor and grant quarantine certificates for the
transportation of poultry. Vietnam is recognised as one of the world's most
successful nations in fighting bird flu and is no longer an
epidemic centre in Southeast Asia . With efforts made by localities and agencies, bird flu
has been no longer widespread and total losses caused by the
deadly virus has decreased, even though the epidemic has
still recurred annually since it appeared in the country for
the first time in 2003. So far this year, bird flu outbreaks have only occurred
on a small scale among flocks of unvaccinated poultry. Sat Aug 16, 3:26 PM ET British scientists have developed portable technology
which can detect bid flu in two hours (BIRD FLU) Sat Aug 16, 3:26 PM ET British scientists are developing revolutionary
technology which can detect outbreaks of bird flu in just
two hours, paving the way for a swift end to a potential
pandemic. It currently takes up to a week to identify different
types of bird flu, including the potentially fatal H5N1
strain. But scientists at Nottingham Trent University say they
are now helping to develop a portable machine - the size of
a briefcase - to be used at potential sites of an
outbreak. They are also trying to build a model that can carry out
the same task in hospitals in an effort to speed up the time
it takes to diagnose suspected human cases. The technology works by recognising molecules from a swab
of human saliva or animal tissue, before identifying if it
is infected with bird flu and if so which strain is
present. The university says the technology will mean officials
can set up exclusion zones and cull infected birds much
faster. Dr Alan McNally, a former avian flu researcher for the
Government who is working on the project, said the process
will be fully automated and could be used by someone who is
unskilled in using the technology. 'At present tests have to be sent to a lab where you need
fully trained personnel and that's where the hold-up
occurs,' he said. 'There's a large train of thought that one of the best
ways of dealing with avian influenza is by detection and
containment. 'We haven't had an influenza pandemic for a long time and
there's a real possibility that we are due one. There's a
strong feeling that H5N1 could be the next pandemic. 'It's jumped the species barrier - it's gone from killing
birds to killing humans and it has an extremely high
fatality rate. 'If it were able to jump from human to human it would
become a potentially massive pandemic. 'The ability to detect and type the influenza virus
immediately is essential in setting up controls as quickly
as possible to minimise the spread of any potential pandemic
virus.' The £2.3 million project, known as Portfastflu, is
being funded by the European Union. Work on the project started in January at the university,
where Dr McNally and his team have been designing the tests
which will be carried out. They have now completed this research, which will be
passed to a French company to design the machine itself. It
is expected to be completed by December 2010. The university said tens of millions of birds have died
or been slaughtered as a result of bird flu, while the H5N1
strain has officially claimed 243 lives from 385 confirmed
cases. Sun Aug 17, 3:29 AM ET SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea plans to declare itself
free of bird flu this week, more than three months after a
series of outbreaks led authorities to slaughter nearly 8.5
million birds, an official said Sunday. A woman stands next
to a poultry cage at a market in Denpasar on Bali
island.(AFP/File/Sonny Tumbelaka) (BIRD FLU) (SOUTH
KOREA) Sun Aug 17, 3:29 AM ET SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea plans to declare itself
free of bird flu this week, more than three months after a
series of outbreaks led authorities to slaughter nearly 8.5
million birds, an official said Sunday. Kim Chang-seob, the Agriculture Ministry's chief
veterinary officer, said the declaration will be reported
Monday to the Paris-based animal health organization known
as OIE. The OIE has been at the forefront of global efforts to
monitor and fight the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which
scientists have tracked because they fear it may mutate into
a human flu virus that starts a pandemic that could kill
millions. Under the OIE's regulations, a country can officially
declare itself free of the disease if no new cases of bird
flu have been found for three months. In early April, South Korea confirmed its first outbreak
of H5N1 in more than a year and the disease swept through
the southern parts of the country. But no new outbreak has been found since May 12,
according to the ministry. Bird flu also hit South Korea in 2003 and 2006, with
authorities slaughtering millions of chickens, ducks and
other poultry in response. Sun Aug 17, 7:35 AM ET Scientists in Uganda and their colleagues elsewhere are
worried that human beings could contract a new strain of
bird flu. Ugandan and French scientists have for months been
observing the behaviour of a group of chimpanzees whose
uncanny aptitude for self-medication could help their human
cousins discover new drugs. (BIRD FLU) (HUMAN BIRD FLU)
(BIRD FLU STRAINS) (UGANDA) Sun Aug 17, 7:35 AM ET Scientists in Uganda and their colleagues elsewhere are
worried that human beings could contract a new strain of
bird flu. The acting World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative
in Uganda, Dr Jean Baptiste Tapko, said a global state of
alert to the pandemic influenza has been declared. "Transmission of the influenza virus infection to humans
has been mainly from infected birds," Dr Tapko said. He was
addressing a Kampala symposium that is drafting a code of
ethics for pandemic influenza detection and response in
Africa. Dr Tapko said the emergence of H5NI strain of influenza
virus would mark the beginning of an influenza pandemic. In 1918, an influenza pandemic caused up to 50 million
deaths worldwide while in 1957 influenza claimed between one
to two million lives. In 1968 the pandemic caused about
700,000 deaths worldwide Dr Tapko said that since 2003, a total of 385 human cases
and 243 deaths from infection with avian influenza sub-type
H5NI had been reported in 15 countries three of which are in
Africa including Nigeria and Egypt. "Unlike the previous pandemics, we have had the
opportunity to see this one unfolding. We are all expected
to be better prepared to rapidly contain and mitigate the
possible impact of the pandemic," he said. Dr Tapko said several countries including Uganda have
developed and are implementing national multi-sectoral
preparedness plans. The potential public health impact of an influenza
pandemic is enormous including social and economic
disruptions , travel and trade restrictions, that would
result into massive economic loses, overburdening health
care services that are already weak in most developing
countries. Health Minister, Dr Stephen Mallinga said there are high
chances for the virus to mutate (change ) and result into a
serious influenza pandemic. An influenza pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus
emerges for which there is little or no immunity in the
human population and as a result, infected human beings
start to infect others. by Jane Nafula, Kampala AllAfrica.com - Aug 17 1:21 AM Sun Aug 17, 2:08 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Antibodies from survivors of the
1918 flu pandemic, the worst in human memory, still protect
against the highly deadly virus, researchers reported on
Sunday. (BIRD FLU) ( Medical News) Sun Aug 17, 2:08 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Antibodies from survivors of the
1918 flu pandemic, the worst in human memory, still protect
against the highly deadly virus, researchers reported on
Sunday. The findings by a team of influenza and immune system
experts suggest new and better ways to fight viruses,
especially new pandemic strains that emerge and spread
before a vaccine can be formulated. These survivors, now aged 91 to 101, all lived through
the pandemic as children. Their immune systems still carry a memory of that virus
and can produce proteins called antibodies that kill the
1918 flu strain with surprising efficiency, the researchers
report in the journal Nature. "It was very surprising that these subjects would still
have cells floating in their blood so long afterward," said
Dr. James Crowe of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, who
helped lead the study. The antibodies also protected mice from the 1918 virus,
which swept around the world at the end of World War One
killing between 50 million and 100 million people, Crowe's
team reports in the journal Nature. "The antibodies that we isolated are remarkable
antibodies. They grab onto the virus very tightly and they
virtually never fall off," Crowe said in a telephone
interview. "That allows them to kill the 1918 virus with extreme
potency, meaning it takes a very small amount of
antibody." The human body has two systems for fighting off bacterial
and viral invaders. One system uses so-called T-cells while
the other employs B-cells, made in the bone marrow, which in
turn make antibodies to both flag and directly attack the
targets. RESURRECTED VIRUS Dr. Christopher Basler and colleagues at the Mount Sinai
School of Medicine in New York tested the 1918 survivors and
found that in most of them, the B-cells made antibodies
highly attuned to the 1918 flu strain. Dr. Terrence Tumpey at the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention had worked on a team that resurrected
the 1918 virus taken from buried victims of the epidemic and
tested this virus in mice. Mice given the antibodies from
the elderly survivors lived, while those given placebos
died. Crowe said it will now be important to test other people
who have had influenza to see if their immune responses are
as strong. "The thought is the first influenza that you see
during life is the one that you have the best immunity to,"
he said. "If we can learn the rules about how these antibodies
work we may be able to design antibodies to lots of other
viruses." The 1918 flu was an H1N1 strain that apparently came
straight from birds. "This study tells us that human beings
can make long lasting immune responses to bird influenza,"
Crowe said. Crowe said his team is working to get antibodies from
people vaccinated with experimental shots for the H5N1 avian
influenza now circulating in Asia, Europe, the Middle East
and Africa. H5N1 mostly affects birds but it has infected
385 people since 2003, killing 243. Experts fear that, like the H1N1 virus did in 1918, H5N1
will mutate into a form that passes easily among people and
spark another pandemic. No one knows if the vaccines being
made now would protect against whatever form of H5N1 might
emerge. Crowe said antibodies from survivors might make a good
interim treatment while a vaccine is formulated,
manufactured and distributed -- a process that would take
months. By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor (Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Mon Aug 18, 11:34 AM ET WASHINGTON - Nearly a century after history's most lethal
flu faded away, survivors' bloodstreams still carry
super-potent protection against the 1918 virus,
demonstrating the remarkable durability of the human immune
system. (BIRD FLU) (Medical News) Mon Aug 18, 11:34 AM ET WASHINGTON - Nearly a century after history's most lethal
flu faded away, survivors' bloodstreams still carry
super-potent protection against the 1918 virus,
demonstrating the remarkable durability of the human immune
system. Scientists tested the blood of 32 people aged 92 to 102
who were exposed to the 1918 pandemic flu and found
antibodies for the old flu strain. Researchers then made a vaccine that kept alive all the
mice infected with the killer flu, according to a study
published online Sunday in Nature. Their research confirms theories that the human immune
system has a steel-trap memory. "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger," said study
co-author Eric Altschuler of the University of Medicine and
Dentistry in New Jersey. But these antibodies also have mutated, making them more
potent, said James Crowe, the study's lead author and a
professor of microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt
University Medical Center in Tennessee. Crowe hopes to boost potencies of vaccines against newer
bird flu strains. By SETH BORENSTEIN, The Associated Press Fri Aug 29, 8:52 PM ET Scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust are to examine
what is preventing the H5N1 avian influenza virus from
causing a human pandemic and what mutations are required to
realise its deadly potential. The research could hold the
key to early identification of a potential influenza
pandemic, and to developing drugs and a vaccine.(BIRD FLU)
(VACCINES) (HUMAN BIRD FLU VACCINE) (HUMAN BIRD FLU)
(RESEARCH) Fri Aug 29, 8:52 PM ET Scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust are to examine
what is preventing the H5N1 avian influenza virus from
causing a human pandemic and what mutations are required to
realise its deadly potential. The research could hold the
key to early identification of a potential influenza
pandemic, and to developing drugs and a vaccine. Since its reappearance in 1997, the H5N1 influenza virus
has caused disease and death in millions of birds around the
globe. The number of infections in humans is still
relatively small, however: from 2003 to the end of June 2008
there had been 385 known cases in humans, 243 of them fatal
(1). So far, there appear to have been very few cases of
human-to-human transmission. Professor Ten Feizi at Imperial College London believes
one reason why H5N1 has not yet evolved into an effective
pathogen capable of widespread transmission between humans
lies in how the virus attaches itself to the respiratory
tract. She is leading an international research project
which has received over £720,000 from the Wellcome
Trust to identify the receptor molecules in the human
respiratory tract to which viruses attach and to look at how
changes in the binding protein on the surface of the virus
might increase its ability to attach to the tract and cause
infection. Professor Feizi will work with Professors Menno de Jong
and Jeremy Farrar from the Wellcome Trust's South East Asia
Programme in Vietnam, Dr Alan Hay and Dr Steve Gamblin at
the Medical Research Council National Institute for Medical
Research, London, and Dr Mikhail Matrosovich at the Philipps
University of Marburg, Germany. "Over the last few years particularly in Asia we have
seen just how deadly the H5N1 virus can be," says Professor
Farrar from the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where a number of people have
been treated for infection by the virus. "So far, we have
been relatively fortunate and there has been only limited
evidence of the virus transmitting from human to human. The
more we understand about the virus, how it interacts with
the body, the better we will be prepared for any serious
mutations that may arise." In humans, influenza infection occurs via the respiratory
tract, or airway. In order to cause disease, the virus must
enter the body's cells where it can replicate and spread,
but it must first find a site to which it can attach, known
as a receptor. The virus can only attach to and enter the
cells if the receptor fits into the binding proteins, or
haemagglutinins (the "H" in H5N1), on the surface of the
virus. Previous research has shown that the haemagglutinin on
H5N1 favours a particular form of receptor known as a "2,3
receptor". These are abundant on cells of birds, but in
humans are found mostly on cells of the lower respiratory
tract (the lungs). Professor Feizi and colleagues have shown
that mucus in the upper airway in humans also contains 2,3
receptors, but here the mucus acts as a defence mechanism to
which the virus binds, blocking its progress and enabling
the body to "sweep out" the virus. Both factors suggest that
huge doses of the virus are required in order to infect
humans, a theory supported by evidence that those who have
become infected have spent large amounts of time in close
proximity to infected fowl. As with all viruses, H5N1 is continually mutating, and it
is changes that allow the virus to attach to "2,6 receptors"
in the human upper airway which may enable the virus to
become more infectious to humans. "If the bird flu virus evolves t
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