Latest Avian Influenza Outbreaks & Updates

[Jai Dee]

AYUHDHAYA GOVERNOR HAS ORDERED OFFICIALS TO MONITOR BIRD FLU SITUATION CLOSELY, FOLLOWING RETURN OF MIGRATING BIRDS

Ayudhaya governor Somchai Chumrat (สมชาย ชุ่มรัตน์) has ordered officials to monitor the bird flu situation closely after many birds are found to migrate back to many districts in the province. Mr. Somchai said that the birds are feared to be carriers of bird flu virus. He said they have migrated back to Bang Pa-in (บางปะอิน), Bang Sai (บางซ้าย), and Pak Hai (ผักไห่) districts.

He said that officials from the Livestock Development Department and the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry have been instructed to watch the situation closely, adding that samples of birds from the 3 districts have been collected to check for bird flu virus.

He said that lab results will come out soon and the provincial administration will announce them publicly.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 23 November 2005

[Jai Dee]

DEPT OF LIVESTOCK DEVELOPMENT TO EXPLAIN TO ROOSTER RAISERS ABOUT ISSUES RELATED TO BIRD FLU PREVENTION MEASURES

The Department of Livestock Development will hold a conference to explain to rooster raisers across the country about registration of the chickens on Friday, November 25. Director-general of the Livestock Development Department, Yukol Limlamthorng (ยุคล ลิ้มแหลมทอง) said that he has instructed Livestock officials across the country to check for rooster raisers who still receive incorrect information from activist groups pushing for the use of bird flu vaccine in poultry. He said that the department will organize a conference this Friday to explain to chicken raisers about the registration of roosters and bird flu preventive measures.

Mr. Yukol said that Livestock officials, veterinarians, and leaders of chicken raisers will be present at the conference. Issues to be discussed at the meeting include registration of roosters, rooster ID cards, and other preventive measures for bird flu. He said that after the meeting, the participants are hoped to educate other people to have better understandings about why the government decided against using the vaccine in poultry.

He said that the vaccine has not been proven to prevent the disease completely and the chickens can still transmit the disease. Besides, Mr. Yukol said that the vaccines may caused the virus to mutate.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 23 November 2005

[Boon Mee]

China reports second bird flu death

[Jai Dee]

AGRICULTURE AND COOPERATIVES MINISTER INDICATED THAT THE DESIGNATION OF THE COMMITTEES TO HANDLE BIRD FLU DEPENDS ON PM’S CONSIDERATION

The Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister, KHUNYING SUDARAT KEYURAPHAN (คุณหญิง สุดารัตน์ เกยุราพันธุ์), stated that the designation of the committees to handle avian influenza depends on Prime Minister THAKSIN SHINAWATRA’s consideration.

KHUNYING SUDARAT said that she does not have an authority to designate the committees, while the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Ministers are the people who will consider and designate suitable people to be responsible for the matter. She said that if the committees will be set up in the future, she would invite a representative of the Association of Fighting Cock Raisers as one of the committees.

Moreover, Labor Minister SOMSAK THEPSUTHIN (สมศักดิ์ เทพสุทิน) will help negotiate with the Association of Fighting Cock Raisers at SUPHANBURI (สุพรรณบุรี) Province. He will be a witness between the fighting cock raisers and the government. Meanwhile, he viewed that the government should organize the trial of anti-bird flu vaccine. Nevertheless, the trial must not affect the economy or the poultry exporting sector.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 24 November 2005

[Jai Dee]

SUPHANBURI, THAILAND (AFP) - Thai fighting cock owners pray during a gathering demanding the use of vaccines in poultry to stop bird flu in Suphanburi province northwest of Thailand.

Thai fighting cock owners believe that vaccinating poultry is the only way to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

Source: Manager Online - 24 November 2005 15:56

[Farma]

Mutated strain of bird flu found

From: Agence France-Presse From correspondents in Phnom Penh

November 24, 2005

A MUTATED strain of bird flu had been found in samples taken in Cambodia, but it was not known if the strain was more lethal than that which had killed four people here, health officials said today.

Testing on the samples, which were collected in April, was continuing, said Philippe Buchy, head of the Virology Department at the Pasteur Institute office in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

"We don't know yet if it has any significance for the transmission from humans to humans, or from birds to humans," Mr Buchy said, adding that mutations of the H5 virus were common.

"I'm really not concerned about this. The strains have been seen by H5 experts from the (World Health Organisation's) networks and they didn't say anything."

Mr Buchy said it was likely the strain found in Cambodia was similar, if not the same as a mutation reported earlier this month in southern Vietnam, where officials sought to ease fears that a deadlier form of bird flu had erupted.

No new cases of bird flu had been reported in either humans or animals in Cambodia since March, Ly Sovann, head of the health ministry's infectious disease department, said.

But he also said the impoverished country did not have the means to test new strains of bird flu, making it more difficult to control future outbreaks.

Cambodia is between Vietnam, where 42 bird flu deaths have occurred, and Thailand, which has had 13 fatalities, according to the World Health Organisation's official figures since late 2003.

Two of the four bird flu victims from Cambodia, whose nationals regularly cross the porous border in the densely populated Mekong delta, died in southern Vietnam after being in a Kien Giang hospital.

Scientists warn that the H5N1 virus, which has killed more than 60 people in Asia since late 2003, could mutate and combine with human flu variants, making it easily transmissible among humans and creating a global pandemic.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17350810-23109,00.html

[Boon Mee]

With now two human deaths, China aims for super-cheap bird flu vaccine. .

BEIJING, (AFP) - China moved to ease growing fears over bird flu after the nation's second confirmed human fatality, with media reporting a human vaccine awaiting clinical tests would be sold at rock-bottom prices.

[Jai Dee]

A RESEARCH TEAM HAS CONFIRMED THAT NO HUMAN-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION OF BIRD FLU HAS BEEN FOUND IN THAILAND

A research team studying gene patterns of bird flu insists that no human-to-human transmission of the bird flu virus has been found. A member of the research team, Professor Yong Puworawan (ยง ภู่วรวรรณ) said that the Medical Sciences Faculties of Chulalongkorn (จุฬาลงกรณ์) University and Kasetsart (เกษตรศาสตร์) University, in collaboration with other related agencies, have conducted studies on gene patterns of more than 100 viruses.

He said that the team found that the mutation of the H5N1 virus for the past two years is normal. However, he said that the H5N1 virus has to be monitored to prevent immediate mutation. He added that Thailand still has no human-to-human cases of bird flu infection.

Meanwhile, Assistant Professor Dr. Wanla Kulwichit ( วันล่า กุลวิชิต), from Faculty of Medical Sciences of Chulalongkorn University said that bird flu patients and influenza patients develop similar symptoms, therefore, he encouraged those who have history of close contacts with chicken meet doctors immediately. He added that the best preventive measure is to wash hands every time after touching the chickens.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 25 November 2005

[Crushdepth]

Issues to be discussed at the meeting include registration of roosters, rooster ID cards, and other preventive measures for bird flu.

I just want to know what they are going to do to roosters that fail to carry their ID card?

[Jai Dee]

NAKHON PATHOM TO STRICTLY MONITOR THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS TO PREVENT THE OUTBREAK OF AVIAN INFLUENZA

NAKHON PATHOM (นครปฐม) Provincial Governor PRASART PONGSIWAPAI (ประสาท พงษ์ศิวาภัย) revealed that the current seasonal migration of wild birds has begun, as many of them have been found at the districts of BANG LEN (บางเลน) and KAMPHAENGSAEN (กำแพงแสน).

He has assigned the provincial livestock development office and the natural resource and environment office to strictly monitor on the situation and send the wild birds’ specimens in both districts for further lab test. Nevertheless, the preliminary lab test result indicated that they were not infected by the bird flu virus.

Related officers, however, have been instructed to continually keep a close eye on the matter, while provincial livestock development officers have been assigned to thoroughly spray the disinfectant in the areas, to prevent the possible widespread of the virus.

He added that local residents have been informed about the test result, and they have been asked to inform the officers if their poultries died suspiciously.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 28 November 2005

[Jai Dee]

AGRICULTURE MINISTER WILL DRAFT A NEW LAW GOVERNING COMMERCIAL POULTRY

The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry prepares to add more measures on movement of fowl in the Animal Disease Control Act, to increase efficiency in disease checking and tracing system and raise production standards in the country. Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Khunying Sudarat Keyurapan (๖คุณหญิงสุดารัตน์ เกยุราพันธุ์) revealed that although strict surveillance measures implemented by the government to control the spread of bird flu can contain the virus in some areas, the bird flu situation in other countries have intensified, causing concerns among academic community that the virus could mutate.

She said that the Department of Livestock Development has implemented measures controlling movement and culling of poultry, but the measures do not cover commercial poultry, making data on movement of poultry from slaughterhouses unavailable.

Khunying Sudarat said that the Agriculture Ministry, thus, will draft a law controlling commercial poultry, adding that the law is being deliberated by the Council of State and will be passed soon.

Under the new law, producers and poultry exporters will have to register with the Department of Livestock Development, enabling the Department to inspect and control movement of poultry since importation of chickens to slaughterhouses to retail markets more efficiently.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 29 November 2005

[Jai Dee]

AGRICULTURE MINISTRY HAS REMOVED NONTABURI FROM BIRD FLU WATCH LIST

The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has removed the last area under bird flu surveillance watch list, while aiming to improve poultry farming in Thailand to meet standards within the end of next year.

Agriculture Minister Khunying Sudarat Keyurapan, (คุณหญิงสุดารัตน์ เกยุราพันธุ์) said that the Agriculture Ministry has removed Bang Gruay (บางกรวย) district in Nontaburi from the bird flu surveillance list yesterday, declaring Thailand a bird flu free country. She said that the Ministry will nominate committees at district level across the nation to monitor the bird flu situation and report to the authorities, adding that the ministry will inspect areas at risk of bird flu outbreak proactively from now on. The Agriculture Ministry will also educate people and farmers about how to prevent bird flu, as another preventive measure.

The Agriculture Minister also said that the Ministry will propose a safe poultry farming measure to the cabinet meeting for consideration, adding that the ministry aims to bring 60% of poultry farms in Thailand under the standard farming system by the next rainy season and will improve all poultry farms in Thailand within the end of next year.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 1 December 2005

[Boon Mee]

Jakarta: Avian Flu Virus 'All Over City'

by J. Grant Swank, Jr.

Dec 2, 2005

Fear is spreading. So is the bird flu.

In Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, officials admit that "it's very serious. Based on our research, the virus has spread all over the city."

Link

[Boon Mee]

Thailand Public Health Doc On H5N1

This is what the doctors in Thailand are saying about H5N1:

Dr Charoen Chuchottaworn, a bird-flu expert at the Public

Health Ministry’s Department of Medical Services, said doctors concluded after

reviewing the history of the past two cases that both victims presented very

mild symptoms of avian influenza and neither had any physical contact with

chickens or birds.

...

This left doctors no clues as to where the patients became infected with the H5N1 virus and showed that the avian influenza had moved from causing severe human infection to milder cases.

...

Signs of possible human-to-human transmission were closely observed in Vietnam, where 10 clusters of probable human transmissions were detected in which the victims had no contact with infected poultry, Charoen said.

Thailand and Indonesia had one official cluster, he said, but the Indonesian cluster showed clear-cut evidence because a child contracted H5N1 without going to an infected area, as her father had.

[Jai Dee]

PUBLIC HEALTH MINISTRY TO SPICE UP ITS RAPID RESPONSE TEAMS THIS YEAR

Public Health Ministry will emphasize on increasing the capability of its rapid response teams and arrange for special reserves of drugs and required items this year.

Disease Control Department Director-general Thawat Suntarajarn (ธวัช สุนทราจารย์) spoke on the Public Health Ministry’s 2006 plans for tackling bird flu, and disclosed that it would still proceed in accordance with the 5 measures that have earlier been laid down. The measures called for monitoring, stockpiling of drugs and required items, preparing for emergencies and epidemics, giving knowledge to the public, and a warning system in times of outbreaks.

Dr. Thawat said that 1,030 rapid response teams have been created and stationed throughout the country, and their efficiency will be improved upon in conjunction with increasing the stock of drugs and other items.

In the meantime, Livestock Development Chief Yukon Limlamthorng (ยุคล ลิ้มแหลมทอง) said the more than 3,500 herds of ducks raised in the fields throughout the country would come under closed-farming system by March this year. The Livestock Department will set up a factory in every province to provide the raisers with cheap duck food to accommodate the closed-farming system.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 04 January 2006

[Jai Dee]

KHUNYING SUDARAT PLEDGED TO ERADICATE THE SPREAD OF AVIAN INFLUENZA PANDEMIC WITHIN PERIOD OF 2 YEARS

KHUNYING SUDARAT said that exports of chicken meat were seriously affected due to the epidemic; therefore the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has outlined measures to control poultry raising in the country. She said she is confident that the new measures in poultry raising will help reduce the spreading of chicken flu.

An event at Impact Areana Mueng Thong Thani will be held to provide knowledge about the deadly virus to people.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 07 January 2006

[Jai Dee]

ANOTHER SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF CHICKENS OCCURED IN KANJANABURI YESTERDAY.

Four chickens died suspiciously yesterday in Kanjanaburi (กาญจนบุรี)Province, while Livestock officials rushed to inspect chicken carcasses, with results expected to come out in two days.

4 of 20 birds, belonging to Mr. Tanakorn Janloi (ธนากร จันทร์ลอย), who lives in Tha Makam (ท่ามะขาม) sub-district of Muang (เมือง) district, died without reasonable causes yesterday. Mr. Tanakorn alerted authorities after suspecting that they had contracted bird flu. The officials took one chicken carcass to the Veterinary Research and Development Centre in Ratchaburi (ราชบุรี) Province for laboratory tests. The results of the tests are expected in two days.

Officials have sprayed disinfectants to kill any virus in the areas where the birds were kept, while warning other people against approaching the areas and touching chickens.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 09 January 2006

[Jai Dee]

PUBLIC HEALTH MINISTER SAID MEASURES WOULD BE ENFORCED IMMEDIATELY ONCE SIGNS OF BIRD FLU DETECTED

The Ministry of Public Health is preparing to tackle any finding of bird flu during the Chinese New Year.

Public Health Minister Phinij Jarusombat (พินิจ จารุสมบัติ) said that for the Chinese New Year period around January 29th, the Ministry of Public Health would lay down bird-flu prevention measures for small traders of poultry as well as for buyers, as there would be numerous slaughtering of chickens during the period. Mr. Phinij said this would be especially true for the Yaowarat (เยาวราช) China town area in Bangkok, and for this officials have already been sent to survey and consult with the poultry sellers in the area.

Md. Thawat Suntharajarn (ธวัช สุนทราจารย์), the director-general of the Disease Control Department, said sellers must not put slaughtered and unslaughtered animals together. They must also arrange for a number of other precautions, for example the butchering table must be at least 60 centimeters off the floor, and the butcher has to wear complete protection.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 10 January 2006

[george]

Asia remains at greatest risk for bird flu:WHO

BANGKOK: -- Shigeru Omi, the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s regional director for the western Pacific, has warned that East Asia remains at greatest risk for the spread of bird flu.

"Although there are new developments in Turkey, the situation in Asia is more serious than in any other parts of the world,'' Shigeru Omi said.

Meanwhile, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned that bird flu could become pandemic in Turkey, situated on the fringe of Europe, and poses a serious risk to neighbouring countries.

"Far more human and animal exposure to the virus will occur if strict containment does not isolate all known and unknown locations where the bird flu virus is currently present," a news report of Vietnam News Agency (VNA) quoted Juan Lubroth, senior FAO animal health official as saying.

The European Union (EU) decided to extend its monitoring of wild birds and poultry until the end of 2006, instead of the current surveillance period

running until the end of February.

The European Commission said it would provide up to US$2.4 million in co-funding for laboratory tests carried out on poultry and wild birds for avian influenza.

An international conference aimed at measuring how ready Asian countries are to identify and respond to a potential flu pandemic is being held in Tokyo from January 12-13, according to the VNA news report, disseminated to TNA on Thursday.

--TNA 2006-01-13

[kyselak]

Myanmar tests show first case of H5N1 bird flu

BANGKOK, March 13 (Reuters) - Myanmar has found the H5N1

bird flu virus in chickens in what is believed to be the

country's first case of the deadly disease, the Food and

Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Monday. The virus was

detected after 112 chickens died in the central Mandalay region

earlier this month, but there was no evidence of human

infection, said Laurence Gleeson, a senior FAO official in

Bangkok, citing a report by the Yangon government.

"They have carried out some tests and they believe that

they have identified H5N1," Gleeson told Reuters.

"We will be encouraging them to submit samples to a

reference lab to confirm the findings and genetic makeup."

The case emerged on March 8 when chickens began dying in

large numbers in Mandalay's Aung Myae Thar Zan Township.

Officials destroyed a flock of 780 birds and sent samples to

the central diagnostic laboratory in Yangon.

The secretive military-ruled country is seen by some

international health experts as a black hole in the global

fight against the disease, which has killed 97 people

worldwide.

While neighbouring China, Thailand and Laos have been

battling a disease which swept across much of Asia in late

2003, Myanmar's junta had insisted the country was bird-flu

free.

Experts feared the virus would go unreported -- either

through lack of surveillance or a government cover-up -- long

enough to mutate into a form that passes more easily between

humans and trigger a pandemic that could kill millions.

Yangon later cooperated with U.N. agencies to step up

surveillance in the countryside, including monitoring of prime

stopover points for wild birds which could bring the virus from

neighbouring countries.

The government reported its findings on the Mandalay

outbreak to the FAO and the OIE, the Paris-based international

animal health body, on Monday.

REUTERS

130420 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

Azerbaijan says three die of bird flu

by Simon Ostrovsky

ATTENTION - CORRECTION - Azerbaijani authorities cited 'bird

flu' but did not specifically identify H5N1 strain as cause of

deaths. Further tests are being conducted with results due in about

one week. Here is a corrected repetition: ///

BAKU, March 14, 2006 (AFP) - Azerbaijan authorities reported

Tuesday three people had died of bird flu, the disease's first human

victims in the former Soviet Union.

A spokeswoman for the Azerbaijani health ministry, Samaya

Mamedova, said the deaths were caused by "bird flu" but did not

specify whether they had been infected with the highly pathogenic

H5N1 strain of the virus.

"Three samples from deceased patients tested positive for bird

flu on equipment brought into Azerbaijan by the World Health

Organization on Monday," Mamedova told AFP.

The samples were being sent to a WHO reference laboratory in

London to determine whether the victims had contracted H5N1 with

results expected in about one week, health officials in Baku said.

If the samples confirm H5N1, the global death toll from that

strain of the virus since 2003 would top the 100 mark. Most of the

human victims have been in Asia.

The deaths in Azerbaijan also marked the first human fatalities

on the territory of the former Soviet Union.

Authorities earlier said they had put the region under

quarantine after a death was announced in late February but it was

unclear how tight restrictions were on travel to the area some 110

kilometers (70 miles) south of Baku.

The tests did not confirm the presence of the virus in six other

patients hospitalized with flu symptoms in the same area.

The virus has also been identified in birds in the ex-Soviet

republics of Russia, Ukraine and Georgia.

Half a million birds were destroyed earlier this month in

Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea-side town of Gilyazi after H5N1 was

identified in domestic poultry there.

Meanwhile, bird flu outbreaks have killed hundreds of thousands

of birds in several southern Russian provinces.

Azerbaijan borders eastern Turkey which has reported four human

deaths from bird flu. It also shares borders with Armenia, Georgia,

Iran and Russia.

The worst-hit country is Vietnam where 42 people have died as a

result of the disease, which is spread through contact with infected

birds.

A total of 22 people have died of bird flu in Indonesia, 14 in

Thailand and 10 in China. Four victims have succumbed to the disease

in Turkey, another four in Cambodia and two in Iraq.

Experts fear the virus may mutate into a form that could be

transmitted from person to person, touching off a global pandemic

that could kill millions.

Meanwhile Switzerland confirmed two more cases of highly

pathogenic H5N1 in wild birds on Monday, while Poland said it was

conducting further tests on an infected wild duck.

In Asia, where the disease first emerged, Myanmar began culling

poultry after reporting its first case of the deadly strain of bird

flu, as the International Monetary Fund predicted the virus would

have a "sharp but short-lived" impact on the global economy.

The first known case of bird flu also surfaced in Afghanistan in

poultry farms in the capital Kabul and the eastern province of

Nangarhar.

son/cb/smc/djw

[kyselak]

Human deaths from bird flu, country-by-country

PARIS, March 14, 2006 (AFP) - As the number of

officially-confirmed human deaths from bird flu looked certain to

top 100 -- with the announcement of three new casualties in the

former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan -- here is a country-by-country

breakdown.

The figures are those given by the United Nations World Health

Organisation (WHO), which so far has not confirmed the Azerbaijan

deaths.

Confirmed human deaths worldwide: 98, out of 177 people who have

been confirmed as having avian influenza since the first deaths were

reported by the WHO in early 2003.

The country with by far the largest number of cases and deaths

is Vietnam, with 93 people infected of whom 44 have died. However

Vietnam has reported no new cases or deaths so far this year.

With the exception of four deaths this year in Turkey and two in

the neighbouring Kurdish region of Iraq, all the deaths and the

great majority of human cases to date have been concentrated in

Southeast Asia and China.

The past two years have both seen over 40 deaths worldwide, with

46 in 2004 and 41 last year.

Less than three months into 2006, however, there are already 22

human deaths confirmed worldwide.

The breakdown by country:

VIETNAM:

First human case: Dec 2004

Total human cases: 93, of which 42 fatal

INDONESIA:

First human case: July 2005

Total human cases: 29 cases, of which 22 fatal

THAILAND

First human case: Sept 2004

Total human cases: 22 cases, of which 14 fatal

CHINA:

First human case: Feb 2003

Total human cases: 15 cases, of which 10 fatal

CAMBODIA:

First human case: Feb 2005

Total human cases: four, all fatal

TURKEY:

First human case: Jan 2006

Total human cases: 12, of which four fatal

IRAQ:

First human case: Jan 2006

Total human cases: two, both fatal

Among other countries which have recently reported outbreaks of

the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu among fowl and other animals --

but not so far among humans -- are France and Germany in western

Europe and Nigeria and Egypt in Africa. Russia and other former

Soviet republics have also reported cases, as has the Asian state of

Myanmar.

The WHO identifies early 2003 as the starting point for the

latest of three waves of the disease, the first of which occurred in

Hong Kong and southern China in 1997.

So far as scientists can ascertain, the vast majority of human

infections to date have come from contact with the faeces or viscera

of infected poultry birds.

doc-ds/mkh

AFP 141138 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

H5N1 bird flu virus confirmed in Sweden

STOCKHOLM, March 15, 2006 (AFP) - The EU's reference laboratory

in Britain has confirmed Sweden's first cases of the deadly H5N1

strain of bird flu, in two wild ducks found dead last month, the

Swedish Board of Agriculture said on Wednesday.

"The EU laboratory in Weybridge has now confirmed that it is the

H5N1 virus, just like we thought," Berndt Klingeborn, a virologist

with the National Veterinary Institute, said in a statement from the

Board of Agriculture.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu, in its most aggressive form, has

killed nearly 100 people worldwide.

The two tufted ducks were found dead in Oskarshamn, on Sweden's

southeastern coast, at the end of February.

Since then, Swedish officials have confirmed 29 cases of the H5

subtype of bird flu in Sweden, of which 15 have been proven to be a

highly pathogenic form of the virus, but so far only the two tufted

ducks have been confirmed as carriers of the H5N1 strain.

po/mkh

AFP 151138 GMT MAR 06

[george]

Myanmar outbreak spreads, more chickens culled

YANGON: -- Thousands of chickens have been slaughtered on five more farms in central Myanmar after hundreds of birds died of bird flu-like symptoms, the U.N. food agency said on Wednesday.

The five farms are in the same area in Mandalay Division, 430 miles (700 km) north of Yangon, where the country's first outbreak of the H5N1 virus was found on two farms on March 8.

Initial tests had found the presence of the virus but further tests were needed, Tang Zhengping, the country representative for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told Reuters.

He said samples had been sent to a laboratory in Bangkok and the results were expected in 2 or 3 days.

"Seven-hundred chickens have now died of suspected bird flu on seven farms in Mandalay and 5,000 chickens from these farms were destroyed to help contain the disease," Tang said, referring to the total number of farms affected since last week.

Myanmar health authorities say there is no evidence of human infections from the H5N1 virus, which has killed about 100 people in Asia and the Middle East since late 2003.

Myanmar has appealed for international help and the first shipment of emergency gear from the FAO arrived on Wednesday.

"It includes 100 sets of personal protection equipment, 500 litres of disinfectant, 50 sets of sprayers and two containers for shipping samples," Tang said.

He said an FAO adviser was due to visit Mandalay on Thursday to assess Myanmar's needs to contain the outbreak. An expert from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was also being sent to the former Burma.

"With support from international agencies and the international community I think they can contain the situation," Tang said.

Myanmar reported the first outbreak to international health agencies swiftly, health experts say, keeping a pledge it made in December to tell the world if it found bird flu.

But there has been no mention of the country's first bird flu outbreak in the state-controlled media. However, many people have heard the news from Myanmar-language reports on foreign radio stations.

--Reuters 2006-03-15

[kyselak]

=H5N1 bird flu found in Kazakhstan fowl=

ASTANA, March 20 (Reuters) - The deadly H5N1 bird flu strain

has been found in wild fowl in western Kazakhstan, an

agriculture ministry official said on Monday.

Birds in Kazakhstan were hit by an H5N1 outbreak in 2005.

The virus has crept back into the region this year, appearing in

Russia and Azerbaijan.

"Bird flu type A H5N1 ... was found in a sample taken from a

dead wild swan," Asylbek Kozhmuratov, head of the ministry's

veterinary department, told reporters.

Bird flu is essentially an animal disease which occasionally

infects people who come into direct contact with infected

poultry. None of the Central Asian country's 15 million citizens

were infected last year.

It has killed up to 98 people since late 2003, most of them

in East Asia. There are fears the virus could develop into a

form that passes easily from person to person, causing a

pandemic in which millions could die.

REUTERS

201134 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

=Afghanistan to start bird flu cull on Wednesday=

KABUL, March 20 (Reuters) - Afghanistan hopes to begin

culling chickens in areas infected by the H5N1 bird flu virus

on Wednesday after the U.S. military supplied some protective

suits for workers, an Agriculture Ministry official said.

The H5N1 virus was confirmed in two provinces last week and

it has assumed to have spread to at least three others,

officials said.

"The day after tomorrow we will start the depopulation of

affected areas," Azizullah Osmani, chief of the Agriculture

Ministry's veterinary department told Reuters.

Tests at a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)

laboratory in Italy confirmed H5N1 had been found in the

capital, Kabul, and the eastern province of Nangarhar.

The H5 subtype of bird flu had also been found in dead

birds in Laghman province east of Kabul, Wardak to the west and

in Kunar province, on the eastern border with Pakistan, Osmani

said.

While tests had yet to determine if the strain in those

three provinces was H5N1, experts were working on the

assumption that it was, said a spokesman for the FAO.

Bird flu has killed about 100 people since late 2003, most

of them in Asia. Experts fear the virus could mutate into a

form that passes easily between humans and trigger a pandemic

that could kill millions.

There have been no human cases in Afghanistan but there is

concern that with veterinary and health sectors still

recovering from decades of conflict, the country could struggle

to contain an outbreak.

Osmani said he was speaking by mobile telephone from a

district to the west of Kabul where H5N1 had been confirmed, to

explain Wednesday's cull, which is due to begin there, to

village elders and municipal authorities.

He said the U.S. military in Afghanistan had provided 50

protective suits for cull workers.

A U.N. spokesman stressed the importance of quick action to

contain the disease.

"It's clearly important to see action rather than just

statements on this and we look forward to see what the

government is coming up with," said the spokesman, Adrian

Edwards.

"The imperative here is speed," he said.

Afghan and U.N. officials have stressed the importance of

giving farmers compensation for their culled birds.

Afghanistan's poultry industry was decimated by several

years of drought up to 2005 and is small-scale with only an

estimated 12 million chickens in the country, another Afghan

official said.

REUTERS

201110 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[bina]

well, we have bird flue 40 minutes from us in turkeys; and four other kibbutzim/moshavim down south... yesterday i had a duck die so sent it off to beit dagen (the govt vet faciltiy) for testing... no more deaths....

but everyone in the country is in a panic..... 60 000 turkeys were destroyed in one moshav!!! a lot of money.... one thai worker, two beduins and an israeli jewish worker were hospitalized for suspected avian flu but released after being tested (we have the regular flu going around also)....

and the flu is not near jerusalem as said in the thai news (we get satellite here at the workers' house)

[kyselak]

Malaysia announces new bird flu outbreak

KUALA LUMPUR, March 20, 2006 (AFP) - Malaysia Monday announced a

new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in a village in

northern Penang, but downplayed fears that it was linked to two

outbreaks in a neighbouring state.

Six dead birds were found in the village of Permatang Bagak,

said Mustapa Jalil, acting director general of the Veterinary

Services Department. It was the third outbreak in less than a week.

"We have activated a rapid action team which will slaughter all

the birds in the area," he told AFP.

Officials began testing the six free-range chickens, owned by

local villagers, after they died on Saturday, he said. The outbreak

was confirmed as the deadly H5N1 strain on Monday.

Most of the birds in the village were free-range chickens, he

said. At least 200 within a one-kilometre (0.6-mile) radius of the

affected area will be slaughtered.

The village is in the north of mainland Penang, which neighbours

northern Perak state where the two outbreaks were announced

Thursday.

Mainland Penang is just across a narrow channel from its popular

resort island.

Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the three outbreaks

were a bad sign given that areas near Kuala Lumpur hit by bird flu

in February had not yet been declared free from the virus.

"I have to make this announcement because we do not want to be

seen as covering up or hiding anything," he was quoted as saying by

the state Bernama news agency.

Authorities were studying the spread of the virus to come up

with the best way to manage the outbreak in future, he said.

The head of the Veterinary Department's disease control unit,

Kamaruddin Mat Isa, said officials did not know how the virus was

being spread, but said the latest outbreak was not linked to the

Perak outbreaks.

"It has not spread from Perak to Penang," Kamaruddin told AFP,

adding that officials Sunday had completed the slaughter of more

than 40,000 birds in Perak to contain the disease.

"It's not spread from one location to the surrounding area, but

there are multiple locations," he said, confirming officials were

worried over the development.

The health ministry's director for disease control, Ramlee

Rahmat, said officials would start conducting door-to-door checks

Tuesday in the area around the latest outbreak to check for people

with symptoms of the virus.

"It is still localised in three different areas," he said.

No human cases of bird flu have been reported so far in

Malaysia.

Malaysia on Thursday announced the two outbreaks of the bird flu

virus at a village and a nature reserve near the Perak border with

Penang.

Perak has one of the country's biggest poultry industries and

exports to neighbouring Singapore.

Muhyiddin said earlier that a poultry quarantine had been

imposed on Perak, and that all poultry was banned from leaving the

state.

In the first outbreak in Malaysia in more than a year, H5N1 was

detected last month in 40 free-range chickens in four villages on

the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

About 100 people have died from bird flu since 2003, most of

them in Asia.

hh/ey/pj

AFP 201137 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

=Israel culls poultry to curb H5N1 bird flu=

JERUSALEM, March 20 (Reuters) - Israel poisoned hundreds of

thousands of turkeys and chickens as it sought to contain an

outbreak of the dangerous H5N1 bird flu on Monday.

Teams wearing masks and plastic gloves had culled by Monday

more than half of the 800,000 birds slated to be killed as

officials sought to ease public concern the bird flu outbreak

was spreading.

"We are talking about infections in six flocks in four

locations when there are thousands of flocks in Israel in a vast

number of locations," Shimon Pokomonsky, a senior veterinarian

at the Agriculture Ministry, told reporters.

A truckload of chickens at a processing plant was also being

destroyed as a cautionary step even thought tests showed the

birds were not infected, he added.

An agriculture ministry spokesman said farmers would

probably receive 100 shekels (about $21) and 12 shekels per

chicken ($2.6).

Culling began on Saturday but it will take several more days

for all the poultry within a 3-km (2 mile) radius of the

infected coops to be put down.

The birds were being given poisoned water and their

carcasses were being buried in large pits. Four million doses of

an H5N1 vaccine for chickens were expected to arrive from the

Netherlands on Tuesday, the ministry said.

The Agriculture Ministry said on Sunday in a posting on its

Web site that tests confirmed that H5N1, a strain that has

spread across Europe, Africa and parts of Asia and killed at

least 98 people worldwide since 2003, had reached Israel.

"The situation is under control," the ministry said in its

update on the Internet, urging Israelis to continue to eat

"properly cooked" poultry and eggs.

Although hard to catch, people can contract bird flu by

coming into contact with infected birds. Scientists fear the

virus could mutate into a form that could pass easily between

humans, triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.

Four farm workers in Israel feared to have caught the virus

had not been infected, the Health Ministry said.

Neighbouring Egypt said on Saturday that a 30-year-old woman

had died of bird flu, the country's first reported death from

the virus.

REUTERS

201257 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

Denmark confirms nine more cases of the deadly H5N1 strain

of bird flu

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) _ Denmark confirmed nine more

cases of birds infected with bird flu of the H5N1 type

Monday, four days after the deadly strain was first

detected in the country. Tests on nine wild tufted ducks

found dead on the island of Aeroe showed they carried the

«the highly pathogenic H5N1» virus, the Danish Institute

for Food and Veterinary Research said. Authorities already

established a protection zone on the small island, located

about 170 kilometers southwest of the capital, Copenhagen,

when initial tests Friday indicated the birds carried the

disease. Denmark confirmed its first case of H5N1 on

Thursday, when a buzzard tested positive. Samples were sent

to the European Union reference laboratory in Britain for

verification. The H5N1 virus has killed at least 98 people

in Asia, the Middle East and Turkey since 2003, according

to the World Health Organization. Experts fear it may

mutate into a form passed easily between people and spark a

pandemic.

201346 mar 06GMT