Latest Avian Influenza Outbreaks & Updates

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=U.S. study defines two clear bird flu strains=

ATLANTA, March 20 (Reuters) - The H5N1 strain of bird flu

in humans has evolved into two separate strains, U.S.

researchers reported on Monday, which could complicate

developing a vaccine and preventing a pandemic.

One strain, or clade, made people sick in Vietnam, Cambodia

and Thailand in 2003 and 2004 and a second, a cousin of the

first, caused the disease in people in Indonesia in 2004.

Two clades may share the same ancestor but are distinct --

as are different clades, or strains, of the AIDS virus, the

team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

found.

"Back in 2003 we only had one genetically distinct

population of H5N1 with the potential to cause a human

pandemic. Now we have two," said the CDC's Rebecca Garten, who

helped conduct the study.

Speaking to the International Conference on Emerging

Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, Garten said the pool of H5N1

candidates with the potential to cause a human influenza

pandemic is getting more genetically diverse, which makes

studying the virus more complex and heightens the need for

increased surveillance.

"As the virus continues its geographic expansion, it is

also undergoing genetic diversity expansion," Garten said in a

statement.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread across Europe,

Africa and parts of Asia and killed about 100 people worldwide

and infected about 180 since it re-emerged in 2003.

Although it is difficult to catch bird flu, people can

become infected if they come into close 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.

All influenza viruses mutate easily, and H5N1 appears to be

no exception.

"Only time will tell whether the virus evolves or mutates

in such a way that it can be transmitted from human to human

efficiently," Garten said.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department has already

recognized the two strains and approved the development of a

second H5N1 vaccine based on the second clade.

Several companies are working on H5N1 vaccines

experimentally, although current formulations are not expected

to protect very well, if at all, against any pandemic strain.

A vaccine against a pandemic flu strain would have to be

formulated using the actual virus passing from person to

person.

For their study, Garten and colleagues analyzed more than

300 H5N1 virus samples taken from both infected birds and

people 2003 through the summer of 2005.

The majority of the viruses, including all the human cases,

belonged to genotype Z. Now there are two clades of the Z

genotype. There were also small numbers of viruses in birds

that were genotype V or W or recently identified genotype G.

REUTERS

201450 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

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=Companies prepare their own bird flu messages=

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - Big international

companies preparing for a bird flu pandemic say they are

putting together their own plans for communicating to employees

because they fear news media and local officials will panic.

They also want to help employees protect themselves in case

of a pandemic, which the World Health Organization predicts

would not only kill hundreds of thousands or even millions of

people, but disrupt economies and industry.

The H5N1 avian influenza virus has picked up speed as it

spreads out of Asia and into birds in Europe and Africa, and

experts agree it is only a matter of time before it reaches

birds around the world.

It does not yet easily infect humans, having killed just

around 100 people in three years, but scientists fear the virus

could mutate into a pandemic strain. No one can predict when or

even if this will happen, but experts agree a pandemic of some

sort is overdue.

"One of the key concerns we have is that there will be a

lot of local response to this event, however it occurs, and it

is almost going to be a free-for-all," said Donald Donahue,

Chairman of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council

for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security.

"The minute evidence of human to human transmission becomes

clear, the hysteria in the media will go through the roof. We

have to have access to sober and realistic information,"

added Donahue, whose New York-based group includes

organizations such as the American Bankers Association,

American Council of Life Insurers, Depository Trust & Clearing

Corp. and NASDAQ Stock Market.

THE TV EFFECTS

"In the modern age of communications we have to deal with

the TV effects," agreed Stephen Malphrus of the Federal Reserve

Board. "We are going to have to work very hard to communicate

and to get accurate information to the market," Malphrus told a

meeting sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International

Studies last week.

Gerald Komisar of American International Group complained

that good information was already difficult to come by.

"There are a lot of sensational numbers out there in the

press," said Komisar.

The U.S. government has recently made clear that emergency

planning and preparations are a function of state and local

government.

Donahue said companies need a source of coordinated

information. "We need a consolidated way of knowing what areas

are quarantined, who is on a snow day, so that people who are

in national institutions, who are in global institutions, know

what is going on in the 50 states," he said.

Some companies are also working to protect their own

employees, setting up internal Web sites, distributing posters

in various languages and putting into place policies for

working from home.

"We've been emphasizing the importance of hygiene --

washing hands, coughing, making sure food is cooked at a

certain temperature," said Gregory Gist, a senior policy

adviser at Citigroup.

The U.S. federal government has its own communications

advice posted in its flu plan at

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/rcommunication/.

REUTERS

201523 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

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Birds in three Afghan provinces test positive for H5N1 bird flu

KABUL, March 20, 2006 (AFP) - Tests confirmed on Monday a new

outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu among chickens in

three Afghan provinces, including the capital Kabul, officials

said.

The broad H5-type virus was found in dead chickens in the

eastern provinces of Kunar, Laghman and Nangarhar, Kabul and Wardak

province in the west.

Samples from Laghman, Nangarhar and Kabul provinces tested

positive in laboratories in Italy for the sub-type N1, an indication

that the cases in all five provinces were H5N1, officials said.

"We have sent samples from the three provinces of Kabul, Laghman

and Nangarhar for sub-typing to Italy and they were tested positive

for H5N1," Azizullah Usmani, head of the agriculture ministry's

veterinary department, told AFP.

"This is an indication that all the viruses in the five

provinces are H5N1," Usmani said.

Afghanistan and the United Nations last week revealed the

presence of H5N1 in six poultry samples taken from Kabul and

Nangarhar.

"It is very likely that the H5 type confirmed in Kunar province

is the N1 sub-type since it is confirmed positive in neighbouring

Nangarhar... and in Kabul," health ministry advisor Abdullah Fahim

told AFP.

UN spokesman Adrian Edwards said it was the first time infected

birds had been found in Kunar.

No human cases have been reported yet in Afghanistan, he added.

Afghanistan ordered the slaughter of thousands of chickens after

last week's announcement that H5N1 had been detected.

About 85 percent of the Afghan population live in close contact

with poultry, officials have said, with most rural families having

several chickens in the backyard.

wm/mmg/mtp

AFP 201442 GMT MAR 06

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Romania wants to produce Hungarian bird flu vaccine

BUCHAREST, March 20, 2006 (AFP) - Romania, which has been hard

hit by bird flu, wants to manufacture a vaccine against the deadly

strain of H5N1 avian influenza that has been developed in Hungary,

Health Minister Eugen Nicolaescu said Monday.

"In six months maxiumum, Romania could produce the first

vaccines at the Cantacuzino institute (in Bucharest)," Nicolaescu

told reporters after a visit to Budapest.

"Production would be limited this year to a maximum of 500,000

doses but with an investment of eight million euros (9.6 million

dollars) we will be able to make four to five million doses per

year," the minister said, adding that Hungarian experts have offered

to help out in Romania.

The vaccine which Hungarian researchers developed against H5N1

bird flu will not be submitted to the European Union's drug

authority in order to avoid a lengthy approval process, an official

from manufacturers Omnivest told AFP in Budapest last week.

"With such a deadly and potentially rapidly evolving disease as

bird flu there is no point in going through such a lengthy process

to have the vaccine registered," said Zoltan Nemeth, Omnivest's

sales director.

"What we want to protect is our technology, with which we could

rapidly develop a new vaccine in case the current form of bird flu

should mutate," Nemeth said.

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) in London evaluates and

supervises medicinal products throughout the 25-nation EU. An EMEA

approval for a drug grants commercial access in the whole of the

bloc.

Nemeth said Omnivest preferred that each interested country

speedily approve the vaccine via its national drug authority, as was

the case in Hungary.

The vaccine would be used to protect people working in close

proximity to diseased birds.

In its present form, H5N1 is transmissible amongst birds and

humans can catch it if they are in close contact with birds carrying

the virus.

But it cannot be transmitted from human to human. The fear is

that the virus may mutate to be able to do this, triggering a global

pandemic.

About 40 villages have registered cases of bird flu among fowl

in Romania. There have been no cases of humans being contaminated.

lc/msa

AFP 201320 GMT MAR 06

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Worried Egyptians head to hospital for bird flu tests

CAIRO, March 20, 2006 (AFP) - Egyptians are heading to hospital

fearing they might be the next victim of the deadly H5N1 strain of

bird flu after two human cases were detected in the country,

officials said Monday.

"There are two or three cases of people who came to hospital and

tests are underway," said Nasser Kamel, spokesman for the government

anti-bird flu committee.

But he cautioned that the cases were not yet suspect, stressing

that tests were being carried out as a precautionary measure.

"It's logical that after human cases were announced, people are

worried and go to hospital even when they've just got a normal flu,"

he said.

The H5N1 virus was detected in Egyptian poultry last month and

authorities said on Sunday that two human cases had been detected,

including that of a woman who died on Friday.

An infected man has also been hospitalized after spending time

with infected poultry but medics said Sunday he was recovering.

Egyptian authorities and a US Naval laboratory in Cairo

confirmed the presence of the potentially deadly strain in both

cases but samples had been sent to London for further tests by the

World Health Organization.

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

killed nearly 100 people worldwide, according to the WHO, and seen

millions of birds destroyed.

Egypt is on a major route for migratory birds, at the crossroads

between Asia and Africa.

An outbreak of the most pathogenic strain of the virus that

originated in Asia was seen as inevitable after seven birds were

found infected in February.

an/cjo/ksh

AFP 201332 GMT MAR 06

[bina]

add an other two moshavim to the list ... all in the same area... btw with lots of thai workers living there.....

my dead duck has not been id;d with the flu yet (i guess an other male killed it)... breath of relief....

i think here we caught it just in time... so far so good... and still eating chicken on the grill.....

bina

israel

[kyselak]

INTERVIEW-Myanmar struggling in bird flu fight=

By Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK, March 21 (Reuters) - Myanmar is struggling to

contain outbreaks of bird flu and needs international help to

stamp out the disease before it spreads to neighbouring

countries, a senior U.N. official said.

Authorities are battling five outbreaks of the H5N1 virus

in the north-central part of the country, where the secretive

military government reported its first case in poultry on March

13.

"My impression is that it is spreading out of their local

control at the moment," Laurence Gleeson, who heads a special

animal health unit of the Food and Agriculture Organisation

(FAO) in Bangkok, told Reuters.

"It's really a case of whether they can catch up with it

and whether they can control the movement of birds and

products," he said late on Monday.

An FAO team recently visited the central Mandalay region, 430

miles (700 km) north of Yangon, where outbreaks have occurred

on small commercial chicken and quail farms.

Despite the slaughter of thousands of birds and road

checkpoints to stop the movement of fowl, the disease appears

to have spread beyond the 3 km (2 mile) cull zone imposed after

the initial outbreaks in the Mandalay area.

The virus has been detected in three townships in Sagaing

Division, north of the town of Mandalay, and in two townships

to the southeast in Mandalay Division.

"This is a spot where we need to make efforts early on to

stem the tide," Gleeson said, noting Mandalay's role as a

trading hub with traditional routes to India, China and

Thailand.

"This obviously poses a threat to Thailand for the disease

to come back. There is border trade," he said of Myanmar's

neighbour where the disease has largely been brought under

control since the first outbreaks in late 2003.

"If it becomes more widespread it would pose a threat even

to Bangladesh and India," he said.

MORE TRAINING

Myanmar health officials 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.

But health experts worry the country, one of Asia's poorest

and isolated internationally after decades of military rule,

cannot cope if the disease spreads out of control.

The FAO rushed protection suits, testing kits and other

gear to the outbreak zone, "but there is a need for training

people in how to use these things properly in the field",

Gleeson said.

He said Livestock Department officials had cooperated with

the FAO team and he hoped to send other experts soon.

"It's all contingent on getting the clearances. A small

number of people could make a big difference in helping them to

gather good data and analyse what's going on on the ground."

Myanmar has proved a thorny issue for donors due to

Yangon's international isolation for its human rights record

and detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

However, the Asian Development Bank said last week Myanmar

would be eligible for funds from a $38 million programme to

help poor countries plug gaps in their bird flu defences.

Myanmar will need poultry vaccines, laboratory equipment

and other resources in the weeks ahead, but a lack of

experience could be the country's biggest handicap.

"This virus will move around in all sorts of ways. Unless

they have a good plan in place and are thinking ahead, it's

going to get away. It's really in the lap of the gods as to

whether they have these things sufficiently organised," Gleeson

said.

REUTERS

210921 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

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=Pakistan confirms bird flu; Egyptian in hospital=

By Simon Cameron-Moore

ISLAMABAD, March 21 (Reuters) - Pakistan on Tuesday became

the latest country to confirm bird flu in poultry while Egypt

said a woman was believed to be infected with the virus, the

country's third case in less than a week.

Bird flu has spread with alarming speed in recent weeks as

it marches deeper in Africa, Europe and Asia. The United States

says it is likely to arrive on its shores before the end of the

year.

Fears are growing the H5N1 flu virus will mutate and pass

easily from one person to another but for the moment it remains

hard for people to catch it from infected birds.

Egypt's three suspected cases come from Qaloubiyah

governorate, about 40 km (25 miles) north of Cairo. A man has

since recovered after being administered Tamiflu, but a woman

died on Friday despite receiving the drug.

The woman in the latest case had handled infected birds and

had slaughtered some of them earlier this month, state media

quoted Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali as saying.

Pakistan said the bird flu virus found in two poultry

flocks late last month was the H5N1 strain.

But livestock Commissioner Muhammad Afzal said there had

been no other cases of bird flu since the outbreak was first

reported on Feb. 27 at farms in the North West Frontier

Province and there were no cases of humans being infected.

"We have conducted tests on the people who worked on both

the farms and they are healthy. There is no sign of any bird

flu in those people. We have already culled all chickens so

there is not much more we can do," he told Reuters.

India said all four people quarantined for flu-like

symptoms had tested negative for bird flu.

The four, including a doctor and a five-year-old girl, were

from Jalgaon district in Maharashtra state where India's second

outbreak of H5N1 in poultry was reported last week.

Malaysia reported two more cases of bird flu on Tuesday

after testing chickens in areas near the sites of previous

outbreaks in central Perak state.

LACK OF FUNDING

Bird flu has killed about 100 people since 2003 with the

vast majority contracting the disease through contact with

infected birds, particularly their droppings.

In Geneva, a spokesman for the World Health Organisation

said they expected officials in Azerbaijan to confirm on

Tuesday that three women who died last month had bird flu. An

independent laboratory in Britain has been conducting tests on

samples from the three. The WHO has earlier said initial

testing was credible.

Health experts say the more the virus spreads among birds,

the greater the chances of more humans becoming infected. But

the battle needed urgent funding and equipment on the ground,

something that was lacking in many impoverished nations.

David Nabarro, senior U.N. coordinator for avian influenza,

said massive aid pledged to help poor countries tackle bird flu

has not materialised and African countries and the United

Nations must plug the shortfall to fund emergency plans.

Donors pledged $1.9 billion at a special conference in

China in January to help developing countries strengthen health

and veterinary services and boost global surveillance measures.

A senior U.N. official said on Tuesday Myanmar was

struggling to contain outbreaks of bird flu and needed

international help to stamp out the disease before it spread to

neighbouring countries.

Despite the slaughter of thousands of birds and road

checkpoints to stop the movement of fowl, the disease appears

to have spread beyond the 3 km (2 mile) cull zone imposed after

the initial outbreaks in the Mandalay area.

"This obviously poses a threat to Thailand for the disease

to come back. There is border trade," Laurence Gleeson, who

heads a special animal health unit of the Food and Agriculture

Organisation in Bangkok, told Reuters.

In Pakistan, some people were philosophical about bird flu.

"Chickens have always suffered diseases. They die too.

What's the big deal?" said Munir Ahmed, a 24 year-old poultry

butcher in Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province.

Even as Ahmed threw the carcasses in a large plastic drum,

a woman asked: "What price is your chicken?"

REUTERS

211144 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

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Palestinians declare emergency over bird flu

RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 21 (Reuters) - The Palestinian

Authority on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in hope of

preventing the spread of the fatal H5N1 bird flu virus, which

struck Israel last week.

Outgoing Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie told

reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting that the cash-strapped

Authority would use all its resources to prevent the virus from

spreading to the Palestinian territories.

"The government has declared the state of emergency," Qurie

said. "We have to be prepared and not panic."

211207 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

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Bird flu forces chicken off Israeli crocodiles' menu

JERUSALEM, March 21, 2006 (AFP) - The outbreak of bird flu in

Israel has led the owners of a wildlife farm to remove chicken from

the menu of some of their hungriest charges -- a 200-strong

congregation of crocodiles.

"Our crocodiles will have to content themselves with red meat

and fish from now on," David Golan, the owner of the Hamat Gader

park near the Sea of Galilee, told AFP.

The Israeli authorities have slaughtered hundreds of thousands

of poultry after the H5N1 strain that is deadly to humans was

discovered in four farms in the south of the country.

pa/co/cjo

AFP 211051 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

Wrath of God behind Israel bird flu, says rabbi

JERUSALEM, March 21 (Reuters) - An outbreak of deadly bird

flu in Israel is God's punishment for calls in election ads to

legalise gay marriages, according to Rabbi David Basri, a

prominent sage preaching Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism.

"The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through

plagues against animals and then in people," Basri said in a

religious edict quoted by his son.

Basri said he hoped the deaths of hundreds of thousands of

turkeys and chickens would help atone for what he called the

sins of left-wing Israeli political parties, the son, Rabbi

Yitzhak Basri, told Reuters, a week before a national election.

The bird flu outbreak stemmed from far-left political

parties "strengthening and encouraging homosexuality," Rabbi

Basri's son quoted him as saying.

One of the parties aired an election commercial depicting

two brides kissing. Some campaign advertisements also called for

homosexual marriages to be legalised in Israel.

Basri is a prominent Kabbalist and author of commentaries on

the Zohar, the main Kabbalah mystical text.

211227 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

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Malaysia fears bird flu may spread nationwide: junior minister

ATTENTION - ADDS PM's quotes, nationwide testing ///

KUALA LUMPUR, March 21, 2006 (AFP) - A Malaysian deputy minister

warned Tuesday that the deadly bird flu virus may spread nationwide

after two more outbreaks were reported in a northern state.

"There is always the possibility (of this)," Deputy Agriculture

Minister Mah Siew Keong told reporters.

"We hope there will be not be many more new cases. We are taking

all the steps. The ministry is concerned at the outbreaks."

An official in the northern state of Perak reported two new

outbreaks of the H5N1 strain there, at Changkat Legong and at Titi

Gantung, which is 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of Changkat Legong.

But no birds have died of the disease in the two areas, Perak

agriculture committee chairman Mohamad Radzi Manan was quoted as

saying by Bernama news agency.

Mohamad Radzi said veterinary officials have began to slaughter

poultry in the two areas and expect to kill some 3,000 birds.

Separately, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters

the outbreak was under control and that he had met with Agriculture

Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Health Minister Chua Soi Lek following

the latest outbreaks, one of which is not far from his own

constituency.

"Both of them are managing the situation very well," he said

adding that Malaysia was always in a state of readiness to deal with

new outbreaks.

Muhyiddin said authorities would start taking samples from fowls

nationwide for H5N1 after the latest outbreaks.

"We have instructed all state veterinary directors to carry out

comprehensive samplings. Previously, we tested only the affected

areas but now each state must do it," he was quoted as saying by the

Bernama news agency.

He said a comprehensive plan would be drawn up to deal with the

possibility of a nationwide outbreak.

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

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

Gombak near Kuala Lumpur.

Last Thursday Malaysia announced outbreaks of H5N1 in an

eco-park and at Changkat Tualang, which is within five kilometres of

Changkat Legong.

On Monday an outbreak of H5N1 was announced in Permatang Bagak

village in Penang state bordering Perak.

"Unfortunately, yesterday the bird flu was confirmed in mainland

Penang. So it means since last month's outbreak in Gombak, it has

spread to Perak and now it is confirmed in Penang," Mah said, adding

that authorities have yet to confirm how the birds were infected.

He said neighbouring Singapore had banned poultry imports from

Perak, which is one of Malaysia's biggest exporters of poultry.

Officials have slaughtered tens of thousands of birds at the

site of outbreaks. No human cases of bird flu have been reported so

far in the country.

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

them in Asia.

ey-hh/mtp

AFP 211045 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

Humans test negative in India's bird flu-hit stat

MUMBAI, March 21 (Reuters) - All four people quarantined in

western India for flu-like symptoms have tested negative for

bird flu, officials said on Tuesday, as fears of human

infection from avian influenza eased in the world's second most

populous nation.

The four people, including a doctor and a five-year-old

girl, were from Jalgaon district in Maharashtra state where

India's second outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in

poultry was reported last week.

Jalgaon is next door to Nandurbar district where the first

outbreak occurred last month.

"The test results of the four under observation are

negative, but they are being given Tamiflu as a precaution,"

T.P. Doke, Maharashtra's health director, said, referring to

the drug used to fight bird flu in humans.

So far, India has reported no human infections from bird

flu.

Officials say another 95 human blood samples from Jalgaon

had been sent for testing, but termed the tests a matter of

"academic interest".

More than 90,000 birds have been culled in Jalgaon and

authorities were concentrating their efforts on cleaning up

four villages spread over 1,100 square km (425 square miles) in

the district where backyard poultry was found infected with

bird flu.

"We are disinfecting homes and cleaning up backyards and

the drainage systems," Bijay Kumar, the state's animal

husbandry commissioner, said

[kyselak]

Why is Europe so neurotic about bird flu?

by Isabel Parenthoen

PARIS, March 21, 2006 (AFP) - Bird flu has come to Europe and,

if the newspapers are any guide, many Europeans are running around

like, well, headless chickens.

In some countries, sales of poultry have hit the floor. Panicky

pet-owners have dumped their dog or cat, fearing that felines and

canines can somehow pass on an avian virus.

And police are fed up with fielding calls from terrified people

who have spotted a dead pigeon or a stork building its nest -- and,

in one case in eastern France, an owl that made a menacing hoot.

The daftness gives the lie to a continent that prides itself on

having the world's richest history in science, the most educated

population and a communications system that is second to none.

But there is no surprise among historians and food experts, who

say this irrationality has deep roots.

From the 14th-century plague known as the Black Death to

cholera, typhoid and killer influenza, Europe has experienced waves

of deadly pandemics that, like bird flu, came from abroad, they

say.

And, over the past 20 years, confidence in food safety and

government reassurance has been badly undermined by a series of

scares.

"We mistrust the authorities and their utterances," says French

historian Madeleine Ferrieres.

Antoine Flahault, who runs a French doctors' watchdog group

called Sentinels for Disease Surveillance, agrees.

"There is a certain logic which says you're better off not

eating chicken, when you think about all the past lies and present

confusion," he said.

"When you are being told that there is zero risk, you remain on

your guard, he said.

The source for much of Europe's edginess was the April 1986

Chernobyl disaster. The stricken Soviet nuclear reactor spewed

radioactive dust over swathes of Europe and spurred the rise of the

green movement, which feeds on worries about food and environmental

safety.

In France, Chernobyl is recalled for the government's blithe

assurance that no contamination had fallen on French soil. As wags

suggested, this meant the cloud had obediently stopped at the

national border.

Then along came bovine spongeiform encephalopathy (BSE), which

dealt a blow to Britain's beef industry that endures to this day.

Britons today recall the moment in 1990, at the height of the

scare, when the then agriculture minister, John Gummer, thrust a

fairground beefburger into his child's mouth to prove that the meat

was safe.

Other episodes have been dioxin-tainted chicken and worries

about US hormone-treated beef and genetically-modified crops. But on

other continents, these opinion-shaping events either have not

happened, nor have they been elevated to public consciousness by a

powerful green movement.

A contributing factor has been big changes in European eating

habits, thanks to better hygiene and just-in-time supermarket

delivery.

In Europe "we have no longer know how to deal with suspicious

foods," noted Ferrieres.

In the past, she said, meat in Europe was boiled or stewed for a

long time, both to tenderise it and kill bugs, but this folk wisdom

has disappeared in favour of lightly cooked flesh demanded by modern

recipes.

Fanning the worries has been the emergence of terrifying new

diseases that the authorities in Europe, as elsewhere, have so often

fumbled. They include AIDS, in which for a while HIV-contaminated

blood was allowed to enter blood banks, and Severe Acute Respiratory

Syndrome (SARS).

Rene Favier, a historian who writes on human responses to

catastrophes, said the present alarm has an ironic tinge: People

mistrust their government yet at the same time turn to it for help.

"The risk is that governments are fearful of looking inactive so

they launch big public-awareness campaigns to inform and reassure.

This turns out to be counter-productive because it ends up up

boosting people's worries," said Favier.

ih-ri/ns/wdb

AFP 210844 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

Nigeria's bird flu woes reveal poor country weaknesses to

deadly virus

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) _ The five weeks since a deadly bird

flu virus was first detected in Nigeria provide a troubling

illustration of what can happen when H5N1 hits an

undeveloped country with a weak and often corrupt political

system and two few resources devoted to health. Officials

have been overwhelmed, responding too late and with too

little as the disease spread quickly across Africa's most

populous country and then on to its neighbors. Each week

seems to bring more questions than answers _ How far has it

already spread? Have humans been infected? International

health officials fear the H5N1 strain will evolve into a

virus that can be transmitted easily between people and

become a pandemic. H5N1's spread to places like Nigeria,

where monitoring is difficult, has been particularly

worrying. Nigeria has yet to deploy medical teams equipped

to take blood samples and systematically determine whether

H5N1 has infected humans living near farms where the virus

has been found in birds.

211011 mar 06GMT

[kyselak]

France confirms new case of deadly bird flu strain in wild

duck

PARIS (AP) _ A new case of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird

flu has been found in a wild duck in a part of southeastern

France already hit by the disease, the Agriculture Ministry

said Tuesday. The duck was found dead on March 15 in the

town of Divonne-les-Bains, near the Swiss border, in the

Ain region that has already taken broad measures to prevent

the spread of avian flu. The discovery, which prompted

authorities to set up a security zone, was in the area

where another H5N1 case was found late last month in

another wild duck, the ministry said in a statement. At

least 32 wild birds have been found in France with the flu.

France also detected the lethal H5N1 flu last month on a

turkey farm, the first commercial poultry in the European

Union hit by the virus. Last week, as fears of the virus

were subsiding, the state administrator for the Ain region

announced that some poultry could go on sale again after a

temporary ban following the first cases of the bird flu.

211049 mar 06GMT

[kyselak]

Vietnam successfully synthesizes key ingredient for bird

flu drug

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) _ Vietnamese scientists have

successfully synthesized the main ingredient for the

antiviral drug Tamiflu, which the country hopes to mass

produce in the next two years, an official said Tuesday.

Tran Van Sung, director of the Chemistry Institute said his

agency, which has been working on the project for more than

five months, has synthesized 2.5 grams of oseltavimir

phosphate from anise. Sung said the Ministry of Science and

Technology is expected to provide the institute with funds

for more research on the manufacturing process. Sung said

his project is separate from an agreement reached between

Vietnam and Swiss drugmaker Roche last year, where Roche

agreed to provide the country with the raw drug materials

so that it could be put in capsule form in the communist

country.

211046 mar 06GMT

[bina]

two more kibbutzim/moshavim hit with the avian flu: amioz and nir oz (also in the west negev, all the places are close to eachother....

my dead duck came back negative in the mean time.....

both places have lots of thai workers, and guess hwo are doing the dirty deeds of disposing of dead carcasses and poisoning the water, thai workers!!! no body else agreed to do it even when the salary was tripled....

[kyselak]

Get vaccine or face mass bird culls -UK farmers

By Elizabeth Piper

LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - Britain's organic farmers urged

the government on Tuesday to prepare stocks of vaccines to

protect free-range chickens from bird flu, saying no one could

stomach the mass culls seen during the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

They praised the government for showing "more flexibility"

about using vaccination for controlling any outbreak of the

deadly H5N1 virus than it did in 2001 against foot and mouth,

but said an expanded vaccination policy should be launched now.

"There is nothing left in the kill, kill, kill armoury used

to fight foot-and-mouth," a spokesman for organic campaign group

the Soil Association said.

"Government has already got some vaccine stockpiled mainly

for exotic birds and those in zoos. That should be extended."

Organic poultry farmers say vaccination is the only way to

protect their growing market, where production has increased by

35 percent over the past year.

By bringing poultry indoors for more than three months to

escape infection, producers would lose their free-range status.

"Securing the long-term future of sustainable,

welfare-friendly systems is essential if we are to build up over

the longer-term livestock which are...resistant to the seemingly

endless cycle of diseases that challenge our farming industry,"

Patrick Holden, the association's director, said.

The Netherlands, France and Russia have launched vaccination

drives to fight bird flu, which has spread from Asia to the

Middle East, Africa and Europe. It has killed more than 90

people and millions of birds.

But many Dutch farmers have chosen to wait, fearful that

vaccinated poultry might turn off consumers, and in France the

programme has been limited to a southwest region and to geese

and ducks. Russia is vaccinating domestic fowl.

Britain's government has said it would keep an open mind on

using vaccination -- which some say would reduce the spread of

the H5N1 virus if it hit Britain -- but officials and advisers

say as yet there is no vaccination that is efficient.

They say vaccination would take too long to administer and

could spread the disease by masking its symptoms.

"Our position hasn't changed. We are keeping emergency

vaccination under consideration," a spokesman for the UK

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.

The government's chief scientific adviser, David King, said

for the time being his advice would also be to hold off.

"My advice is...not to use the current vaccine except to

protect zoo birds that are caged and maintained in such a way

that they can be carefully observed," he told Reuters.

"If you use the current vaccine, you are faced with one

which has not got a high efficiency of operation. It is highly

likely that vaccinated birds would become ill and would shed the

virus so that they can spread the virus to other birds."

REUTERS

211427 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

Romania detects H5 bird flu in poultry near Bucharest

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) _ Several chickens in a village

located just a few kilometers from the Romanian capital

have tested positive for an H5 subtype of bird flu, the

Agriculture Ministry said Tuesday. Further tests were

underway in Bucharest to confirm the diagnosis, which was

made by a mobile laboratory in the Pruni village, and

determine the strain of the virus. If the outbreak is

confirmed, the village will be placed under a strict

quarantine, health officials have said. The virus, which is

believed to be the deadly H5N1 strain, was detected this

month in 12 villages near the Black Sea. Health authorities

were discussing Tuesday a set of measures to be taken to

contain the virus, the Agriculture Ministry said. Experts

fear that the virus could infect pet birds and poultry on

the edges of Bucharest, a crowded city of 2.3 million where

quarantine measures would be difficult to enforce. Romania

reported its first cases of H5N1 in domestic fowl in

October in its eastern Danube Delta region, which is

transited by hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. No

human cases have been reported in the country.

211240 mar 06GMT

[kyselak]

US increases bird flu tests on wild birds

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2006 (AFP) - The US government has decided

to sharply increase testing of wild birds for the deadly H5N1 strain

of bird flu in the hope of quickly detecting its arrival and

preventing an epizootic.

As the disease spreads in Asia, Europe and Africa, health

authorities in Washington calculate that bird flu could reach US

shores this year or by the beginning of 2007, most likely through

birds migrating from Asia to North America by way of Alaska.

"We do not know for sure what role wild migratory birds play in

the movement of this virus, but the potential exists for them to

carry this virus to North America, and we have a responsibility to

prepare for that possibility," said Secretary of the Interior Gale

Norton when she unveiled Monday an Interagency Strategic Plan for

the early detection of H5N1.

"Working closely with our state, local and federal partners, we

can detect and respond to disease events involving wild birds and

screen birds for highly pathogenic H5N1 virus," Norton said.

"These actions will help us provide an early warning to the

agriculture, public health and wildlife communities if the virus is

detected in migratory birds," she told a news conference, flanked by

the secretaries of agriculture and health, Mike Johanns and Mike

Leavitt.

After bird flu was first detected in Southeast Asia in 1997, US

experts have tested more than 12,000 birds in the Alaska flyway

since 2000, and almost 4,000 birds in the Atlantic flyway.

All those birds tested negatively for H5N1, the experts said.

Under the new strategic plan, the US Department of Agriculture

and its cooperators plan to collect between 75,000 and 100,000

samples from live and dead wild birds. They also plan to collect

samples of water or feces from high-risk waterfowl habitats around

the United States.

Authorities say they will test birds shot by hunters and live

fowl on farms and birds sold on the market.

If an infection is detected, health authorities said they will

place the affected area under immediate quarantine and destroy all

birds potentially infected with the H5N1 virus.

The primary goal is to prevent all contact between the infected

birds and people living in the area, as well as limiting the

devastating economic damage it could inflict on the 30 billion

dollar-a-year poultry industry.

The epizootic currently affecting Asia, Europe and Africa has

prompted the destruction of tens of millions of chickens.

The wild bird monitoring plan is part of President George W.

Bush's National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness. Bush

allocated 29 million dollars for implementation of the wild bird

monitoring plan.

Since 2003, about 200 people have been infected with H5N1, half

of whom have died.

The disease so far is spreading by direct contact with infected

birds, not by person-to-person transmission. However, experts fear

the virus may mutate to a human variant, increasing the likelihood

of a pandemic.

js/fgf/gd

AFP 211157 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

Russian authorities began vaccinating birds at Moscow's

Zoo

MOSCOW (AP) _ Russian authorities vaccinated birds at

Moscow's Zoo on Tuesday as part of a mass program for

domestic fowl aimed at preventing the spread of deadly bird

flu in Russia. But they had to catch them first, a task

which proved beyond some of the zoo's workers, who chased

after the uncooperative ones with nets. Workers hoped to

safeguard the birds in case the deadly H5N1 virus spreads

to Moscow. «We put the vaccine in the syringe and inject

it into the bird's chest,» said Nataliya Istratova, the

zoo's press secretary. «It's stressful for (the birds),

but better to be in the hands of a doctor than in death's

grip.» Russia's lower house, the Duma, heard testimony

Tuesday from the country's leading sanitary specialist on

measures being taken to deal with the spread of bird flu.

Gennady Onishchenko told deputies that the country had

«sufficient» supplies of vaccine and had set up a

nationwide monitoring headquarters. «The situation is

under control,» Onishchenko assured lawmakers.

211347 mar 06GM

[kyselak]

WHO figures for bird flu cases in humans

March 21 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO)

said on Tuesday that bird flu has killed five people in

Azerbaijan. Samples from 11 patients under investigation in Azerbaijan

for possible H5N1 infection have now been tested at the WHO

collaborating laboratory in the United Kingdom. Positive H5N1

results were obtained for seven of these patients. Five cases

were fatal.

The bird toll consists of some 200 million birds which have

been culled.

Following is a list of confirmed human cases of H5N1 from

the WHO in Geneva. Total cases includes survivors.

Deaths Total cases

AZERBAIJAN 5 7

CAMBODIA 4 4

CHINA 10 15

INDONESIA 22 29

IRAQ 2 2

THAILAND 14 22

TURKEY 4 12

VIETNAM 42 93

-------------------------------------------------

TOTAL 103 184

-------------------------------------------------

Initial testing usually takes a day or two to confirm if

someone has H5N1. More detailed testing by government

laboratories or those affiliated with the WHO can take a week or

more.

The H5N1 virus remains mainly a virus of birds, but experts

fear it could change into a form easily transmitted from person

to person and sweep the world, killing millions within weeks or

months.

So far, most human cases can be traced to direct or indirect

contact with infected birds.

REUTERS

211628 Mrz 06

[kyselak]

Egypt reports 4th suspected human bird flu case

CAIRO, March 21 (Reuters) - Egypt reported a fourth

suspected case of bird flu in humans on Tuesday, in a

17-year-old boy whose father had an outbreak of the disease on

his chicken farm in the Nile Delta on Saturday and Sunday.

Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali, quoted by the state news

agency MENA, said the boy was taken to hospital in the town of

Tanta on Sunday and was receiving Tamiflu treatment. His

condition is "good and stable", he added.

Laboratories are testing samples from the boy for the deadly

virus, the minister said.

211625 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

Poor nations need help fighting bird flu

By Jim Loney

ATLANTA, March 21 (Reuters) - Fewer than three dozen

nations are capable of the early detection and quick response

needed to contain rapidly spreading bird flu and other viruses

that could threaten humans, a health official said on Tuesday.

Combating the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza, which has

killed 103 people worldwide since it reemerged in 2003, has

become critical to governments across the globe because experts

fear it could become a pandemic that could kill millions and

cause catastrophic economic damage.

"Developed countries are in position to practice

satisfactory early detection and rapid response. Worldwide,

only 20 to 30 countries are able to do that currently," said

Dr. Bernard Vallat, director-general of the World Organization

for Animal Health. "All the others, 140 or more, need help."

Rich countries need to help poorer ones with detection

programs and compensation for farmers to prevent the global

spread of "zoonoses," diseases that can spread from animals to

humans, Vallat said at the International Conference of Emerging

Infectious Diseases in Atlanta.

At a January conference in Beijing, governments and

organizations pledged $1.9 billion for a global "rapid

containment" program for bird flu.

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that bird flu

killed five young people in Azerbaijan, taking the global death

toll to 103 since it reemerged in late 2003. The virus has

spread with alarming speed in recent weeks, pushing into Europe

and Africa.

The United States said this week it expects to see its

first cases of bird flu this year.

Scientists say the virus is mutating and could evolve into

a form that would pass easily from human to human, potentially

causing a pandemic that could kill millions because people

would have no immunity.

The issue of ways to contain it has been a primary topic of

debate between hundreds of health experts from some 80 nations

gathered in Atlanta this week for the infectious disease

conference.

Vallat named European Union nations, the United States,

Canada, New Zealand and Australia as having the ability to

respond quickly to an outbreak of bird flu or another

threatening virus.

Experts say outbreaks can be contained by early detection

and a quick response. U.S. wildlife officials, for example, are

monitoring Pacific bird migration routes for signs of bird flu

with the hope of tracking infected birds and giving advance

warning to U.S. poultry producers.

But in many poor countries, it is nearly impossible to know

what diseases are circulating because of poor surveillance

programs.

"There are parts of Africa without any surveillance,"

Vallat said. "Diseases can circulate for weeks in some parts of

Africa without being known by the authorities in the capital."

One of the keys to early detection is a plan to compensate

farmers if governments decide to destroy infected flocks.

Outbreaks of H5N1 have forced the destruction of more than 200

million birds.

But in poor countries, farmers may be reluctant to report

mysterious deaths in their flocks because they are uncertain

whether they will be paid for the lost birds.

"You can't go to poor areas and take away the people's

livelihoods and the food supply and not have them compensated.

It's just not right," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda of the World Health

Organization.

European nations such as France, Germany and the

Netherlands have compensation plans, as do Vietnam, Thailand

and other Asian countries. But many nations have not addressed

the issue.

Vallat said the World Bank and other international

financing organizations were working to develop "sustainable"

compensation programs. For example, the World Bank made a loan

to Vietnam on the condition that it establish a sustainable

compensation plan for farmers.

REUTERS

212306 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

WHO says China to release bird flu samples following

criticism

BEIJING (AP) _ China has agreed to give the World Health

Organization bird flu samples from animals following

complaints that Beijing was hampering vaccine research by

withholding such samples, WHO officials said Wednesday. The

agency expects to receive about 20 virus samples within a

few weeks, Dr. Julie Hall, an official of the WHO office in

Beijing, said at a news conference. Experts say such

samples are critical to research on diagnostic tools and

vaccines, and they have criticized China's Agriculture

Ministry for refusing to release them to foreign

scientists. Chinese officials have been accused of

withholding samples to boost the status of China's own

scientists and possibly increase chances that they might

develop a potentially lucrative vaccine. The WHO regional

director for Asia, Dr. Shigeru Omi, also said China has to

improve its surveillance of animals for possible bird flu

outbreaks. None of China's 15 human cases of bird flu

occurred in areas where authorities had warning of possible

infection due to outbreaks detected in poultry, Omi said at

a news conference.

220349 mar 06GMT

[kyselak]

Vietnam cracks down on smuggled poultry from China

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) _ Vietnam has stepped up its crackdown

against poultry smuggled from China in an effort to prevent

the bird flu virus from reinfecting domestic flocks,

officials and state-controlled media reported Wednesday.

Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat was quoted by Nong Nghiep

(Agriculture) newspaper as telling the National Steering

Committee on Bird Flu Prevention and Control on Tuesday

that smuggled poultry from China is a «direct threat» to

Vietnam. «Due to huge differences in the price of poultry

domestically and that in China, smuggling of poultry across

the border has been very active,» Phat was quoted as

saying «This is a direct threat and it must be prevented

at any price.» Vietnam has reported no bird flu outbreaks

in poultry over the past three months and no human

infections since last November. Phat urged authorities in

the four northern border provinces, considered major

consumers of smuggled poultry, to eliminate places where

smuggled poultry were sold, it said. The minister also said

several government teams will be set up this week to

inspect the smuggling situation, the newspaper said.

220536 mar 06GMT

[kyselak]

Resolved: Why bird flu virus is not contagious between humans

by Richard Ingham

PARIS, March 22, 2006 (AFP) - Virologists say they understand

why bird influenza in its present form does not spread among humans,

and the finding suggests the world may have a precious breathing

space to prepare for any flu pandemic.

The reason lies in minute differences to cells located in the

top and bottom of the airways, the team report in Thursday's issue

of Nature, the weekly British science journal.

To penetrate a cell, the spikes that stud an influenza virus

have to be able to bind to the cellular surface.

The virus spike is like a key and the cell's docking point,

called a receptor, is like a lock. They both have to be the right

shape for the connection to happen.

Scientists in the United States and Japan, led by Yoshihiro

Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, found that avian

influenza viruses and human influenza viruses home in on slightly

different receptors.

The receptor preferred by human flu is more prevalent in cells

in the mucous lining of the nose and sinus as well as the throat,

trachea and bronchi.

But the receptor preferred by bird flu tends to be found among

cells deep in the lung, in ball-like structures called the alveoli.

It means H5N1 is likely to hole up in a part of the airways that

does not cause coughing and sneezing -- the means by which the flu

virus is classically transmitted among humans.

Bird flu is lethal to poultry and dangerous for humans in close

proximity to infected fowl. It has claimed more than 100 lives,

according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) toll.

But, apart from a few anecdotal cases, the mortality has

occurred exclusively by direct transmission from birds to humans and

not among humans themselves. To acquire that contagiousness would

open the way to a pandemic.

"Our findings indicate that H5N1 virus... can replicate

efficiently only in cells in the lower region of the respiratory

tract, where the avian virus receptor is prevalent," the paper

says.

"This restriction may contribute to the inefficient

human-to-human transmission of H5N1 viruses seen to date."

So what would turn H5N1 into a pandemic virus?

First and foremost, it would need mutations in the spike, the

haemagglutinin (HA) molecule, to enable the virus to bind to cells

in the upper respiratory tract.

This would enable the virus to spread via coughs and sneezes and

nasal mucus, which are caused by irritation to the upper airways.

To boost its pandemic potential, the virus also needs changes in

its PB2 gene, which controls an enzyme essential for efficient

reproduction.

"Nobody knows whether the virus will evolve into a pandemic

strain, but flu viruses constantly change," said Kawaoka.

"Certainly, multiple mutations need to be accumulated for the

H5N1 to become a pandemic strain."

The findings suggest scientists and public health agencies may

have more time to prepare for an eventual pandemic of avian

influenza, the team believe.

Kawaoka's team exposed various tissues from the human

respiratory tract to a range of viruses in lab dishes.

The viruses were the human strains H1N1 and H3N2 and the bird

strains H3N2 and H4N6. In addition, there were two H5N1 samples, one

taken from a human victim in Hong Kong and one from a duck in

Vietnam.

Flu viruses reproduce sloppily, which induces slight changes in

their genetic code. This movement is called antigenic drift, and

explains why seasonal flu viruses keep changing and new updated

vaccines are needed.

But they can also make big changes, called antigenic shift, in

which new genes are brought in, thus creating a new pathogen against

which no one has immunity. A novel flu virus that emerged after

World War I killed as many as 50 million people.

By closely monitoring viruses from people infected with avian

flu, scientists can get a early warning as to whether these strains

are mutating into forms that will make it easier to fit into human

receptors, Kawaoka said.

ri/bm

AFP 220558 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

India completes bird flu tests, clean-up progresses

MUMBAI, March 22 (Reuters) - India has checked and cleared

more than 400,000 people for bird flu in western India,

officials said on Wednesday, as a massive clean-up drive to

contain a second outbreak in poultry neared completion.

The latest outbreak -- in backyard poultry in the Jalgaon

district of Maharashtra state -- was the highly pathogenic H5N1

strain of bird flu, but it has not infected people so far.

"We have completed monitoring 440,000 people in and around

the four affected villages of Jalgaon. The week-long vigil is

over and there are no human cases," Vijay Satbir Singh,

Maharashtra's top health official, told Reuters.

Of the hundreds of thousands of people monitored, only four

were quarantined in Jalgaon either with flu-like symptoms or as

a precaution, but they were expected to be discharged later on

Wednesday after their test results were negative for bird flu.

More than 90,000 birds have been culled in Jalgaon and

authorities are concentrating their efforts on cleaning up four

villages spread over 1,100 square km (425 square miles) in the

district where backyard poultry were found infected with bird

flu.

The clean-up operation -- disinfecting homes, backyards and

drains -- could be over in two days, officials said.

Jalgaon is next door to Nandurbar district where the first

outbreak occurred last month.

[kyselak]

US schools urged to take bird flu preparations seriously

WASHINGTON (AP) _ U.S. schools _ recognized incubators of

respiratory diseases among children _ are being told to

plan for the possibility of an outbreak of bird flu.

Federal health leaders say it is not alarmist or premature

for schools to make preparations, such as finding ways to

teach children even if they've all been sent home. Other

issues include working out who closes schools and

quarantines children, who will keep the payroll running and

how to provide food to children who count on school meals.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has infected more than

170 people and killed roughly 100. Officials say bird flu

is likely to arrive in U.S. birds this year. Experts fear

the virus could change into a form that passes easily among

people. In North Carolina on Tuesday, Education Secretary

Margaret Spellings joined Health and Human Services

Secretary Mike Leavitt to encourage schools to prepare.

Spellings said schools must be aware that they may have to

close their buildings _ or that their schools may need to

be used as makeshift hospitals, quarantine sites or

vaccination centers.

220832 mar 06GMT