Latest Avian Influenza Outbreaks & Updates

[kyselak]

Indonesia bird flu campaign exposes loopholes

By Tomi Soetjipto

PURWAKARTA, Indonesia, March 22 (Reuters) - Armed with

vaccines and green rubber boots, veterinarian Sri Wuryasturati

is ready to hit the road for Indonesia's anti-bird flu

campaign.

Except she doesn't have the most essential item to get

going: a motorcycle.

Dressed in a crisp brown civil servant's uniform and scarf,

the 42-year-old eventually takes off hours later to join

hundreds of veterinarians at the forefront of efforts to

contain bird flu in Indonesia, which has the world's second

highest number of human deaths from the disease.

"We have got the vaccines ready," she said, pointing to a

refrigerator full of vaccines for poultry. "But sometimes some

of us can't go out because there are no vehicles."

Without motorcycles, it is impossible for vaccinators to

reach villages in the morning before locals release their

backyard chickens into the fields.

And there are lots of villages in Indonesia, a country of

220 million people spread across thousands of islands.

Although Indonesia has launched high-profile, door-to-door

checks of poultry and birds in some provinces, the country

remains vulnerable because of poor planning and surveillance.

Jakarta has set up a national team to combat bird flu, but

its members and volunteers only reach areas in the capital

while those in provinces rely on their own networks of

vaccinators.

WEAKNESS

Yoke Sudarbo, a programme manager at Partnership, a

U.N.-sponsored non-governmental organisation, said lack of

coordination mirrored the state of bureaucracy in Indonesia.

"The weakness in handling bird flu is an example of

inadequate public services in Indonesia and it highlights the

country's poor infrastructure," said Sudarbo.

Government officials in Jakarta said they were in control.

"Support systems such as two-wheeled and four-wheeled

vehicles will be provided, we are working on that," said Mathur

Riyadi, head of the Agriculture Ministry's poultry department.

He added the government had distributed leaflets to

government offices, outlining basic health and hygiene

procedures and safe ways to cook chicken.

Indonesia has had 22 confirmed deaths from the H5N1 strain

of the avian flu virus since 2003 and half of those deaths have

occurred this year.

The rising toll is worrying U.N. health officials who fear

the more the virus spreads in birds, the more human cases there

will be and the greater the risk H5N1 might mutate into a form

that could pass from person to person.

If such a mutation occurs, it could spark a pandemic in

which millions could die.

Globally, the virus has killed at least 103 people since

2003, the majority in Asia where many people live side-by-side

poultry. For the moment, it remains hard to catch from birds.

In Indonesia, most bird flu cases in humans have been in or

around Jakarta. But the virus has been detected among poultry

in about two-thirds of the country's 33 provinces.

HOSTILITY

A big stumbling block is opposition to the control campaign

from villagers.

"People get hostile sometimes. Some even hide their

chickens, which is silly because we can still hear the noise,"

said Sri the veterinarian.

Despite a 30 billion rupiah ($3.3 million) scheme to cull

fowl within a kilometre radius from the point where the virus

is found, some workers are afraid to kill the birds as there is

no legal apparatus to act freely.

Moreover, there is no monitoring system as in Thailand to

alert authorities in case of a suspected outbreak.

In Thailand, the government has tagged its bird flu

monitoring efforts onto a nationwide network of 800,000 health

volunteers, set up decades ago as a first line of defence

against ailments such as diarrhoea, tuberculosis and

chickenpox.

With each volunteer assigned to monitor between 10 and 20

households in Thailand, as well as educate them about the risks

and symptoms of bird flu, officials are confident any outbreak

in either poultry or humans will not go unnoticed for long.

"If a chicken dies unusually, we will know about it within

the day," said 58-year-old Manop Sungyont, who has been a

health volunteer for 29 years in Suphan Buri province, 100 km

(60 miles) northwest of Bangkok.

In the event of a possible outbreak, the likes of Manop

pass the information up a command chain to either animal or

human health officials, triggering the swift arrival of expert

teams to collect samples, treat victims or start culling.

(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley in Bangkok and Diyan

Jarri in Jakarta)

REUTERS

221109 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

Afghanistan begins bird flu cull

KABUL, March 22 (Reuters) - Afghan workers in protective

suits and masks fanned out through a Kabul neighbourhood of

low, mud-brick homes on Wednesday, rounding up chickens and

spraying disinfectant, hoping to stamp out the H5N1 birdflu

virus.

The H5N1 virus was confirmed in chickens in the capital and

an eastern province last week and is assumed to have spread to

at least three other provinces, officials said.

The cull was delayed for several days while impoverished

Afghanistan tried to find protective suits for the teams.

Eventually, the U.S. military provided enough to get going.

"Two cases were confirmed in this village, some chickens

already died here, some pigeons also died here," Azizullah

Osmani, chief of the Agriculture Ministry's veterinary

department, told reporters as the cull was launched.

Bird flu has killed 103 people since late 2003, most of

them in Asia.

Although difficult for humans to catch, experts fear the

virus could mutate into a form that passes easily between

people 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.

Many Afghan chicken farmers and traders are illiterate and

have little knowledge of the disease. Authorities have yet to

produce much public information on the danger.

Osmani said that as well as collecting and culling all

chickens in the area, pens and yards were being sprayed with

disinfectant.

Teams would monitor a zone 5-10 km (3-6 miles) from the

site of the cull, he said, and if sick chickens were found, the

process would be repeated there.

Culls would be conducted in at least three other areas of

Kabul province, he said.

Residents of the neighbourhood in the west of Kabul, where

many people keep a few chickens in back yards, appeared

resigned to losing their birds.

One man, Mohammad Ibrahim, said his 20 chickens had all

suddenly died as had a cat that ate one of the carcasses.

Officials have said it will be important to compensate

people whose chickens are culled.

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.

REUTERS

221206 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

H5N1 bird flu spreads to Gaza Strip - official

RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 22 (Reuters) - The deadly H5N1

strain of bird flu which struck Israel last week has spread to

the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian agriculture official said on

Wednesday.

The official offered few other details about the outbreak

except that the virus was detected in areas close to the Israeli

border. The H5N1 virus has also been detected in neighbouring

Egypt.

Israel has been culling hundreds of thousands of turkeys and

chickens after an outbreak of the deadly avian virus at several

farms near the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday declared a state of

emergency in hope of preventing the spread of the virus.

The virus has rippled out from Asia to the Middle East,

Europe and Africa in recent months, with migratory birds seen as

the main culprits in spreading bird flu.

Experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that passes

easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic in which

millions could die and which could cripple the global economy.

Bird flu can infect people who come into close contact with

infected poultry and has killed nearly 100 people since late

2003.

Egypt reported a fourth suspected case of bird flu in humans

on Tuesday.

Israeli officials have said there have been no cases of

humans contracting the virus in Israel.

221344 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

New H5N1 bird flu case found in Romania

BUCHAREST, March 22, 2006 (AFP) - Twelve new cases of the

potentially deadly H5N1 bird flu virus have been confirmed in

domestic poultry in a village near Bucharest, the local veterinary

health authority said Wednesday.

The village, Magurele, 15 kilometers (nine miles) from

Bucharest, was put under quarantine and authorities began culling

over 1,000 poultry Wednesday as a result, it added.

"Disinfection filters were placed at the entrance and exit of

Magurele and residents are forbidden from leaving the village for a

period of two to three weeks," local veterinary health authority

chief Valentin Viocu told AFP.

"It is necessary to respect the quarantine to prevent the virus

from spreading towards Bucharest," he added.

The H5N1 virus has been found in some 50 villages in Romania,

making it one of the European countries most affected by the

disease.

lc-ssw/msa/smc

AFP 221440 GMT MAR 06

[bina]

the avian flu in israel was apparently spread by sub cntractor that provides services to the turkey coop industry;

gaza chicken growers refuse to destroy any chickens until they actually get money in their hands (pretty dumb of them id say since they can die just like us - my own comment; bina)

and most people in gaza raise chickens like in issaan thailand: running loose in the yard, crowded conditions and 'primitive' hygiene methods...

new case of turkeys in moshav bekaa (in the jordan valley)....

wait and see....

[kyselak]

Bird flu victim in Shanghai sickened after buying chickens

at city market: report

SHANGHAI, China (AP) _ A woman who died last week from

bird flu in Shanghai became sick after buying live chickens

at an unregulated downtown street market, a magazine

reported. China's Health Ministry over the weekend

confirmed the 29-year-old woman had the H5N1 bird flu

strain, making her the first human bird flu case in

Shanghai _ China's largest city _ and the mainland's 11th

human death from the disease. The migrant worker,

identified only by the common surname Li, was hospitalized

with fever and cold symptoms and died at the city's No. 9

Hospital last Tuesday. The ministry said it had quarantined

people who had contact with the woman and was monitoring

them for flu symptoms. However, city officials have refused

to say how the woman became ill. Respected financial

magazine Caijing said Li became sick after buying two

chickens at a downtown street market and cooking them. The

magazine said the stall where she bought the chickens has

since been shut down. Shanghai officials could not

immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

270427 mar 06GMT

[kyselak]

Czechs testing dead bird for H5N1 bird flu strain

PRAGUE, March 27 (Reuters) - The Czech Republic is testing a

dead swan for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the first suspected

case in the central European country, the new EU member's chief

veterinarian said on Monday.

The swan was found near the southern town of Hluboka nad

Vltavou, on the Vltava river, head of the State Veterinary

Authority Milan Malena told reporters.

Malena said veterinarians had established the swan had the

H5 version of the virus and tests would show by Wednesday if it

was the deadly H5N1 strain.

"I expect this to be the H5N1, highly pathogenic form,"

Malena said. "If the virus is confirmed, veterinary measures

will be implemented."

Malena said that if tests in Prague confirm H5N1, samples

would be sent to the European Union reference laboratory in

Weybridge, Britain.

Neighbours Austria, Slovakia, and Germany have already

confirmed cases of the virus.

The H5N1 strain, which has spread from Asia to the Middle

East, Africa and Europe, remains essentially an animal disease

but can infect people who come into contact with sick poultry.

REUTERS

271140 Mrz 06

[kyselak]

Poor Egyptians refuse to sign up to bird flu cull

By Mohammed Abbas

NAWA, Egypt, March 28 (Reuters) - Mohsen Rizq insists there

is no poultry left in his village after a local died of bird flu

two weeks ago, but the cacophony of squawking coming from a

locked shed and the droppings in his backyard give him away.

In another home nearby, in the village of Nawa some 30 km

(19 miles) north of Cairo where Egypt's first bird flu fatality

was recorded, a father refused to acknowledge a large duck in

the front room of his hovel, where several infants were playing.

"There is no more bird flu here, thank God. We killed all

the birds," the man said, as he tried to block the clearly

visible duck from view.

Peasants in Nawa say they know the risks of bird flu and how

it can be avoided. But poverty means they refuse to slaughter

their fowl, even though the virus has killed two of their

countrymen and infected two or possibly three others.

A short walk through Nawa reveals, through the sounds and

smells of birds trapped in sheds and houses, that birds that

would normally roam such a village have been hidden, despite a

state ban on the domestic rearing of fowl.

The government issued the ban after the deadly bird flu

virus was detected in Egypt last month.

"You need to do more health education. Most of the cases are

backyard farms and people who not really abiding by the

instructions of the Ministry of Health," Hassan al Bushra of the

World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

However, villagers were well aware of how bird flu is spread

and what should be done to contain it. They said poverty, not

ignorance, had driven people to rear poultry in secret.

"Everyone lives on chicken here. What are supposed to eat

instead? Fava bean sandwiches? The village has been devastated,"

local woman Ragah Mustafa said. Her granddaughter knew the exact

temperature above which the virus is destroyed when meat is

cooked, she added.

HIDDEN THREAT

Egyptian poultry farmers say the devastated poultry industry

was once worth about 17 billion Egyptian pounds ($3 billion) and

supported up to 3 million people. Many poor Egyptians try to

supplement their income by breeding their own fowl.

Poultry once constituted about 50 percent of the animal

protein consumed in Egypt, the world's most populous Arab state.

Farmers say that state compensation for culled poultry is either

non existent or a fraction of their losses.

In the absence of adequate compensation, secret poultry

rearing is likely to increase the risk of the spread of the

highly pathogenic H5N1 virus as people hide fowl in homes and

become reluctant to report infections.

"The problem of this woman (who died) was that she was a

simple woman. She didn't tell the doctors what she had really

been doing. She didn't tell them she had been rearing poultry,

and she lied to three doctors," Rizq said.

To date, local tests have confirmed that four Egyptians have

been infected with H5N1. Two of them died, while the other two

have recovered after taking Tamiflu, an anti-viral medication

regarded as the best defence against bird flu.

Bird flu is difficult for people to catch, but can be

contracted through contact with infected birds. Scientists fear

bird flu could mutate into a form that can pass easily between

humans, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die.

It has so far killed at least 105 people in eight countries,

according to a tally from the WHO. The WHO is yet to include the

Egyptian cases in its toll.

Health officials say there is no evidence of H5N1 passing

from human to human in Egypt.

Experts have said the disease could be endemic in Egypt for

years, but Rizq did not doubt Egypt's ability to eradicate it.

"When Egyptians are in trouble, we always come together," he

said, as birds continued to squawk in his shed.

($1=5.75 Egyptian pounds)

281833 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[bina]

kyselalk,

i have bird flu in my backyard!!; we are within the 10 kilometer range for quarantine, we missed the 3 kilometer range for destroying our chickens by just by 600 meters!!!!!! (30 000 new chicks!!)we are now officially quarantined for selling/buying fowl!!!!!!! and everyone is in a panic ;

(avian flu in kibbutz maale ha hamisha ten minute drive from us)....

the thai workers at maale ha hamish have been moved to different housing (they lived in housing next to the chicken coops) and from what they said are getting checked....

we of course are also keeping an eye on ourselves....

our thai workers (orchards) are not allowed to do any visiting until quarantine lifts (other places w/thai workers always have chickens running around as live food supply)

[kyselak]

kyselalk,

i have bird flu in my backyard!!; we are within the 10 kilometer range for quarantine, we missed the 3 kilometer range for destroying our chickens by just by 600 meters!!!!!! (30 000 new chicks!!)we are now officially quarantined for selling/buying fowl!!!!!!! and everyone is in a panic ;

(avian flu in kibbutz maale ha hamisha ten minute drive from us)....

the thai workers at maale ha hamish have been moved to different housing (they lived in housing next to the chicken coops) and from what they said are getting checked....

we of course are also keeping an eye on ourselves....

our thai workers (orchards) are not allowed to do any visiting until quarantine lifts (other places w/thai workers always have chickens running around as live food supply)

Dear Bina, terrible news, I keep my fingers crossed that you come out of this without too great a financial (let alone something worse) loss.

Does the press know about this?

all the best

Wilfried

[kyselak]

H5N1 found in southern Russian province

MOSCOW, March 30, 2006 (AFP) - The H5N1 strain of bird flu virus

has been found among dozens of dead birds in Russia's southern

province of Volgograd, officials in the province told AFP Thursday.

"Today the provincial veterinary laboratory confirmed the

presence of the the H5N1 virus in the blood of dead birds" found at

a farmyard at the village of Vesyoly, a statement from the Volgograd

provincial administration said.

AFP 300908 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

Azeri girl, 16, treated for suspected bird flu

BAKU, March 30 (Reuters) - Local scientists have found a

strain of bird flu in a 16-year-old girl from a family in

Azerbaijan which has lost three members to the H5N1 virus,

Deputy Health Minister Abbas Velibeyov said on Thursday.

"To confirm the presence of the virus, we intend to send

samples to the laboratory in London. But clinical observation

shows this girl has bird flu," Velibeyov told Reuters.

Five young people, three of them from the Askerov family,

have died from bird flu in Azerbaijan. But the girl, who is now

in hospital, is the first new case of suspected infection since

the first week of this month.

Velibeyov said the girl had probably caught the virus via

the same route as her other family members, who are thought to

have been infected while plucking feathers from dead swans.

The World Health Organisation has said in the past it

believes the Azeri laboratory is reliable but it also sends

samples to a WHO-accredited laboratory in Britain for

confirmation.

[kyselak]

Hong Kong to ban live poultry sales in three years

HONG KONG, March 30, 2006 (AFP) - Hong Kong will ban the sale of

live poultry in markets within three years in a move aimed at

averting an outbreak of deadly bird flu, the city's political leader

said Thursday.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang told the legislature that while the

territory was closely monitoring the spread of the H5N1 virus in

China, it should also remain on guard for a possible outbreak at

home.

"The threat of avian flu remains ... we will remain vigilant to

protect ourselves from any outbreak of avian flu or any epidemic

diseases," Tsang said during a fiery 90-minute exchange.

Bird flu has killed more than 100 people, mainly in East Asia,

since outbreaks in 2003. Asians' fondness for poultry slaughtered

just before cooking is thought to have contributed to its spread.

The plan would see a central slaughterhouse set up in the rural

New Territories, from where chicken meat would be distributed to

retail outlets.

It is hoped to reduce human contact with potentially infected

bird waste by closing down the hundreds of stalls in public markets

where the slaughtering presently takes place.

The scheme had been mulled since an outbreak of the H5N1 virus

here in 1997 killed six people and prompted the culling of more than

two million poultry.

Tsang faced vocal opposition from lawmakers concerned for the

future of 10,000 market traders and bird handlers.

"We understand that this will bring inconvenience. We will think

of a proper compensation system," Tsang said, adding however, that

public health was his prime concern.

shw/mmc/sm

AFP 300938 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

Afghans investigate 3 deaths for bird flu link

KABUL, March 30 (Reuters) - Afghan health authorities are

investigating the death of three children on suspicion they

might have had died of bird flu, a Public Health Ministry

official said on Thursday .

The H5N1 virus was confirmed in chickens in the Afghan

capital and an eastern province this month and is assumed to

have spread to five other provinces.

The three children died in the central province of Ghor,

which has not reported any suspected cases of avian flu in

chickens.

It wasn't immediately clear when the three died and other

details of the case were sketchy.

But ministry adviser Abdullah Fahim said three children

from the same place had recently died in the remote,

mountainous province, and there had also been reports of dead

wild birds in the vicinity.

An aid group working in the area, World Vision, had

reported the deaths to the health department, he said.

"There are three confirmed cases of children dying because

of respiratory infection but the cause is not known. It's just

a suspicion," Fahim said.

The children had been buried and no samples had been taken.

Fahim said he did not believe the children had died of bird

flu, as there had been no reports of the virus in chickens in

the province.

They might have died of pneumonia, a common affliction in

the mountains at this time of year, he said.

The H5N1 avian influenza virus has spread in birds at an

alarming rate in recent months, sweeping through parts of

Europe, down into Africa and flaring anew in Asia.

It is difficult for humans to catch but has infected 186

people in eight countries and killed 105, according to the

latest World Health Organization figures.

Experts fear the virus could evolve into a form passed

easily from human to human, causing 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.

Health and agriculture officials were going to investigate

the case in remote Dahor village, to determine if the children

had been in close contact with birds, and to check on the

reports of dead birds in the area, Fahim said.

Poultry production is small in Afghanistan but many

families have a few chickens in the yard.

REUTERS

301411 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[bina]

the news was a postscript on the bottom of the tv since it was election day here; since then, non stop phone calls to vets, official vets, etc... now at 21 00 an arab worker of mine called from his village (within the 3 kilo. limit) that they have to start killing off their chickens starting on sunday... which means we may have to start with our ducks, swans, emu, geese, parakeets, local chickens and my imported (as an egg) thai fighting cock at our petting zoo....

not sure about the 30 000 chicks since they are enclosed, and maybe vaccinated (only zoos so far got the vaccine for the virulent avian flu)....

my birds and chickens are enclosed in aquarium type cages but the ducks swans and geese are in a pond area........

using some really nasty chemical stuff as a foot dip, and iodine hand wash.... just basic common sense stuff, changing shoes at work, showering right away when coming home, clothing off outside the house, etc....

it showed up as a blurb in the ma'ariv not sure if made to english newspapers since its not really news because of elections etc....

[kyselak]

Israel culls more chickens after bird flu detected

JERUSALEM, March 31 (Reuters) - Israel began culling 20,000

chickens on Friday which are believed to have been exposed to

the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus at a collective farm in southern

Israel, a government official said.

Moshe Chaimovitz, head of the Israeli Agricultural

Ministry's veterinary service, told Reuters that tests showed

the presence of H5N1 at Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, near Israel's

border with the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

"We are checking into how the outbreak occurred," he said.

Israel has culled more than 1.2 million turkeys and chickens

in several other farms after detecting the H5N1 virus for the

first time in Israel earlier this month. There have been no

human cases.

Agriculture Minister Zeev Boim said on Sunday that the

disease had been eradicated, but that another flare-up was

possible. The Israeli government approved compensation of 15

million shekel ($3.1 million) to farmers of affected areas.

The H5N1 strain has also been confirmed in poultry in the

densely populated Gaza Strip.

In a show of cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian

Authority, Israel has carried out testing on birds on behalf of

the Palestinians and said it would supply Palestinian teams with

protective clothing and professional assistance.

Cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is

becoming increasingly rare as the militant Islamist Hamas

movement swore in its government this week after winning an

election in January.

The H5N1 virus has spread from Asia to the Middle East,

Europe and Africa in recent months, with migratory birds seen as

the main culprits in spreading bird flu.

Experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that passes

easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic in which

millions could die.

Bird flu can infect people who come into close contact with

infected poultry and has killed around 100 people since late

2003.

311311 Mrz 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

23rd human bird flu death confirmed in Indonesia

JAKARTA, March 31, 2006 (AFP) - Indonesia's 23rd bird flu

fatality has been confirmed by tests carried out by the World Health

Organisation (WHO), while local tests showed another patient is

infected, a health official said Friday.

"We have just received the results and they are positive," the

health ministry's I Nyoman Kandun told AFP, referring to tests of

samples from the 23rd victim, a one-year-girl from the capital

Jakarta.

The girl died just over a week ago at Indonesia's main hospital

for bird flu patients, Sulianti Saroso, after coming into contact

with sick chickens near her house.

"We also received information today that an adult patient in

West Sumatra has tested positive," Kandun said, adding that the

patient was a 23-year-old man.

"He's still alive and being treated in Padang," the capital of

West Sumatra province, he added. The official did not know his

condition.

Local tests for the deadly H5N1 virus, which are usually

accurate, are routinely sent to WHO-affiliated laboratories in Hong

Kong or the United States for confirmation.

Indonesia has witnessed more bird flu deaths than any other

country this year, recording 12 fatalities. It has the second

highest number of fatalities reported in the world since 2003, after

Vietnam.

Most cases here have been in the capital and its surroundings,

where many people live in close proximity to poultry despite the

urban environment, but infected birds have been found in 26 of

Indonesia's 33 provinces.

The most recent previous fatalities were confirmed on March 10.

They were also children, aged three and 12.

Health authorities have already warned that they would be

ill-equipped to deal with a pandemic in the sprawling archipelago

nation.

The Indonesian government was initially accused of covering up

outbreaks in birds and has since been criticised for dragging its

feet to act against the steady march of the virus here.

Experts fear that bird flu, which has killed more than 100

people since 2003, mostly in Asia, may mutate into a form that can

pass easily between humans, sparking a pandemic with a potential

death toll of millions.

tn/sb/sst

AFP 311215 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

Tests confirm fourth Swiss bird flu case in wildfowl

GENEVA, March 31, 2006 (AFP) - Laboratory tests confirmed the

presence of the dangerous strain of H5N1 bird flu in a wild duck in

Switzerland, the fourth case so far in wildfowl here, the

authorities said Friday.

The European Union's reference laboratory in Weybridge, Britain,

identified the virus in the duck, which was found near Lake

Constance on the border with Germany, the Federal Veterinary Office

said.

Test results on 12 other birds were awaited, the office said.

The H5N1 virus spreads rapidly in the bird population. It passes

only rarely from birds to humans but when it does it can be deadly,

killing more than 100 people since late 2003.

There is no evidence that H5N1 can spread between people but

scientists fear the virus may one day mutate into a form capable of

jumping from person to person, potentially unleashing a global

pandemic.

AFP 311421 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

First human case of H5N1 bird flu in Jordan

AMMAN, March 31, 2006 (AFP) - An Egyptian worker has been

detected in Jordan as suffering from the the deadly H5N1 strain of

bird flu, the first reported human case of the virus in the country,

a health ministry source said Friday.

"The first human case of bird fly has been detected in an

Egyptian worker who arrived in Jordan on the 27th (of March). He is

hospitalised and more than likely caught the virus in Egypt," the

source said.

The report came a week after Jordan announced it found its first

case of H5N1 in three dead turkeys on a farm in the north of the

country.

hkb/al

AFP 311431 GMT MAR 06

[kyselak]

U.N. health body confirms 4 Egypt bird flu cases

CAIRO, April 3 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation

(WHO) has confirmed that four Egyptians have caught bird flu,

including two who died from the virus, an Egyptian health

ministry official said on Monday.

Nasr al-Sayyed told Reuters that a WHO laboratory in Britain

had verified the four cases. The result was received on Sunday,

he said. The Egyptian government sends samples from people it

suspects have caught the virus to the WHO for final

confirmation.

The government says a total of eight Egyptians have been

infected by bird flu. Two of those have recovered, while the

others are still being treated.

Bird flu has killed at least 105 people worldwide, according

to the most recent figures from the WHO. That figure does not

include the deaths in Egypt.

The virus was first detected in Egypt in birds in February

and has devastated the poultry industry. The government has

banned domestic rearing of fowl, but people in poor rural areas

are ignoring instructions to get rid of their poultry.

Bird flu has so far not been transmitted from human to

human, but can be caught from infected birds. Although difficult

for humans to catch, scientists fear it could mutate into a form

that can pass easily between humans.

031343 Apr 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

India fears new bird flu cases as latest slaughter ends

MUMBAI, India, April 3, 2006 (AFP) - A senior Indian official

said Monday he expected more confirmed cases of bird flu in chickens

this week despite hundreds of workers completing the latest

slaughter of 225,000 birds.

Laboratory results were due soon from samples taken in 100

villages across an area of 1,500 square kilometres (580 square

miles), said Bijay Kumar, commissioner of animal husbandry for

western Maharashtra state.

Workers were on standby to resume the slaughter if necessary, he

said.

Four hundred workers last week began killing chickens after

confirmed cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu were reported from

several villages in one district in the state.

"We are awaiting more reports. Samples from 100 villages were

sent in," said Kumar. "It cannot be that it (H5N1) is just in two

different pockets alone; it must be in more."

Maharashtra, which includes India's economic centre Mumbai, is

one of the country's largest poultry and egg producing areas.

It has been the centre of India's bird flu outbreak, first

confirmed in February. No human cases have yet been reported.

There are fears the disease might spread to humans in the

country of more than one billion people, where many live in close

contact with poultry.

The virus, which can spread from infected birds to people in

close proximity, provokes flu-like symptoms in humans. It has

claimed about 100 lives worldwide since 2003, according to the World

Health Organization (WHO).

ppy/bp/sst

AFP 031037 GMT APR 06

[kyselak]

UN wants China to teach world about bird flu

by Cindy Sui

BEIJING, April 4, 2006 (AFP) - The United Nations' top official

on bird flu urged China Tuesday to share its experience with other

countries on how to tackle the disease.

Speaking at the end of his third visit to China as UN

coordinator for avian influenza, David Nabarro said he had tried to

persuade Chinese officials that the knowledge and experience they

gained fighting bird flu could help the rest of the world.

"Perhaps the most important thing that I would wish to happen is

that Chinese officials at all levels who have been working on this

issue for many, many months ... have a chance to interact with

colleagues from governments who are just beginning to struggle, to

share with them some of the trials and tribulations they have

faced," Nabarro told reporters.

China had the world's largest poultry population, with 20

percent of the global total, UN officials said.

It had an estimated 50 percent of the world's pigs and 90

percent of the world's geese, they said. The virus is carried in

these animals as well as other poultry and wild migratory birds and

is spread to humans through close contact.

China had also undertaken the world's biggest vaccination

campaign, pledging to vaccinate all of its 14 billion poultry.

"I think there's a lot that the world can learn from China,"

Julie Hall, the UN coordinator for avian influenza in China, told

the same news conference.

Nabarro visited China to take stock of what it has done and

persuade it to contribute its expertise and information to the

global bird flu fight. He said he was "pretty satisfied" with the

government's handling of the disease.

But he added: "It's a long haul. This virus is not going to

disappear suddenly."

Nabarro pointed to the "enormously rapid" spread of the H5N1

bird flu virus in the past three months, including to Africa, Europe

and the Middle East, which made international cooperation crucial.

He noted that while 15 countries reported bird flu outbreaks in

the past two and a half years, the figure increased to 30 countries

in the past two and a half months.

China has agreed to share a batch of virus samples from its

poultry outbreaks, after not sharing any last year. The shipping

process and logistics were being worked out. Officials expected the

samples to be sent within days.

UN officials, however, emphasized they would like to see China

share more consistently, especially as the virus was changing and

scientists need to study it and find answers to many unanswered

questions.

"We need to share information and samples in a timely manner, in

a regular manner and also globally," said Henk Bekedam, the World

Health Organization's China representative.

China has reported 11 deaths from bird flu out of 16 human

infections and 34 outbreaks of bird flu among poultry since the

beginning of last year.

No poultry outbreaks have been reported in China since late

February. The warmer weather, the poultry vaccination campaign and

precautionary measures may have contributed to fewer outbreaks, said

Hall, the UN coordinator.

However, she noted the virus was still circulating in China as

new human cases have been reported recently. "It could flare up

again tomorrow."

AFP 041250 GMT APR 06

[kyselak]

Egypt reports third bird flu death

CAIRO, April 6, 2006 (AFP) - An Egyptian girl died Thursday of

the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the third fatal case in the country,

according to the official MENA news agency.

Iman Mohammed Abdel Gawad, a 16-year-old girl from the northern

governorate of Menufiya died after being rushed to hospital

Wednesday suffering from high fever and shortness of breath.

Abdel Gawad was one of two new cases reported Thursday. Her

condition was initially said to be stable.

The latest cases brought to 11 the number of Egyptians confirmed

to have been infected by the virus.

AFP 061023 GMT APR 06

[kyselak]

Egypt struggles to combat spread of bird flu to humans

CAIRO, April 6, 2006 (AFP) - A third person has died from bird

flu in Egypt, the hardest-hit non-Asian country in the world, as

health officials struggled Thursday to enforce preventive measures.

Iman Mohammed Abdel Gawad, a 16-year-old girl from the northern

governorate of Menufiya, died after being rushed to hospital

Wednesday suffering from high fever and shortness of breath, the

official MENA news agency reported.

She was one of two new cases reported Thursday, bringing to 11

to the total number of confirmed transmissions to humans in the most

populous Arab country. Two women died last month.

According to the latest figures released by the World Health

Organisation, the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed at least

108 people worldwide but experts say many cases go unreported.

The bulk of human cases were reported in the Far East and China,

where the epidemic broke out in 2003, but Egypt and Turkey have been

the most affected countries in the new wave of infections that

spread westwards this year.

"Wherever we have the virus, we expect to have human cases. It's

a highly pathogenic virus," said John Jabbour, the WHO's regional

health regulation officer.

"The transmission from poultry to humans is increasing because

of high exposure to birds and their droppings ... People need to

change their behaviour, the way they are living with poultry," he

told AFP.

While he praised the government's efforts to contain the spread

of the virus, some experts have accused the government of

insufficient planning.

"Government planning is random," said Talaat Khatib, professor

of veterinary medicine at Assiut University.

He said public awareness campaigns were too weak.

He adding that Egypt should have taken more effective action

when the virus appeared in nearby Turkey in late December, almost

two months before it was first detected in Egypt.

"When the disease reached Turkey, everyone here should have been

planning," he told AFP.

Health Minister Hatem al-Gebali said the latest victims were a

16-year-old girl and an eight-year-old child from the northern

provinces of Menufiya and Qalyubia.

They were hospitalised but are said to be in stable condition.

Two infected Egyptians have already recovered from the virus but

health officials say the Tamiflu drug is only effective if

administered within 48 hours after the infection.

In Egypt, a country where poverty is rampant and illiteracy

rates high, a more systematic approach to monitoring the disease

needs to be put in place, said Khatib.

Egypt, where urban rooftop and backyard rearings are almost a

part of national folklore, has slapped a ban on domestic poultry

farms and more than 10 million birds are believed to have been

slaughtered.

While monitoring compliance with government measures is easier

in large poultry farms, many Egyptians with small domestic farms

have been reluctant to cull their birds.

"People in the villages rely on poultry for food and income,"

Khatib said, stressing that the level of compensation offered

insufficient incentive.

The government pays around five Egyptian pounds -- less than one

dollar -- for every slaughtered bird. Egypt consumes some 800

million birds a year and exports to the entire region.

Saber Abdel Aziz Galal, a ministry of agriculture official in

charge of poultry infections, said the rising figures were

expected.

"People do not respect instructions from the authorities," he

told AFP. "They consider poultry capital and do not think about

their health."

Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, is on a

major route for migratory birds, at the crossroads between Asia and

Africa.

AFP 061037 GMT APR 06

[kyselak]

Cambodia must be alert for bird flu ahead of New Year holiday: UN

PHNOM PENH, April 6, 2006 (AFP) - The United Nations warned

Thursday that bird flu in Cambodia could become especially dangerous

during the upcoming New Year holiday, following the second death of

a child in a month.

UNICEF representative Rodney Hatfield said next week's New Year

festivities meant more people would be handling poultry, and

government offices that deal with outbreaks would be closed.

The holiday runs from April 14 to 16, but often extends for

several days on either side of those dates.

"Everybody therefore needs to be alert to the risks, to report

deaths of poultry before we have more deaths of children and to keep

children away from all poultry at all times," Hatfield said.

A 12-year-old boy died of the H5N1 strain of the virus Wednesday

after coming into contact with dead chickens, officials said.

He was the second child to be killed by bird flu in Cambodia

this year following last month's death of a toddler, and marks the

fifth time the virus has struck the impoverished country since

February.

"These two tragic events bring home yet again that bird flu is a

real and present danger in Cambodia," said the UN's resident

coordinator Douglas Gardner

He urged that bird flu awareness campaigns be stepped up,

particularly in the countryside where many people are ignorant of

the causes of the deadly illness that has killed six people in

Cambodia since 2003.

"We need to be totally engaged on awareness-raising, under the

common theme of every Cambodian needs to know how to avoid bird flu

and to report suspected cases," Gardner said.

The 12 year-old boy had been collecting dead chickens from

fields surrounding his village in eastern Prey Veng province before

he fell ill.

The World Health Organization and the Cambodian health ministry

said in a joint statement Thursday that 25 people who had contact

with the dead boy were being monitored but had no bird flu

symptoms.

"The Ministry of Health will continue to go house to house in

the affected area looking for people who have fever, cough and

contact with sick or dead chickens," the statement said.

They also said it appeared that some chickens and ducks had been

dying before the boy became ill on March 29.

Bird flu has killed more than 100 people worldwide since 2003,

mostly in Asia.

AFP 060755 GMT APR 06

[kyselak]

Vietnam finds bird flu virus in chickens smuggled from

China

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) _ Officials have found the virulent

H5N1 bird flu virus in poultry smuggled into Vietnam from

neighboring China, an official said Thursday. Truong Van

Dung, director of the National Institute of Animal Health

told the Associated Press in a telephone interview that his

agency had found the virus in one of 30 samples taken from

poultry smuggled into Vietnam through northern Lang Son

province in March. Another test showed 16 samples had bird

flu antibodies, he said. Dung said his institute is

conducting tests on 40 other samples taken from chickens

smuggled into Vietnam through northern Quang Ninh province.

Thursday's Tien Phong (Pioneer) newspaper quoted a report

at a bird flu meeting in Hanoi on Wednesday as saying that

authorities in Lang Son and Quang Ninh confiscated and

destroyed nearly 40 tons of chickens, 126,000 eggs and

1,000 ducks smuggled from China. In Beijing, Foreign

Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said he has «no

information» on bird flu-infected poultry being smuggled

into Vietnam.

060728 apr 06GMT

[kyselak]

Egypt reports two more cases of bird flu

CAIRO, April 6, 2006 (AFP) - Egypt reported two new cases of the

deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, bringing to 11 the number of human

infections in the country, the official press agency MENA said

Thursday.

Health Minister Hatem al-Gebali said the victims are a

16-year-old female and an eight-year-old child from the northern

provinces of Menufiya and Qalyubia.

Both are said to be in stable condition but have been taken to

hospital for monitoring.

According to health officials, bird flu has already killed two

people in Egypt while two other of the infected persons have already

recovered after being treated with the Tamiflu drug.

The two new cases come just a day after Egypt announced a ninth

human case, the first in the south of the country.

Infected poultry have been found in at least 19 of the 26

governorates in Egypt, the most affected country in the region.

Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, is on a

major route for migratory birds, at the crossroads between Asia and

Africa.

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

killed more than 100 people worldwide, according to the World Health

Organisation (WHO).

The highly pathogenic H5N1 was first detected in birds in Egypt

in February. The first human case was reported on March 18.

ml/jz/jmm/txw

AFP 060700 GMT APR 06

[kyselak]

Officials cull thousands of farm birds after H5N1 outbreak

BERLIN (AP) _ German authorities are culling about 30,000

farm birds in an attempt to contain the country's first

outbreak of H5N1 bird flu among domestic poultry, officials

said Thursday. About 11,000 chickens and turkeys have been

electrocuted or gassed at a farm in eastern Saxony state,

where the virus was confirmed Wednesday, state official

Albert Hauser said. The remaining 5,000 geese at the farm

in Wermsdorf, east of Leipzig, would be killed by the end

of Thursday, and officials were preparing to slaughter

another 14,000 birds at 90 farms in the surrounding area.

Authorities are also trying to trace 5 tons of meat handled

at the local slaughterhouse in the past two weeks so that

it can be destroyed. Germany is the second European Union

country, after neighboring France, to confirm H5N1 in

domestic poultry; non-EU members Romania and Albania also

have detected such cases. About 200 wild birds have been

found dead in Germany with the H5N1 virus, most of them

along the Baltic Sea coast. Hauser said it was still

unclear how the virus reached the poultry stock.

061145 apr 06GMT

[kyselak]

Tests show deadly bird flu in swan in UK-report

By Ian MacKenzie

EDINBURGH, April 6, (Reuters) - Tests have shown a wild Mute

swan found dead in a Scottish coastal town had the lethal H5N1

strain of bird flu -- Britain's first case of the disease, Sky

television reported on Thursday.

Officials from the Scottish Department of Environment said

they had not yet received the test results from the bird, found

last week.

The discovery in the swan of the highly pathogenic strain

blamed for 108 human deaths elsewhere since 2003 would make

Britain the 14th country in the European Union to find the

disease on its territory.

A laboratory in southern England was analysing samples from

the wild bird and the test results were expected to be made

public later on Thursday.

Scotland's chief veterinary officer Charles Milne said it

was not known whether the swan was from a local or migratory

flock.

The partially eaten carcass of the swan was found in Fife,

eastern Scotland, late on March 29 and received by the

laboratory in Weybridge, Surrey, on March 31, he added.

Milne said there was no indication of infections in domestic

poultry, and no reason to believe the carcass had been partially

eaten by a domestic animal.

Officials have set up a 3-km (1.8-mile) protection zone

around where the swan was found.

Owners of birds within the zone have been told to take them

indoors. A further 10-km surveillance zone is in force.

Government officials reviewed bird flu contingency plans at

a London meeting on Thursday and concluded that "all relevant

steps are being taken."

Bird flu remains essentially an animal disease, but can

infect people who come into direct contact with infected birds.

Milne said properly prepared poultry and poultry products

are entirely safe for human consumption.

"The risk to humans has not changed by the fact that we have

found the virus in the UK," doctor Jim Robertson from the

National Institutes for Biological Standards and Control, told a

news conference in London.

However, Bob McCracken, past president of the British

Veterinary Association, said contact between wild birds that may

be infected and poultry should be kept to a minimum.

"We also have to work on the assumption that there is some

spread among wild birds. "There is no doubt we are getting

closer to the day when moving birds indoors will be necessary,"

he said.

Scientists said they were confident that surveillance for

possible cases of the disease was good enough.

REUTERS

061401 Apr 06

ENDOFMSG

[kyselak]

Nigerian H5N1 bird flu outbreak spreads to Lagos

By Estelle Shirbon

ABUJA, April 6 (Reuters) - The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus

has been found in backyard poultry and at a commercial farm in

Lagos, Africa's largest city which is home to about 13 million

people, health officials said on Thursday.

The latest discovery of the virus hundreds of miles from

Nigeria's first infection indicates the disease is defeating

measures to contain it and raises the prospect of much wider

human contact with infected birds.

"We are taking samples from humans who had contact with

infected poultry in Lagos state and sending them to the virology

lab," said Jide Coker of the Health Ministry, who is

coordinating the response in Lagos and neighbouring Ogun state.

H5N1 has been confirmed at Agege Farm, a commercial poultry

farm in the Ikeja area of mainland Lagos, and in backyard

poultry in Victoria Island, an exclusive business district on

the Atlantic coast, he said.

A government-run bird flu crisis centre in the capital Abuja

said it did not have information about the Lagos outbreak.

The deadly strain has now been confirmed in poultry in 13 of

Nigeria's 36 states and in the Federal Capital Territory, but no

human case has been detected in Africa's most populous country.

Millions of Nigerians keep chickens in their backyards and

most poultry is transported and sold live because the majority

of people do not have access to refrigerators. This has raised

fears of widespread contact between infected birds and humans.

Analysts say a weak health-care system and Nigeria's high

mortality rate could mean that human cases go unreported.

Nigeria was the first country in Africa to report an

outbreak of H5N1, which has killed at least 108 people in Asia

and the Middle East since 2003.

For now, the strain can pass from birds to humans but not

between humans. Scientists fear it could mutate to a form that

can pass easily between humans. This could cause a global flu

pandemic and kill millions of people.

The H5N1 strain was first confirmed in Nigeria on Feb. 8 in

the northern state of Kaduna. It spread rapidly across the

country despite efforts to contain it. Burkina Faso became the

fifth African country to confirm the presence of H5N1 this week.

Nigeria has ordered measures such as culling, quarantine and

a transport ban on live poultry in affected areas to contain the

disease, but poor coordination and infrastructure has slowed the

implementation.

The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has

helped Nigerian laboratories increase their capacity to detect

bird flu in both poultry and humans, and some samples have also

been sent to labs in Europe.

The World Bank last month approved a $50 million credit for

Nigeria to help prevent the spread of bird flu.

061417 Apr 06

ENDOFMSG