12/08 H5N1: Ukraine/ Wild Birds DON'T Spread It?/ USA Pandemic Exercise

From Ireland OnLine (www.iol.ie)

Ukraine sends bird flu samples to UK for tests
08/12/2005 - 10:54:37

Ukraine today forwarded bird flu samples to a British laboratory to test for the deadly H5N1 strain, blaming turmoil in the state veterinary department for the five-day delay.

“We’ve sent them only today as it is a long process to prepare samples and besides our vet department was out of control,” said Oleksandr Horobets, spokesman for the Agricultural Ministry.

Officials on Saturday said the dead birds had tested positive for the H5 subtype of avian influenza, prompting President Viktor Yushchenko to declare a state of emergency in the affected villages.

The country’s chief veterinarian was fired yesterday after Yushchenko accused him of negligence.

Horobets said the test results were expected in 10 days.

Bird flu not spread by wild migrants-green group
08 Dec 2005 08:46:32 GMT

Source: Reuters


By Ed Stoddard

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A conservation group said on Thursday that there was little evidence to back the view that migrating wildfowl were spreading bird flu and that eastern Europe's outbreak probably stemmed from poultry imports.

"As the year draws to a close, millions of wild birds have flown to their wintering sites across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas without the widely predicted outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu associated with their migration routes," BirdLife International said in a statement.

"The most obvious explanation is that migrating wild birds are not spreading the disease," said Dr Michael Rands, Director and Chief Executive of BirdLife.

The bird flu virus has killed nearly 70 people in four Asian countries since 2003 leading to mass culls of birds.

Officials say the H5N1 virus could spread to new countries through migratory birds from China, Mongolia, Vietnam and Russia -- which have reported major outbreaks.

The avian flu has been discovered in Romania and Ukraine and bird tissue samples were sent to Britain and elsewhere to determine whether an outbreaks there is H5N1.

But BirdLife said no "smoking gun" had been detected among wild birds in the region.

"The limited outbreaks in eastern Europe are on southerly migration routes but are more likely to be caused by other vectors such as the import of poultry or poultry products. The hypothesis that wild birds are to blame is simply far from proven," said Rands.

"Wild birds occasionally come into contact with infected poultry and die: they are the victims not vectors of H5N1 bird flu," he said.

BirdLife said banning the movement of poultry and related products from infected areas and restricting the global trade in captive birds were the best prevention methods.

"Migratory wild birds were blamed for spreading bird flu west from Asia, yet there's been no spread back eastwards, nor to South Asia and Africa this autumn," BirdLife said.

The H5N1 strain has not been detected in Africa yet but experts say uncovering it in the region's rural areas will be difficult because of poor logistics and already high mortality rates among the continent's backyard chickens.

Food Industry minimally affected by bird flu

www.chinaview.cn 2005-12-08 13:15:30

BEIJING, Dec. 8 -- The Bird flu is currently ravaging several provinces in China. However, in contrast to the SARS outbreak of 2003, the Bird Flu has so far only had a limited impact on Chinese people's daily life and, most importantly, has only minimally affected the overall hospitality industry.

While the global outbreak of the bird flu has removed bird meats from many dining tables, the food industry in China has taken significant measures to address the effects of the outbreak and the industry's total revenue for the first ten months of this year have reached 87.5 billion US dollars, an increase of 17 percent on the same period last year.

Nevertheless, the restaurants serving mainly bird meats are feeling the impact of the outbreak.

Li Qian has been working in a company in Beijing. Once a regular customer at a nearby KFC, she now chooses instead to go to another restaurant which serves mainly noodles quite a distance away.

"I did not pay much attention at the beginning of the epidemic, but now people are starting to be infected by the virus. I know that there has not yet been an outbreak in Beijing of the bird flu. However, I would prefer not eating bird meat for a while." Li said.

Many people in China currently share Li Qian's concerns and customer numbers have decreased in restaurants mainly serving bird meats. Boasting over 1,500 outlets in China, US fast food giant KFC has witnessed a sharp fall in takings for October this year.

Meanwhile, these restaurants have taken considerable action in an attempt to calm worried diners. KFC assures its customers that all its raw ingredients have been approved by the relevant government department.

The well-known Beijing Quanjude Restaurant, famous for its roast duck, has also pledged to ensure the safety of its ingredients.

Liu Jianping, a manager of the restaurant, says that they are taking appropriate measures to address the situation.

"The restaurant are now offering a range of non-bird meat dishes, such as roast pork chops, to meet our customers' needs. Other new dishes will also soon be available in our chain stores." said Liu.

In the bird flu ravaged Anhui Province, where two human deaths have been reported, many have replaced bird meats with beef and mutton.

While, many restaurants offering bird meats have maintained stable customer numbers, many of whom are now confident in the ability of the authorities to control the outbreak.

Furthermore, many restaurants in China not offering bird meats have also taken preventive action, amending their policies in purchasing and storing ingredients.

Copyright (c) 2005 The Daily Star

Thursday, December 08, 2005
Bird flu prevention in U.A.E. begins at falcon hospital


By Agence France Presse (AFP)


SWEIHAN, United Arab Emirates: Three peregrine falcons drugged with anesthetic are perched quietly on the floor of the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital awaiting their turn to be checked for bird flu.

They were confiscated at Abu Dhabi airport where their owners tried to smuggle them in with forged documentation, according to the hospital.

Although no cases of bird flu have been reported yet in the U.A.E., authorities in the country's capital Abu Dhabi are taking no chances.

An elaborate prevention program has been rolled out and a contingency plan involving the army drawn up to face the threat of the disease, which has killed nearly 70 people in Asia since 2003.

All exotic birds and raptors such as falcons have been banned from entering the country and authorities are keeping close tabs on the comings and goings of the local stock of falcons using a mandatory registration system.

Emiratis, who are passionate falconers, can only train their falcons inside the country and are forced to practice the sport itself in places like Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Morocco as Asian destinations are off limits this year due to the risk of bird flu.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has surfaced in Kuwait as well as in China, Croatia, Romania, Indonesia and elsewhere since October.

"Falconers and falcons have close contact. The falcon is like a child for them, it's

part of the family," says German doctor Margit Muller, director of the falcon hospital, located in the desert town of Sweihan near Abu Dhabi.

She says falcons can catch avian flu if they fly behind or hunt infected birds, a real risk given that the U.A.E. is on the path of migrating birds and given the possibility some falconers may not abide by the rules.

"There is a possibility, we cannot rule it out," says the Bavarian vet, recruited four years ago to head the state-owned hospital, the largest of its kind in the region.

In addition to treating nearly 4,000 falcons a year, the hospital has a quarantine facility for suspect birds of prey and a sophisticated laboratory to test for avian flu in all birds.

Muller says the laboratory currently runs almost 1,000 test samples per day from all over the U.A.E., but can double that if need be.

"This gives us the chance to detect it in a few hours even if it's H5N1," she says over the shrieks of a falcon being treated in a nearby room.

Muller says the U.A.E. is taking the lead in the Gulf in terms of its readiness to tackle the threat of bird flu.

A national committee is heading the effort, which so far has involved closing down live poultry shops inside cities, inspecting farms, training municipal and health workers on how to deal with the disease and launching a public awareness campaign.

Migrating birds are also being tested and quarantine facilities to house suspect birds are being built around coastal areas and at airports, says Majid al-Mansouri, the committee's secretary general.

He dismisses the threat of bird flu from falcons, arguing that unlike most Far Eastern countries, residents of the U.A.E. rarely come into contact with live poultry, which is bred at state-of-the-art farms outside city limits.

Mansouri says the only threat to the U.A.E. would be an Asian bird flu pandemic given the country's dependence on low-income workers from southeast Asia. - AFP

Romania reports new cases of suspected bird flu
08 Dec 2005 09:12:20 GMT

Source: Reuters

BUCHAREST, Dec 8 (Reuters) - New suspected cases of bird flu have been found in southeast Romania, close to the Danube delta where the deadly strain of the virus was first detected in October, officials said on Thursday.

Avian flu has since been found in a dozen villages in and around the delta, which is Europe's largest wetland and lies on a major migratory route for wild birds.

"Preliminary tests on hens in three chicken farms in the village of Zavoaia in Braila county showed that it is possible that they have bird flu," Gabriel Predoi, an official from Romania's Animal Health Agency, told Reuters.

"But we have to run more detailed tests to see whether it is indeed bird flu."

Three outbreaks have been confirmed as the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain which has killed 69 people in Asia. Samples from other outbreaks are still being examined in Britain but officials say it is likely that they are of the same strain.

The three chicken farms in Zavoaia, which is near two other villages in Braila county where bird flu was discovered last week, have been quarantined.

Disinfection checkpoints have been installed on all roads out of the county.

Officials warned that high temperatures for this time of the year mean the peak migration period for wild birds would be longer, increasing contamination risks, and told villagers to keep domestic birds isolated.

The Danube delta on the Black Sea lies on a route millions of wild birds use to migrate towards warmer winter climates in North Africa.

Neighbouring Ukraine began culling birds at the weekend after finding avian flu in the Crimean peninsula.

Scientists fear H5N1 could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans and that millions could die in a pandemic. So far there is no sign the virus has changed in this way.

Romania has reported no cases of bird flu in humans so far.

Dutch to lift bird-flu measures in January
08 Dec 2005 10:47:02 GMT

Source: Reuters


AMSTERDAM, Dec 8 (Reuters) - A ban in the Netherlands on keeping some poultry and other birds outdoors to prevent them from catching bird flu from migrating birds will be lifted on January 1, the farm ministry said on Thursday.

"The peak period for bird migration is almost over and the monitoring of wild birds has not found any contamination," a ministry spokeswoman said.

"The (agriculture) minister has decided to lift the measures but will make a final assessment of the situation at around mid-December," she added.

In August, the Dutch ministry ordered farm poultry to be kept indoors in high risk areas where chickens were exposed to contact with wild birds. It later told Dutch citizens who keep a few chickens or other birds as a hobby to keep them indoors too.

The H5N1 avian influenza virus, which is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia and has killed at least 67 people, has been found in birds in eastern Europe and fears grew that migratory flocks might spread the disease further.

European Union veterinary experts said last month they would allow member countries to scale down measures to minimise the risk of bird flu but warned they should be prepared for Europe's next major influx of migratory birds next spring.

The Netherlands, one of the world's leading poultry exporters, suffered a bird flu outbreak in 2003 that prompted the culling of 30 million birds, more than one-third of all Dutch poultry, and led to one human death.

U.S. grapples with bird flu preparations

Wed Dec 7, 2005 10:49 PM GMT


By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday planned an exercise to see just how poorly prepared the country is to cope with a avian flu pandemic, even as lawmakers in Congress debated how much to spend for U.S. preparations.

The H5N1 avian influenza virus is spreading steadily among poultry, pushing westward out of Asia into Europe.

Health officials fear it will mutate, become easily transmitted among humans and spread rapidly around the world, killing tens of millions of people.

If this happens, governments and experts agree it will crash economies, damage industry and transform entire societies as they hunker down to cope with the damage. Officials also agree that no country is adequately prepared for such a disaster.

"We have done much to plan for a pandemic, but planning alone is not enough," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

"Plans must be tested and improved upon. To that end, the administration will conduct an exercise on pandemic preparations and response this Saturday morning from 8 a.m. until noon. This will involve top Cabinet and other government officials, and will be conducted here at the White House."

The White House gave no details on what the exercise would include. A simple tabletop exercise is an analysis of an emergency scenario that resembles a board game that is designed to elicit possible solutions.

The virus is known to have infected just 135 people since 2003 but has killed more than half of them. World health experts are worried about how affected nations can even keep track of the spread of the virus, let alone battle it.

LOOKING FOR FUNDS

President George W. Bush has asked Congress to allocate $7.1 billion to fund his administration's bird flu plan, but no measure has passed.

Congress has been working to approve the funds before recessing this month for a month-long winter break.

But conservative Republicans have been alarmed by deficit spending made worse with huge costs ahead for rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina hit last August.

"We don't want to walk away having done nothing. But you don't necessarily throw $7 billion at it," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, a California Republican, told reporters.

Democrats have countered that the $6 billion being spent each month to wage war in Iraq is not being offset with domestic spending cuts and neither should avian flu and hurricane aid money.

California Democrats Tom Lantos and Nancy Pelosi said they would introduce "comprehensive" bird flu legislation in the House of Representatives that would include funding for Asian countries. "Our bill will dramatically scale up our nation's efforts to stop an avian flu pandemic at its roots," Lantos said in a statement.

The U.S. government is working to stockpile antiviral drugs, but it will take years to make and buy enough and there are questions about how effective they can be against a pandemic flu.

The U.S. plan also calls for accelerated vaccine development, but better vaccine facilities will take years to build and depend almost entirely on private companies.

Public health experts say little has been done to address more immediate issues such as a lack of hospital space, basic supplies and planning for school closings and workplace absences.

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