12/17 H5N1: Romania/ Food Shortages

Romania detects new bird flu cases in domestic fowl
17 Dec 2005 12:34:06 GMT

Source: Reuters

BUCHAREST, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Romania has detected new cases of bird flu in domestic fowl in a village 90 km (60 miles) east of Bucharest, indicating that the virus could be spreading towards the capital, officials said on Saturday.

Since October, the Balkan country has found avian flu in 21 villages in and around the Danube delta, a stopping point for migratory birds, and nine cases have been confirmed as being the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus.

But the delta is some 300 km from Bucharest and the disease has not appeared close to large cities.

"There's a new outbreak in the village of Marsilieni, in Ialomita county," Nicolae Stefan, head of the Animal Health and Diagnosis Institute, told Reuters. "We detected the H5 type of virus in domestic fowl.

Stefan said local experts had also found the H5 strain of bird flu in hens which had died in the village of Reviga, some 100 km from Bucharest.

He said both villages had been placed in quarantine and all domestic fowl would be culled as a precautionary move. Samples from dead birds would be sent to a British laboratory to find out whether they were infected with the H5N1 strain.

H5N1 is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia where it has killed more than 70 people since late 2003. Experts say a flu pandemic among humans could kill millions around the globe and cause massive economic losses.

On Thursday, Romania warned that migratory birds possibly carrying the virus were heading towards the country's southern neighbour, Bulgaria.

The H5N1 virus remains hard for people to catch, but there are fears it could mutate into a form easily transmissible among humans. There have been no cases in people outside Asia.

Bird flu control long-term task: Vice Premier

www.chinaview.cn 2005-12-17 00:36:29


BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The prevention and control of bird flu is still a long-term and arduous task for the Chinese people though initial achievements have been made so far this year, Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said here Friday.

"We must remain alert to possible outbreak or spread of the epidemic and win the 'tough battle'," he said at the fourth meeting of the national headquarters for bird flu prevention and control, which Hui serves as the head.

Some 30 outbreaks of bird flu have been reported in 11 provinces and regions of China so far this year, with six human cases of bird flu confirmed.

The successive bird flu outbreaks in certain regions have been effectively contained and the frequency of outbreaks has dropped significantly. "People in the bird flu-hit areas are in a good mood and their production and lives are sound," the vice premier said.

However, he cautioned, that potential triggers of bird flu outbreaks remain in winter, during which the bird flu virus is highly active. The country's bird flu prevention and control systems are to be improved.

"We have to fully understand the long-term nature and arduousness of the campaign, remain highly vigilant and prepared to reinforce the results made and win the 'tough battle' against bird flu."

He urged people to strictly carry out the epidemic monitoring, diagnosis and reporting system, and improve quarantines, vaccine research and poultry raising conditions.

As the News Year's Day and the Spring Festival approach, the vice premier stressed that poultry and poultry product markets should be put under intensified supervision to ensure food safety.

Flu pandemic could mean food shortages, peers warn ·
Illness among key workers 'threatens deliveries'
· New cabinet committee to be chaired by Hewitt

James Meikle, health correspondent
Friday December 16, 2005
The Guardian

A flu pandemic could spark food shortages and panic buying as key workers such as truck drivers fell ill and were unable to make vital deliveries, peers warned yesterday.
Better contingency planning was needed to ensure oil and food supplies were protected and the health service avoided collapse, and millions more doses of antiviral drugs should probably be ordered to quell the threat if a global health catastrophe hit Britain, they said.
A House of Lords inquiry questioned whether the 14.6m courses of drugs ordered to arrive by the summer would be enough. Peers were also concerned at "half-hearted" support for international efforts to limit the bird flu outbreaks in south-east Asia.
Lord Broers, who chaired the Lords science and technology committee inquiry, insisted it was not "highly critical" of the government. Britain was among the best prepared countries if avian flu mutated into a pandemic form. "However, we would still be in a mess," he said. The government needed to issue fuller guidance to frontline health workers and to protect other essential services such as food distribution networks. "We need stronger cross-departmental leadership, with a cabinet-level minister for contingency planning."

He told a press conference the Cabinet Office had chosen not to send a minster to the inquiry. "In the event of a pandemic, the health service could see over a million new cases a day. There is a risk the service could collapse under the strain."

Lord Mitchell warned that if a pandemic occurred, "it is going to affect everybody in all walks of life. Distribution networks, as we saw through the [2002] petrol crisis, are very finely balanced, and any interruption can affect it quite dramatically. In the case of food being delivered, the people who drive lorries, who stack goods in the supermarket, if there is absenteeism of a third or something like that, it will have a significant effect."

Lord Broers said ministers had ordered enough antivirals to treat a quarter of the population after they fell ill, on the assumption that a future pandemic would be similar to previous outbreaks. "Next time could be worse, or it could be better."

The Department of Health later said a new cabinet committee chaired by the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, would co-ordinate cross-government working "at the highest level." Pandemic plans, including those for antivirals, were very flexible and under constant review.

Latest bird flu cases in humans
16 Dec 2005 17:32:47 GMT

Source: Reuters


Dec 16 (Reuters) - China has reported a sixth person has become infected with the potentially fatal bird flu virus.

The latest victim is a 35-year-old man from Jiangxi Province in the east of the country. He is in hospital and is receiving intensive care, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

Following is a list of confirmed human cases of H5N1. The figures are from the WHO in Geneva. Total cases includes survivors.

Deaths Total cases CAMBODIA 4 4 CHINA 2 6 INDONESIA 9 14 THAILAND 14 22 VIETNAM 42 93 ------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 71 139 -----------------

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 primarily 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.

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<B><font size=+1 color=red><center>Indonesia confirms new bird flu death</font>

12/17/2005 -- 21:39(GMT+7)
<A href="http://www.vnanet.vn/NewsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=33&NEWS_ID=179343">www.vnanet.vn</a></center>
Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesian Health Minister Siti Supari on Dec. 16 said that a 39-year-old man had died of bird flu virus. </b>

However, samples were still being tested by the World Health Organisation-affiliated laboratory in Hong Kong to determine if the man died of the H5N1 strain, he said.

If confirmed, the man would be the ninth fatality from avian influenza in the country.-Enditem

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<B><font size=+1 color=brown><center>London laboratory confirms bird flu in Crimea</font>

15:48 | 17/ 12/ 2005
<A href="http://en.rian.ru/world/20051217/42536283.html">RIA Novosti</a></center>
KIEV, December 17 (RIA Novosti) - A London laboratory has confirmed the presence of the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus that is extremely dangerous for humans in the Crimea, a Black Sea autonomy, the Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy said Saturday. </b>

A Russian laboratory confirmed this earlier.

The Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry said bird flu had been registered in 15 Crimean settlements.

More than 62,000 birds were removed from farms and killed. No humans have been diagnosed with the bird flu virus.

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<B><font size=+1 color=green><center>Bulgarian Minister of Public Administration: District Governors Warned of Bird Flu Threat</font>

17 December 2005
<A href="http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?catid=74&newsid=78815&ch=0&datte=2005-12-17"> FOCUS News Agency </a></center>
Pamporovo. All district governors from Eastern and Northeastern Bulgaria have been warned of a bird flu threat, Bulgarian Minister of Public Administration and Administrative Reform Nikolay Vasilev told journalists at a seminar in Pamporovo (central part of Southern Bulgaria), a reporter of FOCUS News Agency said.</b>

Nikolay Vasilev talked yesterday with Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Nihat Kabil, who informed him that birds flying into Bulgaria could spread the bird flu virus. Nikolay Vasilev announced that all district crisis staffs were ready to react and he maintained a constant contact with them.
ILINA GRIGOROVA

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<B><font size=+1 color=blue><center>Bird flu sickens man in China, kills 1 in Indonesia </font>

December 17, 2005
<A href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-birdflu17.html">suntimes.com</a></center>
BEIJING -- China reported its sixth human bird flu case Friday as Indonesia awaited tests that could confirm its 10th human victim.</b>

Chinese state media said a 35-year-old man in eastern China had become infected with the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of the virus after an outbreak was reported in ducks in his village.

In Indonesia, local tests showed that a 39-year-old man had died of bird flu earlier this week in the capital, Jakarta, a senior health ministry official said Friday.

The virus has ravaged poultry stocks across Asia since 2003 and killed at least 71 people. AP

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<B><font size=+1 color=purple><center>UK 'must boost' preparations for bird flu</font>

December 17 2005
<A href="http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=209020">Reuters</a></center>
Britain must improve its contingency planning for a possible bird flu outbreak and give greater support to global efforts to prevent a pandemic, a parliamentary committee said yesterday.</b>

Experts say a flu pandemic among humans could kill millions around the globe and cause major economic losses. The deadly H5N1 virus is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia where it has killed 71 people since late 2003.

The committee said Britain should contribute more to improve surveillance of avian flu in Asia and ensure a rapid response to an outbreak of a new virus strain to prevent it spreading.

It also said Britain should urgently look at how antiviral drugs can best be used, revise its purchasing policy and provide more detailed guidance for health workers.

"A flu pandemic looks likelier now than at any time since the 1960s," said Lord Broers, chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, which has no power to force the government to act.

"But it's not inevitable and with coordinated international action it can still be prevented. The government must put its weight behind UN agencies working in south east Asia."

He said Britain had a head start on many countries in contingency planning.

"But the government could still do better, both by issuing fuller guidance to frontline health workers and by protecting essential services such as food distribution networks," he said.

He suggested the creation of a cabinet-level post with responsibility for contingency planning.

The report also warned that local health services could collapse under the strain and recommended that the government accelerate vaccine production and possibly even encourage manufacturers to invest in new technology.

Britain should also provide cash, staff and technical expertise to boost its "half-hearted" backing of international efforts to fight a possible pandemic, said Lord Broers.

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<B><center>December 17, 2005
<A href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200512/17/eng20051217_228811.html">People's Daily</a>

<font size=+1 color=red>Malawi in bird flu scare as thousands of birds die </font></center>
Malawi was on Friday hit with the country's major scare of bird flu after thousands of birds mysteriously died in a hill in the central district of Ntchisi, some 200 km east of the capital, Lilongwe, a senior agriculture official told journalists. </b>

Malawi's Director of Livestock and Animal Health, Wilfred Lipita, said the government had sent tissue samples of birds to a laboratory in South Africa following the mysterious mass death of the birds.

"We are sending the samples from these birds to South Africa for analysis as South Africa is the only country in the Southern Africa that has labs to detect avian flu," he said.

Lipita said several thousands of the Fork-tailed Drongo started dropping dead in Mwera Hills in the district earlier this week.

He added that local people in the area started collecting the dead birds to eat before some people informed the police.

"We sent officials to caution the people not to eat them since the dead birds might have the avian flu which has proved deadly to humans in other countries," the agriculture official said.

Lipita said Malawi has not known case of avian flu but added that although birds sometimes drop dead from unknown causes it was very unusual for birds to die in thousands in a short time.

District Commissioner for Ntchisi, Daniel Phiri, told journalists that he suspected that the birds might have traveled from a long distance.

"One of the birds had a ring with inscription numbers and the word Israel," he told a local paper, The Nation, on Friday.

The Malawi government has since set up a task force for rapid response in case bird flu is confirmed in the country.

Meanwhile the government has issued a statement advising people to avoid eating birds found dead but to report such incidences to police or veterinary authorities for investigations.

BREWER

Shakey: Thanks for the continuous flow of info.

BUMP