11/28/07-12/4/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread:Simple measures 'may thwart flu'

Link to Last Weeks Thread:

HEALTH - 11/20/07-11/27/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread:Second case of bird flu found in England

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?p=2610024#post2610024

Johns Hopkins on influenza:

http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/33/450/Rashid Chotani.pdf

National Avian Influenza Surveillance Information:

http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/ai/

CDC

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/index.htm

WHO

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/index.html

CIDRAP

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/

Official U.S. Government Web site

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

FAO

http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjects/en/health/diseases-cards/special_avian.html

Public Health Agency of Canada

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/influenza/avian_qa_e.html

European Union

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/dyna/influenza/country_en.htm

The World Bank

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXT...68427~piPK:64168435~theSitePK:1793593,00.html

Simple measures 'may thwart flu'​

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7114517.stm

Simple physical measures, such as handwashing and wearing masks, could play a key role in blocking the spread of a flu pandemic, say researchers.

The UK government is doubling its stockpile of antiviral medicines in preparation for any future pandemic.

But researchers believe simple, low- cost physical measures should be given higher priority.

The study, led by Australia's Bond University, features online in the British Medical Journal.

Scientists believe a flu pandemic is inevitable at some point in the future. There are also concerns about the spread of potentially fatal respiratory diseases such as Sars.

There is mounting evidence to suggest the use of vaccines and antiviral drugs will be insufficient to interrupt the spread of flu.

The latest research examined 51 studies on the effect of simple physical measures on preventing respiratory infections. Several of the studies focused specifically on the Sars outbreak in South-East Asia in 2003.

The researchers found handwashing and wearing masks, and gloves and gowns all had a positive effect - and were even more effective when combined.

The researchers concluded that, in combination with measures such as isolation of infected patients, they could potentially provide an important defence against a pandemic.

More research needed

They argue that national governments should carry out more research into their use.

Researcher Dr Tom Jefferson said: "Worried about the flu? Then we have some good news for you.

"Wash your hands, and if it is a really bad epidemic avoid contact with people and keep your distance. You may even consider wearing paper masks and disposable gloves. They work.

"Soap and water is cheap and if you come from a poor country it could save your life or your baby's life."

Dr Martin Dawes, a family medicine expert at McGill University, Montreal, said there had been a lack of research into the best way to prevent spread of respiratory pandemics.

Although 336 trials on influenza have been registered on the World Health Organization international clinical trials registry, only three trials are about reducing transmission by keeping a physical distance from patients, or using barrier methods.

He said: "Because pandemic flu is such a potentially catastrophic event, governments worldwide should have commissioned such a review many years ago and not have left it to the academic community to take the lead."

Professor John Oxford, chair of the Hygiene Council and an expert in respiratory diseases based at Queen Mary College School of Medicine, agreed that barrier methods had a role to play.

However, he said the UK government was right to emphasise the primary importance of stockpiling antivirals and vaccines.

"Any suggestion that a bit of handwashing could replace the need for vaccines and antiviral drugs would be dangerous and foolhardy."

# The Department of Health is launching a campaign to reduce the spread of colds, flu and other viruses.

The Catch It, Bin It, Kill It campaign emphasises the need to cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough and sneeze, dispose of the tissue as soon as possible after use, and clean your hands at the first available opportunity.

Remember the pandemic threat? (Some) IT planners do​

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9049438

November 28, 2007 (Computerworld) -- The avian flu has a plot line similar to a Stephen King novel. It's a menacing presence, mysterious and somewhat hidden, striking in out-of-way places and threatening broader havoc -- a global evil. And until this year it was a bestseller in newsrooms, spurring headlines that raised public attention and spurred organizations to plan for it.

But media interest in the threat of a pandemic has fallen off. In a report this summer about pandemic planning, the White House said that attention to the pandemic has "waned in the media," while "the threat of avian influenza and the potential for an influenza pandemic has not."

The U.S. Government Accountability Office followed up in a report last month, and said the challenge for many organizations is "maintaining a focus on pandemic planning due to the uncertainty of when a pandemic may occur" and the need to address more immediate issues.

"There's been a bit of what we call pandemic fatigue," said Dr. Myles Druckman, vice president of medical assistance of International SOS, a health and safety consulting service with some 4,500 employees worldwide. "When it fell out of the media, it also fell out of a lot of clients' priority list ... because now they weren't being pushed, not only by the media but by their employees," he said.

In interviews of attendees at the Gartner Inc.'s data center conference this week in Las Vegas, IT managers said they were nonetheless continuing to prepare for the potential.

Just a few months ago, Bob Kallas, a director of computer support services at a company he didn't want named, said his firm conducted a test to see how many workers it could support remotely. The company picked a day and then told several hundred employees to work from home. "We want to measure readiness to be able to support the company," he said.

Richard Siedzik, the director of computer and telecommunications services at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI, says pandemic planning continues at his university, with bi-monthly meetings held specifically to address the issue. From an IT perspective, he said, the major planning issue remains continuing operations if the university is forced to close, which mostly means ensuring there's enough remote access capacity on various systems.

But Siedzik said IT is only a small part of the overall planning challenge. For instance, the university has to prepare for the possibility that some students won't be able to return home because of quarantines in their community. "We have to make arrangements to sustain students on our campus," he said.

Chuck Conway, IT operations manager at an energy firm he didn't identify, said pandemic planning has become part of the company's overall business continuity planning, and he said they have examined their capacity to support remote workers and have developed scenarios. He said increased media attention on this issue may prompt more IT spending to build out even more capacity, but for now "we can live with what we have."

The avian influenza has killed a little more than 200 people, about half in Indonesia. The fear is that the virus will change into something that's easily spread by people, touching off a global pandemic.

Earlier this fall, financial services groups along with the U.S. Department of Treasury conducted a three-week planning scenario, and planned for pandemic that would kill about 1.7 million people in the U.S. and hospitalize 9 million. About 10,000 people from 3,000 companies participated in what may have been largest test of its kind in the world.

But when organizers held a press conference to announce preliminary details from the test, it received little in the way of press attention, except from trade publications, said Jim Binder, a spokesman for The Operations Clearing Corp., a Chicago-based provider of derivatives clearing and settlement service. Binder was involved in the overall organizing effort. "It's not as sensational to talk about bird flu today as it was a year ago," he said.

The avian flu remains a focal point of a number of diligent blogs. Among them is the H5N1 blog maintained by Crawford Kilian, a writer who teaches at a Canadian college. In response to some questions, he wrote in a note: "Business planning for a pandemic is like making your will -- because you have to contemplate something awful, you'd rather not contemplate it at all. So if the media aren't nagging us, we'll put it off. The Catch-22 is that they won't nag us unless people are dying daily and in growing numbers."

WHO MEETING MAKES SLOW PROGRESS ON PREPAREDNESS
FOR AVIAN FLU PANDEMIC​

http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/07-11-28/story3.htm

Government health officials made limited progress in an attempt to find common ground on avian flu preparedness, despite four days of talks under the direction of the World Health Organization last week. Negotiations on improving surveillance and promoting vaccine research and development bogged down amidst procedural concerns and differing views, leaving many countries unhappy.

Following the meeting's failure to develop a better virus sharing system, Indonesia, the country hardest hit by avian flu, declared on 23 November that it would suspend sharing avian flu virus samples with the WHO's Global Influenza Surveillance Network (GISN).

While opening discussions on 20 November in Geneva, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said that "shared vulnerability means shared responsibility." She warned that in the event of a global pandemic, the entire international community must "brace themselves for a meltdown of public services… with no unaffected parts of the world."

By the end of the week, she said that final decisions were "so close and yet so far away," though she praised the process and told negotiators "no one can fault you for not trying."

The intergovernmental meeting (IGM) was mandated by the World Health Assembly earlier this year to "identify and propose frameworks and mechanisms that aim to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits" in efforts to ensure preparedness for pandemic avian flu.

The IGM set out to discuss the international stockpile of influenza vaccines against strains of the virus. Concerns about vaccine production and the international stockpile are growing, because the avian flu is a rapidly changing virus that could mutate into a form easily spread by human-to-human transmission.

Chan stressed that sharing samples of the virus within a global system was "the only way to monitor the emergence of drug-resistant strains."

A majority of delegations agreed that there are faults with the current GISN, which was created by the WHO in 1952 to provide analysis, recommendations, and surveillance regarding "influenza viruses with pandemic potential." Several countries, particularly from Asia, expressed dissatisfaction with how virus samples within the system had been used. Sources say that there have been repeated violations of WHO operating procedures in recent years. Samples donated by governments within the GISN framework are supposed to be used at WHO-approved laboratories and influenza centers. Labs must receive permission from a country before sending specimens outside the system -- a requirement that aims to provide countries with some control over their biological materials. However, WHO collaborating centres have reportedly transferred samples from Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Mongolia to non-GISN research institutions as well companies interested in pandemic vaccine development without the respective governments' permission. Both WHO approved labs and commercial firms outside the system have sought - and in some cases received - patents on these materials.

In response to claims that the flu monitoring network had been violating WHO rules, the IGM planned to revise the terms of reference for labs and centers within the GISN, and develop standard sharing practices and strengthened oversight mechanisms. Delegates emphasised that they should develop a fair, transparent, and equitable influenza preparedness system.

Indonesian Health Minister Siti Supari on 20 November told delegates that private companies had used Vietnamese virus samples to produce vaccines that Vietnam itself could not afford. Such improper use of specimens given to the WHO "could threaten global health security," and constituted "a new type of oppression to developing nations by developed countries," she said. "We are here today to show the world that we care for the health of all people in the world, not to negotiate a profitable deal for companies," she added, calling for the issue to be solved in a manner that is transparent fair, and equitable. Supari emphasised that the global system should provide benefits to developing countries because it is their right, and not make it appear to be "charity" from rich nations.

Guy Willis from the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufactures and Associations said that the "GISN is incredibly important." He claimed that there had been some "headway aiming to make transparency with regards to viral samples" but that "key details remain to be put in place." The transparency progress he referred to is a mechanism that will track a virus specimen as it moves through the GISN, and recognises how specimens are shared.

In contrast, the Indonesian delegation told Bridges that "the current system has failed" and that it should "no longer be used in the international community."

Over 56 civil society organisations sent a joint statement to WHO member states last week, calling the current system "imbalanced" and highlighting the absence of guarantees that developing countries would have access to influenza vaccines because of "high prices and lack of supplies."

Indonesia accounts for 91 of the 206 deaths from avian flu worldwide. An Indonesian proposal presented during the WHO meeting called for a direct link between virus sharing and access to medicines, as well as stronger recognition of countries' sovereign rights.

Sovereign rights was one of eight principles that member governments and IGM Chair Jane Halton (Australia) identified as priorities for the meeting, along with benefit sharing, virus sharing, collective action, intellectual property, financing, obligation of involved parties, and oversight mechanisms. Talks focused primarily on benefit sharing and virus sharing, even though officials had been expected to negotiate text on all eight. While some progress was made on benefit sharing principles, the text agreed to was already present in past resolutions.

The IGM did yield some concrete new outcomes, such as a request for WHO chief Chan to appoint an advisory group on the GISN in preparation for the May 2008 World Health Assembly meeting. With assistance from the WHO Secretariat, negotiators developed a list of technical definitions relating to the GISN, such as for the various types of laboratories associated with the system, forms of virus specimens, research and development procedures, and relevant scientific processes. They also agreed that the scope of the meeting is limited to principles and mechanisms relating to avian flu pandemics within the broader context of preventing a global health emergency. An interim statement, reflecting limited consensus in some paragraphs, is being prepared by the WHO Secretariat as it awaits acceptance from the African regional bloc.

Acep Somantri, a first secretary at the Indonesian mission in Geneva, told Bridges that progress was slow because so many issues were sensitive, and that views differ on North-South lines. However, he said "there was some progress because comprehensive views are together in one consolidated… concrete document to be negotiated in the future."

The US was pleased with the IGM's work. Ambassador John Lange, Washington's special representative on avian and pandemic influenza, issued a statement recognising progress to improve the GISN and stating that discussions continue "on a detailed framework for… virus sharing and benefit sharing."

At the close of the four day meeting, IGM chair Halton acknowledged that there had been a breakdown of trust in the influenza preparedness system. All delegates agreed that there is a need for fairness, transparency and equity throughout the system. Nevertheless, with little in the way of tangible agreement, discussions will continue prior to the 2008 World Health Assembly.

Bird flu strain H5N1 virus found in Romania,
Bulgaria takes measures​

http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n128283

Sofia. The European Commission has published a decision for protective measures regarding the highly-pathogenic virus strain H5N1 found in domestic birds in Romania, the press office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food announced. The decision notes the zones, where movement of live birds and poultry products is banned. Trade with the whole region of Tulcea in Romania is banned by December 31st 2007.

Saudi culls 200,000 as bird flu fears grow​

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/505331-saudi-culls-200000-as-bird-flu-fears-grow?ln=en

by Wael Mahdi on Thursday, 29 November 2007

Total number of birds culled in Saudi Arabia now stands at around four million.

Over 200,000 birds are being culled in Saudi Arabia following the discovery of a new outbreak of bird flu at a farm close to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday.

The move will bring the total number of birds culled to almost four million, raising fears that the disease could spread to other areas of the kingdom.

The farm at the centre of the latest outbreak, which specialises in producing table egg, is in the Al-Kharj region, 80 kilometres south of the Saudi capital.

It is the second table-egg farm in the Al-Kharj region to be hit by the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease, and the third in the Riyadh province in two days.

So far bird flu cases have only been detected in the central Riyadh area, but fears of the disease spreading are beginning to grow.

The ministry on Wednesday assured a press conference in Jeddah that farms surrounding the kingdom’s second-largest city, are still safe from the bird flu.

“[There have been] no reports of bird flu outbreak in Jeddah and the entire western part of Saudi. However, there is no guarantee that bird flu cannot spread here,” said Jabir Al-Shehri, head of the ministry’s Jeddah branch.

“People living in Jeddah can still enjoy eating all the poultry they want,” said Al-Shehri in the presence of representatives of major poultry farms in Jeddah who confirmed what he said.

The Al-Watan daily said on Thursday that Riyadh’s municipality had closed down several restaurants in the city that sell chicken from unidentified sources.

The municipality also reported that it helped in the arrest of several Bangladeshi expatriates transporting infected chicken from farms outside the city and selling them for less than one Saudi riyal to restaurants in Riyadh.

The ministry said 14 outbreaks of bird flu have been discovered since November 12, including the latest among 216,000 birds.

The ministry announced last week that over 3.5 million birds have been culled or are in the process of being destroyed.

It has singled out migrant birds as the source of the disease, and stressed the need to refrain from hunting them.

Saudi Arabia banned all live poultry imports after bird flu was last detected in the kingdom in March.

In April, neighbouring Kuwait culled 1.7 million birds after the strain was found.

There have been no reports of the disease spreading to humans in either country.

Romania says Bird flu brought in by migratory birds​

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90782/6312245.html

Pultry in Romanian eastern county Tulcea was contaminated with the bird flu virus from migratory birds, the National Sanitary Veterinary and Animal Safety Authority announced on Thursday.

Fodder for the poultry bred in the contaminated household came from a region intensely sought by wild birds, according to the preliminary epidemiological investigation.

At a meeting held on Thursday, the Tulcea County Anti-epizootic Command decided to have the local Hunters and Fishermen Association organize test hunts of wild birds and collect the bodies for specific lab tests.

According to data presented in the report of the Danube Delta Biosphere Natural Reserve, 6,800 wild birds were tracked here on Wednesday.

The Romanian Institute for Animal Diagnosis and Health confirmed on Wednesday the bird flu outbreak, the H5N1 virus strain, after a laboratory testing of samples taken from dead chickens in a household at Murighiol of Tulcea County.

Bird flu virus remains entrenched in six nations: Report​

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...six_nations_Report/rssarticleshow/2584312.cms

NEW YORK: Most of the countries in the world are now prepared to take quick measures to tackle avian flu, however the virus H5N1, which still remains entrenched in six nations, pose a worldwide threat, a joint UN-World Bank report has warned.

"Highly pathogenic avian influenza is currently entrenched in Indonesia, Egypt and Nigeria, and possibly in some locations in China and Bangladesh," the report states.

Therefore, the joint report by the United Nations and World Bank advises countries to maintain full vigilance and cooperate to avoid a possible pandemic.

For, it says once the virus is entrenched, control and elimination become a major challenge and risk of human infection increases.

The virus is currently confined to poultry and live stock but scientists fear that it could kill millions if it mutates in a way that human to human infection becomes possible. Live stock and farm animals are a kind of time bomb and they must be reared in a healthy way, it stressed.

So far, human infections have been confined to those who worked closely with the infected animals.

The report also expresses concern about sub-standard veterinary services in poor countries as the controlling the disease in animals lies at the root of controlling the disease. Several countries particularly in Africa lack facilities to diagnose the bird flu.

Noting substantial progress in the "emergency response" to the disease, the report wants the world to move beyond that to long term strategies with increased bio-security in poultry.

Bird flu pandemic risk still high: UN​

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071129/birdflu_risk_071129/20071129?hub=Health

Updated Thu. Nov. 29 2007 9:48 PM ET

The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS -- Bird flu in poultry and wild birds spread to 60 countries but is entrenched only in six because of improved and faster responses, experts said.

Despite those strides, the risk of a worldwide human-to-human pandemic remains as great today as it was when the hard-to-treat H5N1 flu strain first gained intense attention in mid-2005, said a new report by Dr. David Nabarro, the UN official co-ordinating the global fight against avian influenza, and World Bank officials.

"We think it will happen sometime but we don't know when or where,'' Nabarro said Thursday.

Three years ago, H5N1 was found in poultry and wild birds in nine countries, the UN bird flu chief said. The increase is thought to have resulted more from trade in infected live birds than by transmission through wild birds, whose migrations change with weather.

The upsurge in H5N1 bird flu outbreaks around the world has led to the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia since late 2003. It remains entrenched throughout Indonesia and in parts of Bangladesh, Vietnam, Egypt, Nigeria and China, posing a threat not just to those countries but the world, Nabarro said.

A health expert outside the UN said Thursday there is reason for optimism, even though the risk of pandemic remains as high as a couple years ago.

"I don't think one can ever say that the risk is lower,'' said Dr. Pascal James Imperato, a former New York City health commissioner who now directs public health at the State University of New York-Downstate Medical Center.

"But we have a wider margin of comfort, because this virus has not been able to commingle its genetic material with that of a human influenza virus and, in so doing, acquire the ability to be transmitted from person to person,'' Imperato said.

Sporadic human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 strain has been reported in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Indonesia but none of the cases has been proven and officials determined there was no epidemiological significance because the spread was not sustained.

"The virus itself is continuously evolving as it moves from bird population to bird population,'' Nabarro said.

"The virus when it does enter into bird populations has to be dealt with quickly, otherwise it spreads and leads to widespread losses of bird lives.''

The report precedes a bird flu conference hosted by the government of India in New Delhi next week that is expected to draw health and agriculture officials from dozens of countries.

Among the report's other findings:

* 144 countries said they have prepared some kind of plan to deal with bird flu.
* Veterinarians have the least capacity to deal with the H5N1 strain in Africa, East Asia and Pacific countries.
* Some means of compensating poultry owners for isolating and killing infected animals is in place in 66 per cent of the countries that have a bird flu plan.
* Countries generally still have a long way to go to improve how animals are cared for to reduce the risks of transmission and to prepare for the broader social and economic impacts of a pandemic, such as absenteeism from work.

Most people killed so far have been infected by domestic fowl, and the virus remains very hard for humans to catch; about one-half the people infected die. But experts fear it could mutate into a form that easily spreads among humans, sparking a pandemic that some have said could kill anywhere from five million to 150 million.

During the 1918 flu pandemic, the worst in history, more than 40 million people died. Subsequent pandemics in 1957 and 1968 had lower death rates but caused great disruption.

Anti-bird flu measures across Middle East in wake of Saudi outbreak​

http://www.payvand.com/news/07/nov/1280.html

DUBAI, 29 November 2007 (IRIN) - Most countries in the Middle East, especially those bordering Saudi Arabia, have taken measures to prevent bird flu after an outbreak of the disease there in early November.

About four million birds have been culled in Saudi Arabia since 12 November, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

A Saudi Health Ministry official confirmed that there were no suspected cases of bird flu among humans in the kingdom but people who had had direct contact with infected birds were being tested.

"This is part of the precautionary measures taken by the ministry when new cases are confirmed among birds," Khaled Marghlani, a senior Health Ministry spokesman told IRIN on 28 November. "All farmers or workers who dealt with birds or poultry products in infected locations were tested and all results were negative."

Marghlani said there had been a great change in people's attitudes towards the disease since its first appearance in the kingdom in 2004. "At that time people panicked because they didn't know what the disease was and how to prevent it, which is not the case today." He attributed this to a public awareness campaign by his ministry.

There is particular concern in Saudi Arabia about the outbreak of avian flu because the hajj [pilgrimage] season, which is due to start in December, attracts over two million pilgrims worldwide.

WHO

John Jabbour, a medical consultant for emerging diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, told IRIN: "All the countries in the area have started working on national plans to control the outbreak of the disease among birds and prepare for a possible pandemic influenza".

WHO also has technical teams which are evaluating these plans, Jabbour said.

"We also organise visits to medical centres to measure the readiness of the staff and the availability of medicines and laboratory elements," he added.

Egypt

Egypt, the country worst affected by avian flu in the Middle East, has registered 15 human deaths from the disease since it was first detected in 2006.

However, Jabbour said the country's transparency in dealing with the disease was vital in "enabling the different UN organisations like WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to provide their services." He said Egypt was at an advanced stage in its national plan to counter avian flu and was also working with WHO on producing vaccines locally.
Jamal Suleiman, a Health Ministry spokesman, said Egypt's preparedness had improved significantly compared to early 2006.

Suleiman told IRIN: "Today the Ministry of Environment is regularly monitoring migrating birds while the Ministry of Agriculture is continuing its vaccination programmes for domestically reared poultry. Medicines and medical equipment had also been made available to all hospitals and medical centres across the country".

"The media campaigns launched by the ministry across the country have made people more aware of the dangers of raising poultry at home," he said.

Iraq

The WHO Iraq office, which operates from Amman, has experts ready to go in as soon as an emergency occurs, said Jabbour.

Mohammed Jassim of the Iraqi Health Ministry said the ministry had set up an operational centre, which includes representatives from other ministries, to monitor any bird flu-related developments.

"We have printed thousands of health posters to be distributed to ordinary people through governmental and non-governmental parties," Jassim added.

Jordan

Jordan stopped importing fresh chickens and poultry products from Saudi Arabia and the UK after outbreaks of the disease in the two countries, Ministry spokesman Mohammad Najdawi said on 25 November.

The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) has reportedly been monitoring sites at Jordan Valley and the country's dams to detect the disease.

"The society is carrying out tests on dead birds, especially migratory birds from Europe that pass through Jordan to Africa," RSCN Director-General Yahya Khalid was quoted by a local paper as saying.

Nasser Hawamdeh, assistant secretary-general of animal affairs at the Ministry of Agriculture, told IRIN: "We have started field monitoring and are sending technical staff to farms, areas where poultry is reared domestically, areas of migrating bird flocks and poultry shops, to obtain field samples for inspection at our laboratories".

Jordan does not import large amounts of poultry since the country depends on local production, but it is on the path of millions of migrating birds between September and April.

Jordan's Health Ministry laboratories are ready to examine suspected samples with the H5N1 virus, said Adel Bilbeisi, a Health Ministry official. He said the ministry had also intensified the monitoring of diseases in hospitals and medical centres, and doctors and nurses had been trained on how to deal with patients suspected of being infected with bird flu.

"The Ministry has a sufficient supply of Tamiflu - around three million capsules - in addition to 100kg of instant powder that can be consumed as a drink for children, and sufficient protective equipment such as respirators, gloves," Bilbeisi added.

Health authorities reported in early 2007 four cases of the deadly H5N1 virus in Ajloun, 80km north of Amman among domestically reared turkeys, prompting the authorities to cull 50,000 birds in that area.

The first human infected with the virus was reported in the kingdom in April when an Egyptian expatriate reportedly contracted the virus in Egypt before arriving in the kingdom. He was treated and released from hospital a few days later.

Lebanon

The WHO continues to report no confirmed cases of the H5N1 virus in Lebanon. Initial bans on hunting and a cut of 50 percent in poultry production from early 2006 have now been lifted.

Sales of poultry have bounced back to normal levels after dropping some 80 percent early in 2006 on news that bird flu had spread to neighbouring countries. Vehicle disinfectant dips on the main road running between Lebanon and Syria have now been removed.

A workshop in February 2006 at the Beirut Government University Hospital involving the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and the WHO built on a ministerial decree that established an avian influenza unit inside the MOPH.

Nada Ghosn, head of the Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit at the MOPH, discussed reporting mechanisms in case of a bird flu outbreak, explaining the roles of clinicians, MOPH officers, MOPH coordinators, patient transport services, designated hospitals, the national reference laboratory, and epidemiological surveillance units. The workshop also dealt with the role of first responders, such as the Red Cross or the Civil Defence.

The WHO says Lebanon remains at risk from avian influenza as it is a stopover point for migratory birds, has poor controls in place regarding the hunting of birds, and imports live poultry. Some farmers remain poorly informed of the risks, despite a widespread public awareness campaign launched early last year.The above article comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2007

Deadly H5N1 bird flu discovered on Polish turkey farm​

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/02/content_7182635.htm

WARSAW, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Three poultry farms northwest of Warsaw were cordoned off after the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was found in turkeys, local media reported on Saturday.

It is the country's first reported case of the deadly virus in domestic birds, officials said.

The outbreak occurred near the city of Plock, some 100 kilometers northwest of capital Warsaw, Poland's chief veterinary officer Ewa Lech said on television.

Lech said there are plans to cull 4,000 birds, adding that the virus was most likely brought to Poland by migrating ducks, geese or swans and an area within a 3-km radius of the outbreak had been cordoned off.

"There is no cause for alarm," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on television. "I am in touch with the interior and health ministers as well as veterinary officials in charge. This is not the kind of threat we had several years ago."

Bird flu was discovered in Poland in early 2006, in wild swans, near the city of Torun.

The World Health Organization said the H5N1 type of bird flu has claimed more than 200 human lives across the world in 2003, most of whom in Asia.

Turkeys culled in Polish flu outbreak​

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/1202/breaking13.htm

Poland's veterinary service has culled 4,200 turkeys following an outbreak of deadly H5N1 bird flu on two poultry farms northwest of Warsaw, officials said today.

"The turkeys were gassed on Saturday night and the destruction of their carcasses is due to end on Sunday," PAP news agency reported district crisis-management chief Hilary Januszcyzk as saying.

He added that no new cases had been detected so far.

Two turkey farms in the Plock area, some 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Warsaw, were cordoned off after the outbreak was discovered and routine precautions were carried out.

Polish Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki expressed surprise at reports that Lithuania had banned poultry imports from Poland following yesterday's outbreak.

"Binding European Union principles ban the import of meat only from a 3-km danger zone and 10-km threat zone around the outbreak site, but no EU member may ban imports from an entire member state," Sawicki said on news channel TVN24.

Both Poland and Lithuania have been EU members since May 2004.

Sawicki said the poultry-farm owners whose stocks had been destroyed would be compensated at current retail prices.

The bird-flu virus was believed to have been brought to Poland by migrating ducks, geese or swans. Poland's previous bird flu outbreak was in wild swans in the northern city of Torun in 2006.

According to the World Health Organisation, the virus has caused more than 200 deaths in humans globally since 2003. None have been reported in Poland.

Man dies of bird flu in E China province​

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/03/content_7187514.htm

NANJING, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- A man in east China's Jiangsu province died of bird flu on Sunday, the provincial health department reported.

The 24-year-old man, surnamed Lu, developed fever, chills and other symptoms on November 24 and was hospitalized on November 27 after being diagnosed "lower left pneumonia". Lu's illness deteriorated in the hospital and died on Sunday.

A respiratory tract sample examination by Jiangsu Provincial Disease Control and Prevention Center on Saturday showed the man's avian flu virus nucleic acid was H5 positive and N1 positive.

However, the man had no contact with dead poultry, the health department said.

A test done by the China Disease Control and Prevention Center on Sunday also indicated that the man was H5N1 positive and the Chinese Ministry of Health has confirmed Lu was infected with bird flu.

The local government has adopted relative prevention and control measures. All of the 69 people who had close contact with Lu have been put under strict medical observation. So far, they have shown no signs of symptoms.

The Ministry of Health has reported the case to the World Health Organization and some countries and regions.

Jiangsu Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Bureau said no bird flu epidemic has been found in the province so far.

DEFRA: Avian flu contained but source inconclusive​

http://www.first4farming.com/F4F/ne...=SA2SKLJY1A1RDWNJH4WCFEQ?article_id=fwi108609


DEFRAs first epidemiological report into the recent H5N1 avian flu outbreak in Suffolk, published today (29 November), indicates the outbreak has been confined to one index case, but fails to â??categorically identify the source of the outbreak.

The report cites â??poor biosecurity and the location of the free range poultry unit (IP1) â?? just metres away from an ornamental lake which was inhabited by wild birds - as significant findings, and does not rule out wild birds as the source of infection.

The risks could have been significantly reduced if the premises had not been sited in such close proximity to an area, said Mr Landeg.

Only one of the five dangerous contact (DC) premises, culled by DEFRA as a result of birds being tended by the same stockmen who employed poor biosecurity measures on the first premises, have so far tested positive for the H5N1 virus.

According to the investigation, workers travelled between units without changing overalls, foot wear and, in some cases, without even washing their hands.

Extensive surveillance of both wild and domestic birds in the area continues, however preliminary findings suggest the infection failed to spread beyond the initial infected premises.

When questioned as to whether the report identified wild birds as the â??most likely source of infection and whether avian flu is now deemed as endemic in the UK, Mr Landeg replied that there was no evidence of any other route of infection to date.

So far, there is no evidence to link the outbreak with imported poultry or products and the H5N1 has not been identified in the wild bird population, said Mr Landeg.

Sequencing data from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency indicates the strain found at Redgrave is genetically 99.8% identical to that found in a mute swan in the Czech Republic.

Questioned if any links with this case had been identified, Mr Landeg replied: We have found no evidence that explains how it could have been introduced onto the premises (IP1) or any links with the Czech Republic.

He went on to reinforce Hilary Benns vision for responsibility and cost sharing between industry and government. Biosecurity is clearly an industry responsibility and it must look to ensure good practice across each sector.

Protection zones could be lifted as early as 8 December, Mr Landeg

Bird flu pandemic could cost 2 trln usd - World Bank​

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=2481609

NEW DELHI (Thomson Financial) - The global cost of a possible bird flu pandemic could be up to 2 trln usd, a top World Bank official said.

The risk of a pandemic was still as great as it was two years ago despite improvements in the capacity of many countries to respond to the infection, a joint report by the United Nations and World Bank warned last week.

'The global economic costs could be between 1.5 to 2 trln usd,' Peter Harrold, acting Vice President of the World Bank told an international conference on avian flu in New Delhi.

International donors had pledged 2.3 bln usd to help countries combat the threat, and more than 1 bln usd had been allocated to other groups involved in the fight, Harrold said.

More than 600 delegates from 105 countries are in New Delhi to discuss preparedness and challenges in fighting avian flu at the three-day conference, which began Saturday.

Experts fear a virus mutation that could result in severe and easily transmitted influenza in humans could create the next pandemic, with far-reaching consequences.

'About 20 pct of the global population will be affected during the next pandemic,' Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation, told the gathering.

Chan said 28 mln people may need medical care over a relatively short period and worker absenteeism could reach 35 pct of the work force.

But experts said considerable progress had been made in preparing for a pandemic.

'Ninety-five percent of the countries report that they have developed pandemic preparedness plans,' said David Nabarro, UN Systems Co-ordinator for Avian Influenza and one of the authors of the UN-World Bank report.

However the response was still 'patchy,' and 'entrenched' infection in some countries continued to pose a major threat to human health, Nabarro said.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 200 people worldwide since late 2003.

Bird flu remains a threat to humans: FAO Director​

http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?storyId=53080&lmn=1

The highly pathogenic H5N1 virus continues to circulate in some regions of the world, causing the introduction or reintroduction of the disease in other countries

Avian influenza could still cause a global pandemic and requires continued vigilance and control efforts particularly in animals, the Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Dr. Jacques Diouf, told the New Delhi International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza.

The FAO Director-General warned in a speech that the spread of avian influenza typifies the potential emergence of major health crises with an increased risk of pathogens travelling over large distances in very short time periods, favoured by globalization and climate change.

With avian influenza prevention and control programmes being in place for almost four years, many countries have been able to contain or even eradicate the disease. Almost all countries have implemented emergency programmes and have reinforced their health and veterinary services. Despite the immense efforts undertaken by countries and the international community to prevent and control the H5N1 virus, countries are still facing major challenges.

"The highly pathogenic H5N1 virus continues to circulate in some regions of the world, causing the introduction or reintroduction of the disease in other countries. Extensive outbreak areas remain, particularly in countries where the virus is endemic, with the attendant risk of the emergence of a pandemic virus,” Dr. Diouf said.

“We are still uncertain as to the precise role played by wild birds. There are real risks of viruses emerging against which current vaccines provide no protection. Another major problem is the cost of long-term control programmes and how to finance them. Finally, there is still the difficulty of controlling the illegal movement of products and live animals,” Dr. Diouf said.

Robust animal health systems directed by well-equipped veterinary services and supported by a clear political commitment are the key elements for successful avian influenza control campaigns, the FAO Director-General stressed.

Poultry production systems will have to improve biosecurity and hygiene measures in order to prevent virus spread throughout the production chain. “We need a global framework of action that carefully considers the possible adverse social and economic consequences that those changes might bring, especially on the poorest populations and on the livelihoods of backyard poultry keepers,” Dr. Diouf said.

The FAO Director-General warned that the international community will have to prepare for other major health crises coming from the animal kingdom.

“The acceleration of international trade will continue, as will climate change, and their impact on ecosystems is already causing the spread of vector-borne diseases into hitherto untouched regions,” Dr. Diouf.

“Rift Valley Fever, Bluetongue virus and West Nile Fever are instances of this for insect-borne diseases. But the spread of other epizootic diseases such as Foot-and-Mouth and African Swine Fever are, like avian influenza, other examples that are linked to the intensification of production systems and to the increase in commercial movements, whether controlled or not,” Dr. Diouf said.

“Most of the health crises that have occurred in the last ten years have been related to diseases that are transmittable to humans and that have originated in developing countries. Clearly, therefore, the investments that are required to improve health systems need to focus on prevention at source - in animals - and in the countries of the South,” Dr. Diouf said.

A total of 60 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa have been affected by bird flu since 2003, of which 26 countries have experienced outbreaks in 2007. Except for a few outbreaks in wild birds, most of the confirmed outbreaks have been in domestic poultry, including chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and quails.

In partnership with national veterinary services, the world organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO), FAO has played a lead role in combating avian influenza. With FAO’s assistance, more than 130 countries have been able to adopt appropriate prevention and control measures.

Link to next weeks thread:

HEALTH - 12/5/07-12/11/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread:UN don't lower guard against bird flu

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=268139