12/19/07-12/25/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread:Human bird flu cases rise to 8 in Pakistan

Link to Last Weeks Thread:

HEALTH - 12/12/07-12/18/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread:Indonesian man tests positive for bird flu

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=269039&highlight=bird

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

Human bird flu cases rise to 8 in Pakistan: WHO ​

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2007/12/19/top12.htm

Pakistan Times' Wire Service

BEIJING: World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday the cases of H5N1 avian influenza among people in Pakistan have risen to eight.

WHO spokesman Greg Hartl gave the confirmation about the first such cases in Pakistan's remote North-West Frontier province through a telephone interview.

He detailed that one patient died, six recovered and one remained under medical supervision in the cities of Abbotabad and Mansehra.

The eight cases have a combination of infections from poultry and limited person-to-person transmission from close contact, according to Keiji Fukuda, coordinator of WHO's global influenza program.

"Right now it doesn't look like pure human to human transmission. It looks like the veterinarian, who was the index case, and a number of other suspect cases had poultry exposure," Fukuda said in an interview.

"It is definitely possible that we have a mixed scenario where we have poultry to human infection and possible human to human transmission within a family, which is not yet verified."

But human-to-human transmission "would not be particularly surprising or unprecedented," he added.

Pakistani and WHO officials said there was no immediate cause for alarm and the United Nations agency was not raising its level of pandemic alert for the time being.

Fukuda said it was very reassuring that "we are not seeing large increases in the number of cases."

But some public health officials worry that should the virus gain the ability to transmit easily among humans, a pandemic could occur.

Hartl said, "Our concern is that once this virus remains in the animal population, it mutates into a more transmissible form.

And the more they (the viruses) stay in the animal population, then we have a panic situation."

The WHO Tuesday noted the death of Indonesia's latest avian flu patient, a 47-year-old man from Tangerang who died Dec 13.

The country's overall H5N1 count has reached 115 cases with 93 deaths. Since 2003, the health agency has tallied 341 cases among people in 14 countries and regions, 210 of them fatal.

Bird flu experts comb Pakistan for human-to-human infection​

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_188446.html

ISLAMABAD (Pakistan) - A SECOND team of health experts arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday to analyse samples from suspected bird flu cases to determine how the virus spread and whether human-to-human transmission may have occurred.

The experts from the US Naval Medical Research Unit No 3 were expected to retest samples already gathered from a number of patients who were positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus in initial government analysis.

Once the cases are confirmed, work will begin to piece together how the victims became infected.

'They are now investigating,' said Orya Maqbool Jan Abbasi, spokesman for Pakistan's Health Ministry.

'The next day or two is very important.'

Four brothers were sickened last month in Abbotabad, north of Islamabad.

Two died, one of whom was buried before tests were conducted.

The other three tested positive for the virus.

Up to six more people were suspected of being infected, including several who were in contact with poultry.

Outbreaks were reported among birds in the area before the human cases.

However, Mr Abassi stressed that there have been no new reports of bird flu in poultry or people.

A separate WHO team visited a hospital on Tuesday in the northwestern city Peshawar that treated some of the patients.

They were working with doctors and nurses on how to handle suspected cases and improve infection control measures.

'They want to go through the records in the hospital for the last month or two to see if there's been any upsurge in respiratory cases that weren't identified as H5N1 but which could actually be,' said Gregory Hartl, a WHO spokesman in Geneva.

The team will look to see which patients could have been exposed to the virus by infected birds and also whether human-to-human transmission could have occurred.

One of the brothers who survived, Mohammed Ishtiaq, said he was hospitalised with flu symptoms after slaughtering chickens suspected of carrying bird flu without wearing protective clothing last month.

His brothers who died visited him in a hospital, he said.

Hartl said no new cases have been discovered, but increased awareness has led to more people with flu-like symptoms being checked.

'What this is showing is that they're taking everything very, very seriously,' Mr Hartl said.

'Surveillance has been enhanced, more people are reporting cases and more people have been sensitised on the heath care worker side of the need to notice.'

'Pakistan has requested additional supplies of the antiviral Tamiflu as a precaution, Hartl said.'

At least 209 people have died worldwide from the virus, which began plaguing Asian poultry stocks in late 2003, according to the WHO.

It remains hard for people to catch, but scientists worry it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic. -- AP

Pakistan says no threat of bird flu pandemic​

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSISL13704320071219?rpc=401&

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan said on Wednesday there was no threat of a pandemic from bird flu, as World Health Organisation experts visited the country's northwest which reported the first human death from the virus.

Pakistani authorities confirmed at the weekend eight human bird flu cases, including the one death, that the WHO said were likely a combination of infections from poultry and limited person to person transmission due to close contact.

"There is no threat of epidemic or pandemic and there are no fresh cases being reported," Ministry of Health spokesman Orya Maqbool Jan Abbasi told Reuters. The last human case was reported on November 23.

"I think we are safe, but we are very cautions and have taken all the precautionary measures."

A WHO report is due in the coming days, Abbasi said.

Two quarantined in bird flu scare​

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/client/pagesdetails.asp?nid=9580&ccid=9

KUWAIT (Agencies): An Indian man and his son who is believed to be suffering bird flu have been quarantined in Kuwait, reports Al-Wasat daily. The disease was discovered by chance when the man was on his way to Hyderabad aboard an Indian flight No IC862. When an immigration officer asked the man about his son, the man reportedly told the officer that his son who was leaving on the same flight with him ‘may be’ suffering from bird flu. The Infectious Diseases Hospital, where the son was reportedly confined, refused to comment on the case or even admit the child was admitted at that place. Immigration officers at the airport referred both passengers for medical examination and a report showed the boy was indeed suffering from bird flu. The concerned authorities are collecting information about the family and the school where the boy was studying as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of others.

Also:
WARSAW: Five chickens have been found infected with the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus on a private farm in Poland in the latest outbreak of the disease in the country, state news agency PAP said on Monday. Emergency services set up a safety perimeter around the site near the northern city of Olsztyn and special disinfection mats were placed on roads in the region. “It is too early to say whether the decision to kill all poultry in the village will be made,” Adam Wojtaszek, spokesman for the Olsztyn veterinary authorities, was quoted as saying by the agency. “All our actions are now focused on ensuring the disease does not spread,” he added. This is the seventh case of the H5N1 bird flu virus discovered in Poland since the start of December, when the first case was found in central Poland at a turkey farm 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Warsaw. One of the European Union’s biggest poultry producers, Poland exported 230,000 tonnes of poultry to European markets last year.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities and World Health Organisation (WHO) experts were trying to determine on Tuesday whether bird flu had passed from human to human after the country reported its first human death from the virus. Pakistani health officials confirmed at the weekend that eight people had tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu virus in North West Frontier Province since late October, of which one person, who worked on a poultry farm, died. A brother of the dead person, who had not been tested, also died. It was not yet clear if he was a victim of bird flu. One hundred people with symptoms of flu living in the vicinity had been checked but all tested negative, said a Ministry of Health spokesman.

“No linkage has been developed about human-to-human transmission. We are safe but we have to be very cautious,” said the spokesman, Orya Maqbool Jan Abbasi. The last human case was reported on Nov 23, he said. Health Secretary Khushnood Akhtar Lashari said on Monday some of the seven affected people had not worked with poultry and authorities were tracing who they had been in contact with. Six had recovered while one was being treated, a provincial health official said. Humans rarely contract H5N1, which is mainly an animal disease. But experts fear the strain could spark a global pandemic and kill millions of it mutates to a form that spreads more easily. The area of the outbreak, near the towns of Mansehra and Abbottabad, about 60 km (40 miles) north of the capital, Islamabad, is in the foothills of the Himalayas. Partly forested slopes are dotted with villages and small chicken farms. A three-member WHO team, joined by officials from the Pakistan National Institute of Health, travelled on Monday to Peshawar, the province’s capital where the patients were treated.

COPENHAGEN: Danish authorities on Monday ordered all poultry and other birds in captivity to be kept under cover after the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which is lethal to humans, was found in neighbouring Germany. “Bird flu is once again close to Denmark, and therefore the rules for keeping poultry, ducks and other birds in captivity are being tightened,” the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration said in a statement. The higher security level means all birds and poultry kept outdoors must be kept in a covered enclosure. The animals must also be fed indoors or under a roof to prevent wild birds from coming in contact with their fodder.

Birds may not take part in exhibitions or be sold at markets, and ducks and geese must be kept separate from other birds in captivity, the administration said. The H5N1 strain was found among birds kept in Brandenburg outside Berlin, according to German media reports at the weekend. Nearby Poland has also been hit by a fresh outbreak at two poultry farms, veterinary authorities said last week. “We know that the disease in 2006 was widespread among wild birds in Europe, but we still don’t know the role of wild birds in the new cases. By precaution, and because cold weather is on its way which can cause birds to migrate, we are raising the risk level in Denmark,” administration official Birgit Hendriksen said in the statement.

H2

ARS: New swine flu has avian flu genes​

http://www.agprofessional.com/show_story.php?id=50087

Dec. 19, 2007

Researchers have identified a new strain of swine influenza -- H2N3 -- which belongs to the group of H2 influenza viruses that last infected humans during the 1957 pandemic. This new strain has a molecular twist: It is composed of avian and swine influenza genes.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) veterinarians Juergen Richt, Amy Vincent, Kelly Lager and Phillip Gauger conducted this research with Iowa State University (ISU) visiting scientist Wenjun Ma, ISU veterinarian Bruce Janke and other colleagues at the University of Minnesota and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The ARS veterinarians work at the agency's National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa.

The research team studied an unknown pathogen that in 2006 infected two groups of pigs at separate production facilities. Both groups of pigs used water obtained from ponds frequented by migrating waterfowl.

Molecular studies indicated the unknown pathogen was an H2N3 influenza virus that is closely related to an H2N3 strain found in mallard ducks. But this was the first time it had been observed in mammals.

Influenza viruses have eight gene segments, all of which can be swapped between different virus strains. Two of these gene segments code for virus surface proteins that help determine whether an influenza virus is able to infect a specific host and start replicating -- the first step in the onset of influenza infection.

In the newly isolated swine H2N3, the avian H2 and N3 gene segments mixed with gene segments from common swine influenza viruses. This exchange -- and additional mutations -- gave the H2N3 viruses the ability to infect swine. Lab tests confirmed that this strain of H2N3 could also infect mice and ferrets.

These findings provide further evidence that swine have the potential to serve as a "mixing vessel" for influenza viruses carried by birds, pigs and humans. It also supports the need to continue monitoring swine -- and livestock workers -- for H2-subtype viruses and other influenza strains that might someday threaten swine and human health.

Results of this study were published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

WHO warns Pakistanis to be mindful of bird flu
amid country's first human cases​

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/20/asia/AS-GEN-Pakistan-Bird-Flu.php

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The World Health Organization warned Pakistanis on Thursday to take precautions while handling poultry as experts investigate the country's first human bird flu cases.

No new cases have been discovered since a WHO team arrived earlier this week, but health workers have been on high alert to monitor patients with flu-like symptoms who could be infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus, said Khalif Bile, the WHO country representative.

The Health Ministry has detected up to nine suspect cases who fell ill earlier this month and in November, including several siblings. The WHO experts were working to piece together how they became infected and whether human-to-human transmission could have occurred. Poultry outbreaks had been reported in the area before the human cases.

As many travelers head home for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, Bile said care should be taken when slaughtering and preparing poultry. He said the Health Ministry was reiterating the message with a public awareness campaign.

"The public is being informed through the media what precautions to take without any alarm," he said. "I think the situation so far seems to be under control, but we are monitoring it."

A second team from the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 in Cairo arrived in Pakistan on Thursday. They were expected to retest samples already gathered from a number of patients who were positive for the H5N1 virus in initial government analysis.

The WHO team has been working with hospital staff to strengthen infection control measures, while doing detective work to try to determine the relationship of the cases, when they were sickened and whether they were in contact with poultry.

"The hospitals are much better organized," Bile said. "They have been seen by WHO, and there are no cases as of today or yesterday. They are there to address all of the potential risks."

At least 209 people have died worldwide from the virus, which began plaguing Asian poultry stocks in late 2003, according to the WHO. It remains hard for people to catch, but scientists worry it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a pandemic.

Ducks die en mass in southern Vietnam​

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/20/content_7284344.htm

HANOI, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- A number of ducks in Vietnam's southern Tien Giang province have recently died with unidentified causes, while bird flu is hitting southern Tra Vinh province.

Some in a flock of over 2,200 unvaccinated ducks raised by three households in Go Cong Tay district died with such symptoms as swollen head, drowsiness and paralysis, local newspaper Vietnam Agriculture reported Thursday.

Specimens from the dead poultry are being tested for bird flu viruses. Local veterinary agencies have culled the affected fowl flock.

Bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, starting in December 2003, have killed and led to the forced culling of dozens of millions of fowls in the country, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

INDONESIA: Bird flu preparedness a big challenge for East Java​

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75938

SURABAYA, 19 December 2007 (IRIN) - For the crack medical team specialising in human avian influenza cases at the East Java Provincial Hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia, Panchu market represents their worst fear.
The crowded market, tucked away on a Surabayan side street, is like thousands of others throughout Indonesia, with its handful of stalls that sell raw chicken parts and live birds. Much of the slaughtering is done on the spot, with feathers flying, and blood and bird entrails covering the floor.

In conversations with the chicken sellers and their customers, IRIN could find none who expressed concern about the dangers of avian flu, or the potential of a human pandemic developing.

“I’ve never been frightened of bird flu,” Maryati, a chicken-seller, told IRIN, while cutting up a bird. “I’ve also heard about cases of human avian flu but I’m not worried.”

It is this sentiment regarding the dangers of avian flu that makes doctors at the provincial hospital particularly worried.

Specialist medical team

he medical team that treats human avian flu cases has had notable success. Since April 2006, the unit has treated 12 suspected cases of human avian flu. Four turned out to be the real thing, and they were able to save two - a commendable achievement in a country in which, as of 14 December, there have been 115 cases of human avian influenza, with 92 people (80 percent) dying, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The medical team includes a lung specialist, a paediatrician, an anaesthetist, a clinical pathologist, a microbiologist and specially-trained nurses, and has high-tech isolation rooms that can accommodate up to six patients, with negative air pressure and biohazard protection. It is considered among the best in the country.

“But we are downstream,” said Teguh Sylvaranto, vice-director of medical services at the 1,550 bed teaching hospital, stressing that the top priority is to contain avian influenza at its source. “The most important issue is poultry and containment of the influenza in the communities,” he said. “Prevention is the most important factor in dealing with avian flu in humans.”

Avian flu threat real


Photo: Brennon Jones/IRIN
A specially-trained nurse (wearing full-biohazard protection) who works in the isolation unit at the East Java Provincial Hospital. Indonesia, December 2007.
Indonesia ranks amongst a handful of countries worldwide in which highly pathogenic avian influenza is deeply entrenched, and the danger of a human pandemic is a major concern. “Hospitals will be completely swamped should a significant outbreak of human avian influenza cases occur,” Jonathan Agranoff, the UN Avian Influenza and Pandemic Preparedness Coordinator for Indonesia, told IRIN. “We have been trying to get this message across about the potential for a human tsunami.”

“Yes, of course, it’s a big problem,” Sylvaranto told IRIN, when asked if the medical community in East Java Province (population 37 million) is prepared for a modest increase in human avian flu cases, or a full-scale pandemic. “We can’t handle it [a full-scale pandemic]. It is impossible.”

He noted with pride that his medical team made its expertise available to 11 other hospitals in the region and had annual avian influenza training sessions in district hospitals. “But these district clinics don’t have specialists or isolation units or biohazard protection,” he said. “They can’t manage, they don’t have the ventilators.”

Shortage of medical equipment

“Even this hospital, the best, does not have enough isolation units, biohazard equipment, respirators and ventilators, he said. “And you know the cost of treatment? It is an average of 100,000,000 rupiah per patient (US$10,600) which the government has paid up until now.”

Sylvaranto stressed the critical shortage of ventilators, saying that in all of Indonesia, with 245 million people, there are only about one million, and in Surabaya only 200 or so. “We have 40,” he said. “There’s a shortage of hardware.”

“We know of the possibility of a pandemic, but we can just do what we can do,” he said, concluding: “The most important way to deal with a possible pandemic is to deal with prevention - early detection in poultry and early detection, isolation and treatment of human cases.”

The Indonesian health authorities and the Ministry of Agriculture are doing their best to get the message across about surveillance, early detection and sanitary safeguards. With the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), AusAID (the Australian government’s overseas aid programme) and the Japanese Trust Fund, the Ministry of Agriculture, with technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), has a Participatory Disease Surveillance programme to identify avian influenza in poultry.

Based on periodic interviews with poultry producers in East Java’s 38 districts, 3.5 per cent of those interviewed since the beginning of 2006 said they had evidence of clinical outbreaks in their poultry consistent with highly pathological avian influenza.

Awareness and detection

At Panchu market, chicken sellers readily confirmed that an awareness and detection campaign was ongoing. Ikuwan, the owner of the largest poultry shop in the market, told IRIN: “Government representatives come around from time to time to inform us about avian flu outbreaks and that culling has occurred in the region.” He also said the agricultural department comes around and sprays disinfectant and tells us each time that the chickens should be well cooked, adding: “They always ask us if we have sick chickens.”

“Sometimes we do have sick chickens,” said Ruserente, a chicken seller who goes by motorbike to purchase as many as 70 birds a day from different communities. “When they die we just throw them in the rubbish bin.”

The UN’s Agranoff said: “The core problem is that people’s day-to-day livelihoods are more important than safeguarding and planning for the future.”

Mixing of deadly strains

He raises a particular concern about Panchu market where a variety of different kinds of poultry from disparate locations are intermixing daily. “The virus has been making great progress,” he said. “In every village now a different strain of the virus can be found and there is no common vaccine.” He said crowding all these birds together in one site has the potential for introducing new strains of the deadly avian influenza virus.

Chicken seller Maryati who is about to close shop adds a final coda to the state of avian influenza awareness and compliance. When asked whether she follows the recommended procedures of washing her hands and cleaning carefully after such close contact with chickens, she says: “No, I’m not washing my hands. I’m just going straight home.”

5 Indonesians hospitalized for bird flu​

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/21/content_7290509.htm

JAKARTA, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Five people including two children were admitted to a bird flu specialist hospital in Jakarta Friday, raising concerns that human cases of the disease could grow to a record 119 in an individual country.

The five patients were transferred to the Persahabatan Hospital here from a small hospital in the town of Serang in Banten province after they showed clear signs of bird flu symptoms, such as respiratory problems, heavy coughs and high fever.

The national Antara news agency said the bird flu suspicions arose after health officials learned that 60 chickens and ducks in their village died from the virus as confirmed by laboratory tests.

Contact with infected chickens is the most common cause of bird flu in human in Indonesia, where 92 people died from the H5N1 virus, the highest among bird-flu affected countries.

The five patients, aged between 8 and 30, are from the same extended family.

New German bird-flu case reported in Germany​

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/.../New_German_bird-flu_case_reported_in_Germany

Berlin - A fresh bird-flu outbreak has been discovered in Germany, with a state laboratory confirming the presence of the H5N1 virus, an official veterinarian said Thursday.

The infected bird was in a private hen-run at Bensdorf, a village 85 kilometres west of Berlin, said state of Brandenburg vet Hans- Georg Hurttig. All 30 fowls were immediately killed and removed.

He said scientists believed it was a spot outbreak only.

The case would only be declared official when a federal laboratory confirmed it. A Brandenburg spokesman said it was still officially considered a 'suspected case.'

A week ago, the avian influenza virus was discovered at Altglobsow, 75 kilometres north of Berlin, in a hen-run with 11 birds.

WHO: Limited Human Transmission of Bird Flu in Pakistan​

http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-12-21-voa50.cfm?rss=health

World Health Organization, WHO, officials say there has been limited human transmission of bird flu in Pakistan - with no new cases reported recently.

WHO's top bird flu official David Heymann Friday, said there appears to be no threat of the further spread of the H5N1 virus, with the last human case reported December 6.

At least eight people were infected in Pakistan's northwest in recent weeks - in the country's first human cases of bird flu.

One man who worked on poultry farm in North West Frontier Province has died. His brother also died recently, but was not tested for the virus.

Heymann says the cases appear to be part of a small chain of human-to-human transmission.

A WHO team is investigating the outbreak and results from initial laboratory tests are expected in the next few days.

Pakistan's Health Ministry began sending out messages Thursday, asking people to take proper care when slaughtering and handling chickens.

Earlier this week, a WHO team visited a hospital in the northern city of Peshawar to educate doctors on controlling the spread of bird flu.

WHO says more than 200 people have died of bird flu worldwide since 2003.

WHO: Human-to-human transmission unclear in Chinese bird flu case ​

http://www.thecheers.org/news/Healt...mission-unclear-in-Chinese-bird-flu-case.html

Geneva (dpa) - The World Health Organization said Friday it was impossible to say whether a case of bird flu in China involving a 52- year-old man was due to human-to-human transmission - but, even if it was, it was down to very close contact between the victims.

The Assistant Director-General for Health Security at WHO, Dr David Heymann, said the only proven transmission of this nature so far, in Indonesia and Thailand, had been as a result of very "close contact" in a "very circumscribed area."

WHO was still awaiting final tests results for a recent cluster of cases in the north-west region of Pakistan. The team of WHO experts, who travelled to the area earlier this week, believed though that the first-ever human cases in the country were again a result of intimate contact.

Heymann, said the virus could on "occasional instances be transmitted" between humans but it was not transmittable like influenza with a sneeze. "It's not that kind of transmission."

In China, both the man and his 24-year-old son, who died on December 2, had been exposed to the same common source. Infection had also occurred during the incubation period. There had also been close contact with another 600 people but blood tests had confirmed they were free from the virus.

Heymann, said: "Even if there had been human-to-human transmission, it was limited and did not continue. It was not sustained and it's that which is very important."

However though the H5N1 strain of bird flu had not jumped the species barrier in a way that would cause a major outbreak so far, the scientific community remained convinced there was a real possibility of an influenza pandemic in the future but it could not say whether H5N1 would be the source or another flu variant.

Indonesia rules out bird flu cluster after tests​

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_189385.html

JAKARTA - INDONESIA has cleared six members of a family hospitalised with bird flu symptoms, a health official said on Saturday, in a case that has raised concerns over potential human-to-human spread of the disease.

It also comes as the World Health Organisation investigates a suspected case of limited human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 bird flu virus in Pakistan.

The six Indonesians from a small village in Banten province, just hours from the capital Jakarta, had been suffering from high fever after more than a dozen sick ducks died in their backyard.

Two sets of laboratory tests showed the six admitted to a hospital in Jakarta on Friday did not have the H5N1 virus, said Nyoman Kandun, director-general of communicable disease control at Indonesia's health ministry.

'Clearly, it's not a cluster. We do not even have a confirmed bird flu case here,' he said by telephone.

Authorities treat cases where family members living together show symptoms of bird flu with particular care since it could point to human-to-human transmission of the virus.

Although bird flu remains mostly an animal disease, experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person, triggering a global pandemic in which millions could die.

Indonesia has had the highest number of human infections globally with 115 confirmed human cases of bird flu, out of which 93 have been fatal.

The largest known cluster of human bird flu cases worldwide occurred in May 2006 in the Karo district of Indonesia's North Sumatra province, where as many as 7 people in an extended family died.

Pakistan said last week 8 people had been infected since late October, including a veterinarian involved in culling whose two brothers died. A WHO team has investigated the outbreak and international laboratory results on samples taken are expected at the weekend.

The WHO suspects there has been only limited human-to-human transmission in Pakistan, but international test results are pending, David Heymann, WHO assistant director-general for health security and environment, said on Friday.

He said no new suspected human bird flu cases had emerged in Pakistan since Dec 6, signalling there had been no further spread.

Millions of people in Indonesia, a complex archipelago comprising thousands of islands and hundreds of languages, live in close proximity to poultry, keeping backward fowl for eggs and meat to supplement their income.

Since H5N1 resurfaced in Asia in late 2003, the virus has killed 209 people in 11 countries, according to the WHO. -- REUTERS

No threat of bird flu spreading in Pakistan: WHO​

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2007/12/23/top7.htm

ISLAMABAD: World Health Organization (WHO) has said that there was no threat of further spreading of bird flu virus in Pakistan, presently, as no new case came to the fore during the past two weeks. WHO team has completed its initial investigation about the bird flu in Pakistan.

This team was dispatched to Pakistan on the information of the existence of nine persons infected by bird flu.

This is for the first time in Pakistan that the human bird flu case has come to the fore. WHO high official in Geneva, Dr. David told that the team after the initial investigation was of the view that there might have been few cases of human-to-human bird flu transmission incidents in Pakistan.

Yet, no new case during the previous two weeks came to the fore and, therefore, there was no threat of further spreading of bird flu virus in Pakistan, presently.

He said that the last bird flu case was reported on December 6. The officials had got the suspected patients laboratory tested, which were found positive, but the WHO has sent the samples for test in its laboratory for certification.

No confirmed bird flu case detected in Iran: minister​

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0712240214144840.htm

Health Minister Kamran Baqeri Lankarani on Monday announced that no confirmed case of bird flu has been detected in the country since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year beginning on March 21, 2007.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a local meeting, Lankarani said the outbreak of the disease among the birds in 70 world countries, including Iran's neighboring states, is on the rise.

"We have intensified health protection in all provinces, especially the country's western border regions," the minister said adding that any suspicious cases go under examination.

"Currently, special medical teams have been stationed in the country's border areas," he said, adding that public information programs to inform people of how to avoid infection and spread of the virus are being conducted.

Lankarani praised efforts by Agriculture Jihad Ministry and the Veterinary Organization to slaughter birds when suspicious cases are witnessed.

The minister assured the people that his ministry would act transparently in that regard.

Pakistan still probing human transmission in bird flu: ministry​

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071224/wl_sthasia_afp/healthflupakistan;_ylt=A0WTcVNYgG9HpF8BfhtvaA8F

SLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan's health ministry said it was still investigating whether there was human transmission in the country's first death from bird flu.
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It said initials tests by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which sent a team here last week, had ruled it out but that Pakistan had sent samples to Geneva -- the WHO's headquarters -- for further confirmation.

Scientists fear that if the virus were passed from one person to another, rather than from infected birds, it might indicate a mutation that could lead to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.

"In their preliminary tests the WHO team excluded suspected human-to-human transmission, but we have sent the samples to Geneva for further confirmation," health ministry spokesman Oriya Maqbool Jan told AFP.

The WHO team was sent after the ministry announced the death of a man who was one of six people infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus in North West Frontier Province along the Afghanistan border.

A brother of the victim also died before being tested for the virus. Both had worked on a cull of infected poultry.

"We have been very closely monitoring the situation," said Rafiqal Hasan Usmani, the animal husbandry commissioner. "There has been no new outbreak."

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 200 people worldwide, mostly in Southeast Asia, since late 2003.

Bird flu temporarily contained​

http://www.vnagency.com.vn/Home/EN/tabid/119/itemid/228977/Default.aspx

Ha Noi (VNA) – Viet Nam has temporarily contained bird flu as the country reported no new outbreak over the past 23 days, the Veterinary Department said on December 23.

The department, however, warned localities that there is a high risk of bird flu recurrence as the winter sets in.

Up to now, 35 out of 63 cities and provinces nationwide have completed the second vaccination of 2007 and over 147 million fowls have been vaccinated.

On the same day, the Health Department of central Da Nang city held a exercise on fighting avian influenza infection on humans.

At the Da Nang Airport , relevant workforce was required to deal with a case that three foreigners were supposed to be infected with specific symptoms of the H5N1 infection such as high fever and tiredness. This was part of the effort to control the spread of the disease in case of outsiders bring it into the country.-Enditem

Bird flu outbreak in south Russia spreads​

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20071225/94041552.html

ROSTOV-ON-DON, December 25 (RIA Novosti) - A fifth case of bird flu has been confirmed at a farm in the Rostov Region, south Russia, close to the site of previous outbreaks, the regional emergencies ministry said.

"The outbreak at two smallholdings was registered on Saturday, samples were taken and sent for analysis, they came back positive for bird flu," the ministry said.

All 79 birds on the smallholding have been culled. A quarantine zone has been introduced in the Tselinsky district near the site of the first case of the deadly virus.

The first bird flu outbreak was discovered in late November at the Gulyai-Borisovskaya poultry farm in the Rostov Region. The farm's entire population of 500,000 chickens was culled. Later a bird flu outbreak was registered at a smallholding close to the farm.

Another outbreak was then discovered at a farm in the Tselinsky district.

The Rostov Region is particularly vulnerable to bird flu as part of the Krasnodar Territory, which is on a route taken by migrating birds in winter. In September, the region was hit by the H5N1 strain and 230,000 birds were culled.

In February, dead poultry with traces of the lethal virus were found in Moscow, eight nearby areas. All cases were traced to a single market in southwest Moscow.

The virus, which was first isolated in humans in 1997, has been spreading rapidly, resulting in the deaths and culling of millions of birds, and a human death toll of over 200.

Although the virus has been restricted to birds, many scientists fear that it could mutate into a form transmissible between humans, unleashing a catastrophic global pandemic similar to the Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 that killed millions around the world.

Link to next weeks thread:

HEALTH - 12/26/07-12/31/07|Weekly Bird Flu Thread: 94th Indonesian bird flu victim dies

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=270615