1/16/08-1/22/08|Weekly Bird Flu Thread: Bird flu confirmed again in India

Link to last weeks thread:

HEALTH - 1/9/08-1/15/08|Weekly Bird Flu Thread: China bird flu outbreak 'under control'

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=272249&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

Bird flu confirmed again in India​

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0115/flu.html

Tuesday, 15 January 2008 16:20

India has confirmed an outbreak of bird flu following the death of thousands of chickens in the past week in West Bengal.

The birds tested positive for the potentially deadly H5N1 strain.

It is the third outbreak since 2006 and the first since India declared itself free of the disease last November.

The deaths were reported from farms in Morgram village, about 125km from the state capital, Kolkata.

An isolation centre has been opened in a hospital near the affected village and 300 health workers have been sent there with medicines and protective gear.

All poultry within 5km of Margram are to be culled.

The disease has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003.

West Bengal borders Bangladesh, where authorities have been struggling to contain an outbreak of the virus.

In Indonesia, a 16-year-old girl has the country's 96th victim of the flu.

Warning to Irish farmers

Poultry farmers in the Republic have been warned to be extra vigilant after three dead swans in a bird sanctuary in Dorset, England, were found to have H5N1.

The Department of Agriculture and the Irish Farmers' Association reminded poultry-keepers to remain on alert.

The IFA says the potential for infection among commercial flocks is very low, but farmers should continue to be aware of the risks after the UK's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs confirmed avian influenza in the wild mute swans in Abbotsbury, near Chesil Beach, Dorset.

A surveillance programme is under way to determine whether the virus, which can pass to humans, has infected other wild birds and ducks at the bird sanctuary. So far no disease has been found in domestic birds nearby.

About 800 swans, as well as other birds, feed and breed in the nature reserve's wetlands.

400,000 chickens culled after outbreak of bird flu in India​

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20080116173103&irec=0

CALCUTTA, India (AP): Health workers on Wednesday beganslaughtering hundreds of thousands of chickens after an outbreak of bird flu killed more than 35,000 birds in eastern India over the last week, officials said.

The federal government confirmed Tuesday the birds were infected with the H5 strain of bird flu, and tests were under way to determine whether it was also the dangerous N1 subtype.

No human deaths or unusual illnesses had been reported in the region, and there were no signs the disease had spread among birds in other districts, Anisur Rahman, state minister of animal husbandry, told The Associated Press.

About 350,000 birds were being culled in affected areas in Birbhum district, 250 kilometers (160 miles) from the West Bengal state capital of Calcutta, and another 50,000 in south Dinajpur, 350 kilometers from Calcutta.

Health workers were also going door-to-door in the areas looking for people with high fevers or breathing trouble. (***)

Suspect H5N1 Cases in Birbhum West Bengal India ​

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01160801/H5N1_Birbhum_Suspect_2.html

Recombinomics Commentary 00:15
January 16, 2008

The slow response to the outbreak is being blamed for the spread of the disease. A large number of birds have died in Nalhati blocks 1 and 2, Muraroi 1 and 2, Rampurhat 1 and 2, and Mayureshwar. The disease has also spread to Khargram in Murshidabad, bordering Margram.

At Margram, the backyard poultry population is estimated to be around 150,000. Nearly 90 per cent of this stock is dead — dead birds still litter the area though many have been buried.

Two children, who feasted on dead birds 10 days ago, are ill and a health team, led by the Block Medical Officer of Health, visited the Malibagan Para.

The children were identified as Anarul Sheikh (7) and Tumpa Khatun (8). Their father said “all the birds died, we cooked and ate two of them, later the children had high fever.”

The above comments describe the continued spread of H5N1 in the Birbhum district (see satellite map). Earlier reports detailed poultry deaths in 106 villages, including 46 villages in Rampurhat I, 29 villages in Rampurhat II, and 21 villages in Nalhati I. Now dead birds are in all sub-districts and are spilling into bordering regions.

The spread is not surprising. Video of the region showed dead wild birds, including crows, as well as villagers carrying dead birds with no PPEs. Moreover, many media reports indicated villagers were eating the dead birds.

Consequently, suspect cases like the two children described above are not a surprise. Birds have been dying for at least 10 days, and the spread to the government facility in Balurghat in South Dinajpur suggest more outbreaks are likely.

More information on the status of the two children cited above, and the extent of spread would be useful.

India, Bangladesh struggle to rein in bird flu spread​

http://africa.reuters.com/commodities/news/usnSP151769.html?rpc=401&

Thu 17 Jan 2008, 12:05 GMT

(Recasts wrapping India, Bangladesh bird flu series)

By Bappa Majumdar

KOLKATA, India, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Villagers at the centre of a bird flu outbreak in India's east refused to hand over their chickens and ducks for culling on Thursday, hampering efforts to stamp out the disease in poultry.

But in neighbouring Bangladesh the culling of thousands of fowl went on smoothly after the virus was detected in three more districts.

In both countries the virus seemed to be spreading with fresh bird deaths reported from new areas. Neither country has reported any human infection.

Veterinary workers coaxed villagers at the centre of an outbreak in India's West Bengal state to hand over their poultry and observe hygiene practices needed to limit the spread of what the World Health Organisation says is the worst bird flu outbreak in India.

The latest outbreak in West Bengal has affected three districts, but officials said the infection could be more widespread as they waited for test results of more birds.

In the quarantined West Bengal village of Margram, villagers told a Reuters photographer their birds were not infected and that they were unhappy with a dollar-a-bird compensation.

Many let loose their ducks and chickens so that veterinary workers found it difficult to catch and kill them.

"We have asked our officers to resolve all disputes and speed up culling," said Sanchita Bakshi, a West Bengal health official, said.

West Bengal had said on Wednesday it could take up to a week to cull 400,000 birds. Only a few thousand had been killed a day later.

Neighbouring Bangladesh culled nearly 25,000 fowls after bird flu spread to three districts of Borguna, Rajshahi and Jessore, a livestock ministry official said.

Fowls were also culled in the southern coastal district of Barisal as the virus spread to 25 of Bangladesh's 64 districts since the detection of H5N1 strain in March last year.

Suspected outbreaks were reported at a farm in northern Rangpur district, where the virus has resurfaced.

The latest outbreak of the H5N1 strain in West Bengal's poultry, the fourth in India since 2006, has killed more than 35,000 chickens and birds.

Chicken deaths were also being reported from new areas in West Bengal, but the state's animal resources minister said it may not be bird flu.

"A total surveillance is in place," minister Anisur Rahaman told Reuters in Kolkata, West Bengal's capital.

But bird flu is putting people off poultry products. In Kolkata chicken sales dropped by half and most airlines operating out of the city had stopped serving chicken. (Additional reporting by Ruma Paul in DHAKA; Writing by Krittivas Mukherjee; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Sanjeev Miglani)

Iran reports H5N1 bird flu outbreak​

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_197238.html

PARIS - IRAN has reported an outbreak of deadly H5N1 bird flu among free-range chickens, the World Organisation for Animal Health said on Thursday.

The outbreak on Dec 10 was not reported to the Paris-based body until Wednesday, it said.

Iran reported that 14 birds were infected and that another 475 were destroyed, said the animal health organisation, also known as the OIE.

It is an inter-governmental body responsible for improving animal health worldwide.

The OIE has been at the forefront of global efforts to monitor and fight H5N1, which scientists have tracked because they fear it may mutate into a human flu virus that starts a pandemic.

The outbreak was in Mazandaran province on the Caspian Sea, the OIE said.

It said investigations are under way to trace the source of the infection and its 'probable spread.'-- AP

Bird Flu Is Mistaken for Typhoid, Hampering Diagnosis​

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aGGx3_Vx7Cgw&refer=latin_america

(Update1)

By Jason Gale

Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu has been mistaken by doctors for pneumonia, typhoid and at least four other diseases in Southeast Asia, causing treatment delays that might have worsened their patients' chances of survival, a study found.

Early signs of H5N1 avian-flu infection range from fever and cough to diarrhea and vomiting, researchers said in a report today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The disparate symptoms make it difficult to detect the disease clinically, with doctors in Indonesia and Thailand making a correct initial diagnosis in less than 12 percent of cases.

Treatment delays reduce survival rates in H5N1, which has killed three of every five of the 350 people known to have been infected. The median time for a patient to be seen by a doctor after symptoms began is four days, the authors said.

``There are substantial challenges to a rapid diagnosis,'' said Frederick Hayden, a doctor with World Health Organization's Global Influenza Program in Geneva and one of the study's 11 authors. ``We don't have right now an efficient, highly predictive and sensitive point-of-care diagnostic test for H5.''

Handling sick or dead poultry during the week before symptoms began is the most commonly recognized risk factor for H5N1, the authors said in a review that updated a 2005 report on clinical aspects of human avian-flu infection.

Clusters of cases with at least two linked cases have been identified in 10 nations and have accounted for about a quarter of cases, the researchers said. Limited, unsustained human-to- human transmission has probably occurred during very close, unprotected contact with a severely ill patient, they said.

Unknown Source

The source of exposure is unclear in about a quarter of cases, and exposure to the pathogen through contaminated fertilizer or infectious excreta are possible, according to the report.

Fever and pneumonia are the most common symptoms patients have at the time of their initial medical assessment, the authors said. Other clinical signs include sore throat, headache, conjunctivitis and muscle ache.

In Indonesia and Thailand, where 143 H5N1 cases have been recorded in total, some patients were initially diagnosed with tuberculosis, dengue, upper respiratory illness, leptospirosis and dizziness.

``Community acquired pneumonia is a very common syndrome, and the initial presentations are non-specific,'' Hayden said in a telephone interview yesterday. That makes it harder for doctors to suspect avian flu in patients with fever and respiratory illness, and for them to be prompted to ask patients about any possible exposure to diseased poultry, he said.

When H5N1 is suspected, it might be appropriate for doctors to collect samples and commence antiviral therapy pending results of confirmatory tests on specimens, which may take days to reach laboratories capable of running the tests, Hayden said.

Roche's Tamiflu

Roche Holding AG says its Tamiflu antiviral medicine can reduce the severity and duration of flu symptoms if taken within 48 hours of the onset of disease. Early treatment for H5N1 may improve survival, some uncontrolled studies have shown.

The H5N1 virus has spread in wild birds and domestic poultry to more than 60 countries during the past four years. World health officials fear it could spark a pandemic if it mutates to become capable of spreading from person to person by coughing and sneezing as easily as seasonal flu.

Changes in several genes are probably needed to enable the virus to adapt to humans, Hayden said. The risk of H5N1 developing into a pandemic strain hasn't diminished since it began circulating in Southeast Asia four years ago, leading to the evolution of about 10 variants, known as clades and sub- clades.

``We don't really know all the factors that could lead to the generation of a pandemic strain with H5 or one of the other avian viruses that are out there,'' he said. ``This virus is still entrenched in poultry populations in several parts of the world. There still are ongoing sporadic human cases and every one of those is an opportunity for the virus to change.''

Bird flu may be spread indirectly: WHO​

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Story...adline=Bird+flu+may+be+spread+indirectly:+WHO

The H5N1 bird flu virus may sometimes stick to surfaces or get kicked up in fertilizer dust to infect people, according to a World Health Organization report published on Wednesday.

The WHO team reviewed all known human cases of avian influenza, which has infected 350 people in 14 countries and killed 217 of them since 2003, and found that 25 per cent of cases have no explanation.

Most are passed directly from bird to people, they noted in their report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And very rarely one person can infect another -- always close relatives via intimate physical contact. "In one quarter or more of patients with influenza A (H5N1) virus infection, the source of exposure is unclear, and environment-to-human transmission remains possible," the researchers, led by WHO's Dr Frederick Hayden, wrote. "For some patients, the only identified risk factor was visiting a live-poultry market."

It could be that small particles of virus-contaminated fluid stuck to surfaces, they said. Or perhaps fertilizer made from infected bird feces somehow carried the virus into people's noses or mouths. "It is unknown whether influenza A (H5N1) virus infection can begin in the human gastrointestinal tract," they wrote.

"In several patients, diarrheal disease preceded respiratory symptoms, and virus has been detected in feces."

Government and health officials have stressed that well-cooked chicken cannot infect people. "Drinking potable water and eating properly cooked foods are not considered to be risk factors, but ingestion of virus-contaminated products or swimming or bathing in virus-contaminated water might pose a risk," the WHO team of bird flu experts noted.

Endemic in birds

H5N1 is considered entrenched in parts of Asia, including Indonesia, Africa and the Middle East. It pops up frequently in Europe and has prompted the slaughter of hundreds of millions of chickens.

The researchers noted that people only rarely become infected. The fear is that the virus will mutate into a strain that passes easily from one person to another, setting off a pandemic that could kill millions of people in the space of a few months.

"After exposure to infected poultry, the incubation period generally appears to be 7 days or less, and in many cases this period is 2 to 5 days," the WHO team wrote.

"In clusters in which limited, human-to-human transmission has probably occurred, the incubation period appears to be approximately 3 to 5 days, although in one cluster it was estimated to be 8 to 9 days."

It usually causes severe pneumonia and tests suggest that it rarely or never infects people without causing symptoms.

Avian flu kills on average within nine to 10 days and has killed 61 per cent of victims.

Quick use of antiviral drugs can save lives, they noted, although some strains of the virus are more treatable than others with Tamiflu, the drug of choice to treat influenza. It is made by Roche Holdings AG and Gilead Sciences under the generic name oseltamivir.

Swiss scientists take note of bank flu risk: report​

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2008011...ubankingoffbeat;_ylt=A0WTcUBvk5BHPIYAgCes0NUE

GENEVA (AFP) - Forget retail therapy for some relief from that winter cold -- a study by Swiss scientists revealed on Wednesday that the flu virus can nestle and survive on banknotes for more than two weeks.

Scientists from Geneva's University Hospital were asked by a Swiss bank to carry out the study amid worries that a flu pandemic could be prolonged thanks to the millions of bank notes in circulation, Le Temps newspaper reported.

Between 20 and 100 million banknotes change hands in Switzerland alone each day, it said.

The researchers left small samples of the flu virus on used banknotes which were then left at room temperature. Although the virus only survived in most cases for a few hours, certain highly concentrated samples proved resistant for several days.

In the worst case, if the virus was mixed with human mucus on the banknote, it could survive for two and a half weeks, Le Temps said.

"This unexpected resilience of the virus suggests that this sort of inert, non-biological support should not be overlooked in pandemic planning," chief researcher Yves Thomas told the paper.

The team will now do further research to see how much of a factor banknotes might be in flu transmission, though Thomas stressed that the main risks remain airborne transmission and direct human contact.

BANGLADESH: Bird flu “spreading fast”, says expert​

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=76312

DHAKA, 18 January 2008 (IRIN) - A fresh outbreak of bird flu this week in Bangladesh has renewed fears of a possible spread: Seventy-two farms in 23 of Bangladesh's 64 districts have reportedly been infected with the deadly virus so far.

“The situation is really bad. It is getting out of control. People are handling, selling and eating avian influenza infected chicken,” said Habibibur Rahman of the Bangladesh Agricultural University.

“The disease is spreading fast in terms of numbers and areas. Two new divisions, Barisal and Sylhet, out of the country’s six divisions, have been freshly affected this week," he said.

But Rahman, a national expert on bird flu, insists that the pandemic can be controlled provided backyard farmers improve their health and hygiene behaviour - including the disposal of poultry faeces.

“Dead birds are culled and buried. But their faeces, loaded with the H5N1 virus, are not disposed of properly. If this continues, the outbreaks will also continue,” the expert warned, noting: "It is the backyard farms that pose a real danger - more than the commercial ones."

Government efforts

“We are detecting and culling bird flu affected poultry wherever they are found. We are also compensating the farmers for their losses based on the number and age of birds culled,” said Sunil Ghose, director-general of the Department of Livestock.

“Our field staff all over the country are working round the clock to identify sick birds and send samples to six of our field testing laboratories and two other labs in Dhaka. Imposition of movement restrictions and establishing security zones around infected farms have so far worked effectively in restricting the spread of bird flu," Ghose said.

New areas affected

New areas like the southern and eastern districts of the country have reported bird flu in commercial and backyard poultry farms, raising concern amongst government officials, farmers, scientists and the general public over containing the pandemic.

Over 21,000 fowls were culled in coastal Barguna District on 17 January, and another 3,000 in Jessore District, southwestern Bangladesh, after detection of the virus.

Fowls have been culled in Barguna since 16 January, when over 400 chickens at a poultry farm in the village of Dhalua, Sadar sub-district, reportedly died after detection of the deadly H5N1 virus.

Barguna is one of the districts hit worst by last November’s devastating Cyclone Sidr, which killed more than 3,400 people and rendered millions homeless.

Local authorities have declared a one-mile no-go zone around the area and culled 20,157 chickens, 590 ducks, 515 pigeons and a parrot in the area.

On 16 January, in Barisal, another southern district, the authorities culled over 1,500 birds.

“Almost all our chickens are dead. Government officials are killing only ducks and pigeons. There is no chicken left alive,” said Kutubuddin Mollah, a poultry seller at Barisal’s Kathpatti bazar.

In Rangpur District, northwestern Bangladesh, about 800 poultry birds died of suspected bird flu at a poultry farm at Robertsonsganj 15-18 January.

In Jessore District, 3,000 birds were culled following detection of the H5N1 virus among fouls on a poultry farm at Palbari in Jessore District.

Just last week in a commercial poultry farm in Kadirpur village of Kulaura sub-district of Moulavi Bazar District in the far northeast of the county, over 1,300 chickens were culled, and a 10km alert zone placed around the farm.

Bangladesh's largest migratory bird sanctuary, the Hakaluki Haor, is in this area.

Meanwhile, all 1,650 poultry farms in nine sub-districts of Khulna District, including Khulna city, are now under observation by health authorities, with a one-mile security zone declared around all bird flu affected farms throughout the country.

Additionally, the export and import of fowls, eggs and poultry feed to and from the affected areas have been officially banned.

India battles 'alarming' bird flu outbreak​

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXxGcQQBggol4PqDCsb022pcMmRw

KOLKATA, India (AFP) — Health workers in eastern India battled Friday to contain an "alarming" outbreak of bird flu amid reports the virus had spread to new areas and local people were resisting a mass poultry cull.

State officials in densely-populated West Bengal said chickens were still on sale despite a ban, while New Delhi called in troops to prevent birds being smuggled out.

The state's chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee described the spread of the virus as "alarming".

The minister told the Press Trust of India (PTI) his government had upped the cull target to 400,000 poultry, adding that the Rampurhat sub-division of Birbhum district was the worst affected.

He added that poultry in a five to 10 kilometre (three to six mile) radius of the affected areas would be culled and that it would take seven days.

"We have decided to increase the strength of the culling teams," Bhattacharjee said after culling got off to a slow start Wednesday.

Some 30 million rupees (770,000 dollars) had been set aside to compensate poultry owners.

The PTI, the national news agency, reported that "panic gripped Kolkata following the death of some birds in the city," but gave no details.

"The situation is very, very serious in 102 villages in three districts of Birbhum, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur," West Bengal animal resources development minister Anisur Rahaman said.

"Villagers are resisting culling operations. Chickens are on sale despite a ban and reports of poultry deaths from new places keep coming," he added.

But he said there had been no reports of human cases since the outbreak of the disease, although isolation wards have been readied in local hospitals.

In New Delhi, a home ministry official said the paramilitary Border Security Force had been called in to stop chickens being smuggled into Bangladesh, where the virus has also broken out.

But West Bengal health services director Sanchita Baksi said villagers were throwing chicken carcasses into rivers and ponds, increasing the risk of the virus spreading.

"And in some areas, villagers are feasting on dead chickens and are reluctant to disclose if there are any chickens or ducks in their backyards.

"Thousands of people are in danger," she warned, adding that local hostility was hampering efforts of the cull, which was launched after the agriculture ministry confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain.

The federal government has sent advisories to states neighbouring West Bengal in a bid to contain the disease.

More than 62,000 chickens and ducks have died over the past week in the three districts affected, West Bengal animal resources development director Dilip Das said.

Baksi said there were reports other birds had also been infected.

"We are worried over the reports that crows and hawks are dropping dead in some bird-flu affected areas," she said.

"We are trying to tell the people not to touch any birds lying in the those places."

Humans typically acquire the disease by coming into direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the deadly virus may mutate into a form easily transmissible between people.

Wild migratory birds have been blamed for the global spread of the disease, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003.

The outbreak is the third in India, home to 1.1 billion people, since 2006.

Ukraine hit by new bird flu outbreak​

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/01/18/afx4547498.html

KIEV (Thomson Financial) - The Ukrainian government has confirmed a new outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in poultry in the Crimean peninsula.

The virus was found in dead chickens from a battery farm in the village of Rivne, a spokesman for the emergency situations ministry, Volodymyr Ivanov, told AFP.

More than 150 birds at the farm had died from bird flu earlier in the week, the ministry said, with Ivanov adding that the village had been cordoned off.

Crimea's first outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which is deadly if contracted by humans, occurred in December 2005.

On that occasion the virus was eliminated after the authorities swept through farmsteads on the peninsula destroying tens of thousands of domestic birds kept for food by local residents.

H5N1 has claimed more than 200 human lives around the world, mostly in Asia. In Ukraine there have been no human casualties,

Scientists worry that the virus could mutate into a form directly transmissible between humans and cause a devastating pandemic.

UK

Fifth swan has bird flu​

http://www.thisisdorset.net/display.var.1976229.0.fifth_swan_has_bird_flu.php

By Harry Walton

TESTS have confirmed that a fifth swan at Abbotsbury had bird flu.

Two more swans have been found dead, bringing the total number of fatalities to 14 and the latest bodies have been sent off for tests.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs now plans to make random tests on some of the swans with the help of swanherds to check on their

Delegation returns to Haiti after probing bird flu outbreak​

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/lo...urns-to-Haiti-after-probing-bird-flu-outbreak



SANTO DOMINGO.- A Haitian technical delegation which came to Dominican Republic to evaluate the bird flu outbreak in the country, returned yesterday to Port-au-Prince after a stay of 48 hours.

This six member team will have to render a report to the Dominican Agriculture Ministry, so the authorities can make the pertinent decisions, said the newspaper Diario Libre quoting a source close to the commission.

The mission which visited Dominican Republic "did a good job" and "the ideas are now clearer on the manner in which the situation appears" in the border country, the source said.

Bird Flu is in the Caribbean​

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_business?id=56537210

Friday, January 18th 2008


The Government of Guyana has reacted quickly to news of an outbreak of Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) in the Dominican Republic. An announcement of a ban on the importation of poultry and poultry products has been made despite the fact that - as far as we are aware -the Dominican Republic is not a source of local chicken imports.

In that sense the announcement of the ban reflects the psychological impact that attends the dreaded disease which has decimated poultry industries and severely damaged economies in several Asian (and other) countries including, notably, Vietnam.

Some time ago the Ministry of Agriculture had disclosed that a multi agency committee had been set up to address the Bird Flu menace and that the efforts of the committee were being supported by wider regional initiatives and had also been benefiting from cooperation with Brazil. We also learnt that part of the responsibility of the committee - which includes representation from the Ministries of Agriculture and Health, large local poultry producers and PAHO - was to sensitize local poultry farmers to best practices in poultry rearing designed to reduce the risk of Guyana becoming affected by the disease.

The Ministry of Agriculture has said in the past that one of the main challenges to its efforts to keep Bird Flu out of Guyana is the sheer size of the poultry industry in terms of the number of small producers who are spread over a wide area of the country. Apart from the larger, well-established poultry rearing operations, there are literally thousands of smaller operators in the small business sector and the Ministry has said in the past that since many of the smaller operations may not be pursuing those best practices necessary to minimize the likelihood of Bird Flu, there was indeed a window of vulnerability to the disease.

Now that there has been a reported case of Bird Flu in the region the need to ensure that the poultry industry - including the thousands of small operations across the country - are adopting safer, more responsible rearing practices, has become more urgent and it is worth wondering whether the multi-agency committee has the resources and the reach to undertake this task.

Significantly, Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy appears to be altogether aware of the likelihood that Guyana could become affected by Bird Flu and his recent comments on the issue focus on the country's capacity to contain the disease should it arise. We learnt that a recent Bird Flu simulation exercise conducted on the Soesdyke/ Linden Highway had revealed that while there were "a number of weaknesses" in the system efforts were being made to correct those weaknesses "in preparation for a real situation."

The other challenge that surfaces in the fight to keep Bird Flu out of Guyana is that of ensuring that the government's import ban order is adhered to, since it is widely known that apart from those imports that arrive here through official ports of entry and which are subject to inspection and quarantine procedures, much of the goods imported into Guyana these days reache here across our land borders and are therefore not subject to those formal procedures. Indeed, despite the fact that the United States and Brazil are the two biggest sources of official chicken imports, it is unclear whether or not any poultry or poultry products from the Dominican Republic may ever have found their way in to Guyana.

How to guard against illegal chicken imports, particularly in cases where there are shortages in local production, is another challenge facing Guyana with the arrival of Bird Flu in the region.

Domestic birds, of course, are not the only source through which the disease can transcend borders. Migratory birds and pet imports can also trigger an outbreak of Bird Flu here. In this regard the movement of birds from interior to coastal areas - a phenomenon over which the authorities have no control, becomes a cause for concern.

What makes Bird Flu concerns particularly worrying for Guyana are, first, the heavy consumer dependency on poultry meat as part of the staple diet and, secondly, the thousands of investments - ranging from multi million dollar poultry farms to subsistence operations - in the poultry industry. The need to protect the country from Bird Flu, therefore, has both food supply implications as well as implications for the livelihood of thousands of Guyanese and, by extension for the country's economy.

It does no harm to remind those agencies responsible for seeking to stave off the arrival of Bird Flu in Guyana - and, if necessary, to respond effectively to the arrival of the disease - of the importance of their responsibility.

Dominican avian flu outbreak threatens Haiti's food supply​

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-editajjhaitisbjan18,0,6746039.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
January 18, 2008


ISSUE: Dominican flu outbreak threatens Haiti's food supply.

The last thing Haiti needs is a severe food shortage. But that could be the result if an avian flu outbreak in neighboring Dominican Republic gets out of control.

Earlier this week, Haitian officials banned poultry products coming from the DR after 115 chickens from the country tested positive for the bird virus. Egg prices in Port-au-Prince jumped 25 percent to more than $3 a carton, according to news reports. Long lines formed at outdoor markets, and merchants worried their supplies would soon be depleted.

Haiti can't bear this now — not while making slow, but what appears to be steady progress under President René Préval. The country imports at least 1 million eggs and hundreds of thousands of chickens from the Dominican Republic daily, according to the country's agriculture minister. A bird flu epidemic and food shortage would further stress a population whose health is already compromised. It could also wipe out a means of livelihood for merchants who sell poultry products.

And, let's not forget the potential implications for South Florida if hungry families hit the high seas for refuge, putting their lives at risk.

The H5N2 strain found in Haiti is less virulent than the H5N1 strain that has killed 216 people in Asia and other countries. Still, Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is too fragile a nation to let this situation get out of hand.

The United Nations, USAID and other humanitarian organizations must do everything in their power to help address the problem before the situation worsens.

Bird Flu is in the Caribbean!!!!!

Won't be long....

Iran confirms outbreak of deadly bird flu​

http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iran/10183018.html

Tehran: Iran for the first time confirmed an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu among domestic and wild fowl, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported on Friday.

"Based on the results of tests on samples over which there were suspicions of bird flu, domestic and wild birds of Iran were infected by the disease," ISNA quoted Mojtaba Norouzi, head of Iran's Veterinary Department, as saying.

Avoid hunting

Norouzi said the tests were conducted in Italy and the infected birds from northern Iran were destroyed. He also warned against consumption of fowl that region.

"Since it is possible that domestic birds are affected, it is necessary that people avoid hunting and consuming wild and domestic birds living around lakes." Norouzi said any suspicious cases in bird farms would be destroyed quickly.

ISNA is not considered an official news agency, but the Iranian government sometimes uses it to leak information on sensitive issues.

On Thursday the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), had said there was an outbreak in Iran back on December 10 but it was not reported to the Paris-based body until Wednesday.

Animals destroyed

According to the animal health organisation, 14 birds were infected and another 475 were destroyed.

The OIE has been at the forefront of global efforts to monitor and fight H5N1, which scientists have tracked because they fear it may mutate into a human flu virus that could start a pandemic.

The outbreak was in Mazandaran province on the Caspian Sea, the OIE said. It said investigations are under way to trace the source of the infection and its "probable spread." In Tehran, calls to related authorities were not immediately returned on Friday because of the weekend.

Earlier in January, Norouzi told the official media that as preventive measure, his agency had destroyed about 300,000 birds from farms in the suburbs of the capital, Tehran.

Iran has more than 200,000 farms with some 10 million birds in Iran.

India struggles to contain bird flu as farmers resist cull​

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gWx1wM0VxC9drbNxwo1Gf3OxfR-w

MARGRAM, India (AFP) — Laboratory workers on Saturday analysed new samples from dead chickens amid fears India's worst-ever bird flu outbreak may have spread in eastern India as locals resisted a massive cull.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called the outbreak of avian flu among poultry in the densely populated eastern state of West Bengal the worst the country has faced -- partly because it is more widespread.

West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee called the situation "very serious," while officials reported villagers were throwing chicken carcasses into rivers and ponds, increasing the risk of the virus spreading.

Bird flu has been confirmed in three districts of West Bengal where 85,000 poultry have died from the disease, the federal government said in a statement.

Fresh bird deaths were reported from another three districts and laboratory officials were analysing the dead poultry, the statement said.

The outbreak is the third in India, home to 1.1 billion people, since 2006.

"More serious risk factors are associated with this current outbreak than (the two) previously encountered, including that the affected areas are more widespread and because of the proximity to extended border areas," the WHO said.

West Bengal borders Bangladesh, which is also fighting an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain that analysts fear could mutate into a form easily transmissible between people.

Laboratory officials are working to confirm whether the Indian bird flu outbreak is also of the highly contagious H5N1 strain.

More than 36,000 chickens had been slaughtered so far in the three affected districts in Marxist-ruled West Bengal, where poverty is rampant.

The epicentre of the outbreak is Margram village -- 240 kilometres (150 miles) from state capital Kolkata.

"The government has declared Margram highly sensitive," state animal resources development minister Anisur Rahman said, adding the number of culling teams had been increased to 300 from 65.

Chickens were still on sale in the affected areas despite a ban, local officials said, and New Delhi has called in troops to prevent birds being smuggled out.

Humans typically catch the disease by coming into direct contact with infected poultry.

Attempts to fight the outbreak were frustrated by a lack of cooperation from local people angered by what they said was inadequate compensation for the dead birds.

Some 30 million rupees (770,000 dollars) has been set aside to compensate poultry owners.

"In some areas, villagers are feasting on dead chickens and are reluctant to disclose if there are any chickens or ducks in their backyards," said West Bengal health services director Sanchita Baksi.

Residents often leave their houses with a handful of chickens before the culling teams arrive, officials said.

Officials threatened to force their way into backyards if they were not allowed entry, local people said.

The state government aims to slaughter 400,000 birds in a five to 10-kilometre (three- to six-mile) radius of the affected areas and has said the process could take at least another six days.

Wild migratory birds have been blamed for the global spread of the disease, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003.

Bird flu spreads to more areas, Centre unhappy on WB steps​

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200801191553.htm

Kolkata (PTI): As bird flu spread to more areas in West Bengal, the Centre on Saturday expressed its unhappiness over the steps taken by the state to contain the virus.

"No, we are not satisfied," Panabaka Lakshmi, Minister of State for Health, told reporters on being asked if the Centre was satisfied with the measures being taken by the state government to stop spread of the disease.

She said compensation to poultry losers was not being properly distributed.

A day after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee described the bird flu situation as "very serious", state Animal Resources Minister Anisur Rehman claimed there were signs of "overall improvement".

After reviewing the situation in the bird flu-hit Birbhum district, Rehman said the state had set a target to cull 4,00,000 chickens within seven days, of which 60,000-70,000 had already been culled.

Villagers have been asked not to carry dead birds with bare hands. Trained volunteers armed with gloves, aprons and masks will carry the dead chickens, he said.

In many villages, villagers picked dead fowl with their hands and dumped them in ponds, increasing the risk of the virus.

Bird flu virus has already been confirmed in three West Bengal districts of Birbhum, South Dinajpur and Murshidabad where culling continued for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday.

Samples from Birbhum and South Dinajpur districts showed the presence of the deadly H5N1 virus, which can mutate and infect humans.

The districts of Burdwan, Bankura, Cooch Behar, Nadia and Purulia and 24 South Paraganas reported several cases of bird deaths. But central officials said tests of samples in Purulia, Cooch Behar and Nadia proved negative for bird flu.

Suspect H5N1 in Suburban Calcutta​

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01180804/H5N1_Suburban_Calcutta.html

Recombinomics Commentary 23:19
January 18, 2008

Bird flu might be now at Kolkata's doorstep. After the outbreak in Birbhum, Murshidabad and South Dinajpur districts, deaths of more than about 400 poultry birds were reported at Mankundu in Sarisa in the outskirts of the city.

It is learnt that the dying chickens were showing symptoms of the deadly bird flu in a private poultry farm and several other houses at Sarisa under the Diamond Harbour II block since Wednesday.

The above comments describe suspect H5N1 in suburban Calcutta (see satellite map). Media reports indicate birds have been dying daily since December 21. Similar reports have been received for Birbhum, where H5N1 has been confirmed and extensive culler started this week.

Like Birbhum, wild birds have also been dying in southern Calcutta and the dead poultry is southwest of the center of Calcutta. Also like Burbham, villagers have been eating the dead poultry, raising concerns of H5N1 ransmission to humans.

Samples have been sent to High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal and comments on rapid test results were conspicuously absent. Culling may begin shortly.

These results may have contributed to the Calcutta alert, and the distribution of poultry deaths suggests H5N1 is widespread in West Bengal.

Fresh bird flu outbreaks confirmed in east India​

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080120/97379139.html

NEW DELHI, January 20 (RIA Novosti) - Fresh outbreaks of bird flu have been confirmed in east India, the country's agriculture ministry said on Sunday.

On January 15, India's agriculture officials reported the deadly H5N1 strain in two administrative districts in the state of West Bengal. The outbreak occurred at private farms in the Birbhum District, some 250 km (160 miles) from the state's capital, Calcutta, and at a state poultry farm in a nearby district.

Now the bird flu outbreak has spread to three more districts in West Bengal, the agriculture officials said.

About 100,000 birds have been culled in recent days and agriculture officials say a total of 800,000 poultry will be slaughtered in West Bengal to stem the bird flu outbreak.

In 2006, India reported a bird flu outbreak in the state of Manipur, in the northeast of the country. Hundreds of thousands of chickens were slaughtered at the time.

Although no cases of human-to-human transmission of avian influenza have been reported, scientists fear the virus could mutate into a strain that could pass easily from person to person, causing a global pandemic.

More than 200 people have died worldwide from bird flu since the first fatality was registered in 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

No humans affected by bird flu in India: Ramadoss​

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/..._in_India_Ramadoss/rssarticleshow/2715552.cms

CHENNAI: No human beings had been affected by bird flu in India so far and no cases have been reported, Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss said here on Sunday.

"Not even a single case has been reported so far", he told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.

His remarks come in the wake of the outbreak of bird flu in five districts in West Bengal. Since its outbreak on Jan 15 in Birbhum, the bird flu has spread to western and northern areas of the state.

The government has also stepped up culling operations. Dr Ramadoss said the Centre had instructed the West Bengal government to destroy all birds in the affected districts, to control the disease.

He said people in Tamil Nadu need nor harbour any fears about being affected by the disease as no cases of bird flu had been reported in the state.

The minister also said there were no cases of anthrax disease (caused by the bacteria Bacillus Anthracis) in Tamil Nadu.

Bird flu kills Indonesian boy, raises death toll to 97​

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailgeneral.asp?fileid=20080120155047&irec=2

JAKARTA (AP): An Indonesian boy has died of bird flu, bringing the country's death toll from the disease to 97, the Health Ministry said Saturday.

The 8-year-old boy from the town of Tangerang died early Friday after being treated at the Sulianti Saroso Hospital for Infectious Disease in the capital, Jakarta, said Sunan Raja, an official at the ministry's bird flu center.

He said the boy had been admitted to a local hospital on Wednesday, nine days after he developed symptoms of fever and cough.

Raja said laboratory results confirmed that the boy had the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.

The boy lived near a poultry slaughterhouse in the Cipondoh neighborhood in the western outskirts of Jakarta, Raja said.

Indonesia has recorded human bird flu deaths regularly since 2003, when the virus began ravaging poultry stocks across Asia.

Scientists have warned that Indonesia, which has millions of backyard chickens and poor medical facilities, is a potential hot spot for a global bird flu pandemic. (***)

India struggles with worst-ever outbreak​

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=nw20080121114225132C406209

Kolkata, India - Villagers in eastern India are continuing to eat chickens killed by bird flu, prompting fears the country's worst-ever outbreak of the virus could worsen, an official said Monday.

West Bengal animal resources development minister, Anisur Rahaman, told AFP that the situation in the affected areas was "horrible", and that authorities needed to accelerate a cull of hundreds of thousands of chickens and ducks.

"The ignorance of villagers is one of the main hurdles. They are carrying the dead chickens without any protective gear," he said.

"Most villagers are not aware of the disease. They are eating the dead chickens. Their children are playing with the infected chickens on the courtyards. It's horrible," Rahaman added.

Six districts in West Bengal state have reported outbreaks of avian flu among poultry.

Rahaman said there were fears it could be spreading further afield in the state, with suspect poultry spotted in the hill resort of Darjeeling on the border with Nepal, and in several villages in Coochbehar bordering Bangladesh, which is also fighting a bird flu outbreak.

"Blood samples of the dead poultry have been sent for tests. We are awaiting the report," he said.

Rahaman said authorities had so far killed 200 000 birds, and were planning to cull 500 000 more in the next three to four days.

The outbreak is the third in India since 2006 and the worst so far because it is more widespread, according to the World Health Organisation.

Residents are also opposing the slaughter of their birds because they want immediate compensation.

Humans typically catch the disease by coming into direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus may mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans.

Migratory birds have been largely blamed for the global spread of the disease, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003.

Nigeria: Bird Flu - Poultry Farmers Get N42.5m​

http://allafrica.com/stories/200801210403.html

Posted to the web 21 January 2008

Lagos

Ogun

Eighteen poultry farmers in Ogun, whose birds and eggs were ravaged by Avian influenza, also known as "Bird flu", have received compensation of N42.5 million.

The pandemic affected 123 poultry farms across nine states in the country, while the amount paid to the farmers in Ogun State represented 67.7 per cent of the compensation.

The compensation, it was gathered, was facilitated by the state government, in conjunction with the Federal Government and World Bank.

The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Kunle Salako, who accompanied by officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, presented the cheque to the beneficiaries.

Salako expressed the government's sympathy to the farmers over the distortion in their operations as a result of the incident.

He said the animal health component of the World Bank was the first agency to respond to the state's distress call over the pandemic.

"The Federal Government followed suit, while the state government did a lot in the provision of funds for the monitoring and the depopulation of the affected farms.

"We have also conducted enlightenment campaigns for the farmers and the birds' sellers," Salako said.

Also speaking, Dr Adedamola Soremekun, State Director of Veterinary Services, said it was sad for the farm owners to have gone through such "harrowing experience".

According to him, the poultry farmers were skeptical when they were told of the control measure to depopulate their farms before they could get any compensation.

"It was difficult for most farmers to agree with the measure, because, most of you believed that the money may never be paid.
Relevant Links

"The depopulation is, however, necessary to control the avian influenza. We can all testify that the measure has been effective as the pandemic had been stopped," he said.

One of the farmers, Dr Taiwo Makinde, who expressed appreciation to the government and the World Bank for the financial support.

Makinde said the fear of poor compensation prompted some farmers to attempt to hide their birds from being destroyed.

Bird flu outbreak worsening in Bangladesh: Experts​

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItem...=L&Title=B+R+E+A+K+I+N+G++++N+E+W+S&Topic=488

DHAKA: An outbreak of bird flu among poultry in Bangladesh is far worse than the country's government is reporting, experts warned on Tuesday.

"Bird flu is now everywhere. Every day we have reports of birds dying in farms," said leading poultry expert and the treasurer of Bangladesh Poultry Association MM Khan.

"Things are now very serious and public health is under danger. The government is trying to suppress the whole scenario," Khan said, adding that farmers were also holding back from reporting cases.

The comments came after the government reported a series of outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu last week in several southern and northern districts of the country. "The situation is far worse than before. There were huge outbreaks in the past weeks and the disease is now more wide spread than before," an expert at an international agency said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Bangladesh reported its first outbreak of H5N1 in February 2007, after thousands of chickens died in a state-owned farm. Since than the deadly disease has been detected in 26 out of the country's 6 districts, prompting authorities to slaughter at least 3,55,000 birds and destroy more than 300,000 eggs.

The head of the government's livestock department, Sunil Chandra Ghosh, admitted the situation had worsened in the past week with the onset of winter. "The intensity of the bird flu has increased with the arrival of winter. There was no detection of the flu several months in late 2007, but the situation has worsened in the last week," Ghosh said.

No confirmation of humans infected by bird flu, says Health Minister Ramadoss​

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/2097...ted-by-bird-flu-says-Health-Minister-Ramadoss

New Delhi, Jan 22: Putting to rest fears of humans being infected by bird flu, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss today said that people have been randomly tested in West Bengal's areas hit by avian influenza and all have tested negative.




"Till date we have not got any confirmation for that (humans being infected by bird flu)," Ramadoss told reporters on the sidelines of a function here, adding that "there is no reason to be concerned of human cases of bird flu."

"We are all vigilant," he said.

Meanwhile, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) today said that all five human samples taken from West Bengal have tested negative.

So far, seven districts -- Birbhum, Murshidabad, south Dinajpur, Burdwan, Nadia, Bankura and Malda -- in West Bengal have been affected by bird flu.

About 160,000 poultry birds have been culled so far, while over 100,000 birds have succumbed to the disease.

Turkey bird flu virus is H5N1 strain - official​

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/01/22/afx4556184.html

ANKARA (Thomson Financial) - The bird flu virus found in a village in northern Turkey is of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain that is potentially deadly to humans, an agriculture ministry spokesman confirmed.

Asked by AFP whether the virus detected among poultry in the village of Saz in Zonguldak province on the southern coast of the Black Sea was H5N1, spokesman Tunc Tuncel said: 'Yes, That is correct.'

'But we believe that it has not spread to any humans,' he said, adding preventive measures are already in place.

Indonesian man infected by bird flu, putting cases to 120​

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/22/content_7473936.htm

JAKARTA, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- A 30-year-old Indonesian man from the outskirt of Jakarta was infected by avian influenza, bringing the total cases to 120 with 97 fatal in the hardest-hit country, Indonesian health ministry said Tuesday.

The man from Tanggerang town had been treated in a bird flu designed hospital of Persahabatan in east Jakarta since January 18,an official of anti-bird flu center of the ministry Joko Suyono said.

"Two of his laboratories tests show positive today," Suyono told Xinhua.

The man did not have historical contact with fowl like many other victims of the disease, said the official.

On January 20 the man indicated symptoms of high fever, coach, respiratory problem, leucopenia, thrombocytopenic, pneumonia, said Suyono.

The man first showed the symptoms of the disease at January 14 and went to a hospital in the town before he was shifted to the hospital in east Jakarta, said the official.

Indonesia is one of the countries which have been at the front row in fighting to combat the spreading of highly pathogenic H5N1 viruses, which have slowly and persistently spread on human.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country and home to millions of backyard chickens, is considered a possible hot spot for spreading the disease, although the country has culled millions of chickens and pigs.

Bird flu spreads to Malda​

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bird_flu_spreads_to_Malda/articleshow/2719361.cms

NEW DELHI: Malda, precariously surrounded by Bangladesh and South Dinajpur, has now become West Bengal's 7th district to be infected by the deadly bird flu virus.

Animal husbandry department secretary Pradeep Kumar said on Monday that the fatal H5N1 virus was isolated from dead birds in the district.

HSADL, Bhopal, has confirmed a positive result for avian influenza in the samples sent from Chachal-1 block in Malda. The virus was also found from parts of districts already known to be infected. Nakashipara block of Nadia district and Mejia block of Bankura district have also been found to be infected.

Over 22 fresh samples were sent to Bhopal from North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Nadia, West Midnapur and Birbhum on Monday.

Now seven of the 19 districts in the state have been infected. Around 20 million people live in these infected areas. According to sources, it was just a matter of time before the virus was found in Malda.

Malda shares a common border with Bangladesh, one of the world's worst affected countries with avian influenza, and has South Dinajpur in the east which was declared to be infected on January 15. Murshidabad lies to its south. The virus was found to have infected several parts of this district on January 18.

"West Bengal and Bangladesh share a tremendously porous border. So it was but obvious that the virus would hop into Malda, through illegal trade of infected poultry or infected bird droppings.

Bangladesh is badly affected by bird flu with around 21 of the country's 64 districts affected by the deadly H5N1 virus. We have been fearing such an outbreak for long," an official from the department told TOI.

Meanwhile, the tremendous pace of the outbreak in Bengal has made officials in the department zero down on ducks as a major source of propagation of the virus. Kumar said it was initially being difficult to catch ducks from lakes during culling.

"Now, we have asked authorities to cull all ducks in infected districts along with poultry," Kumar added.

According to WHO, healthy-looking ducks do act as a silent reservoir for the deadly H5N1 influenza. Studies have found that domestic ducks infected shed more virus and for one to seven days longer.

Most infected ducks don't even appear sick, WHO says. Asia is home to over 80% of the world's domestic duck population. An expert said: "Domestic ducks can excrete large quantities of highly pathogenic virus without showing signs of illness.”

“Domestic ducks have played a major role in the spread of the H5N1 avian flu in Asia where chickens and ducks often flock together and share water. WHO has also recommended that people in affected countries not keep ducks as pets or allow them in houses and that water supplies for human use should not be drawn from open ponds used by domestic ducks."

Meanwhile, answering questions on how the virus could have spread so fast, Kumar said: "West Bengal has heavy backyard poultry population that mingle freely with ducks and wild birds. The H5N1 viruses can survive at lower temperatures better. The humidity level in Kolkata is also congenial for the virus to stay alive."

He added: "Also, all the affected districts are adjoined. Droppings from wild birds feasting on infected poultry can spread the virus. Dead birds thrown at railway tracks, roads and ponds by people could also be the reason."

The virus has already killed over 1.07 lakh birds. A joint team of the animal husbandry department and Union health ministry has already left for Jharkhand and Bihar to monitor the situation on the ground. Teams for on-the-spot assessment of the situation in Orissa and the north-eastern states have also been constituted and are expected to move shortly.

Kumar said: "We just want to be careful. Samples were collected from dead birds in Jharkhand but all have tested negative. Bihar has not reported any case of unusual mortality. The north-eastern states are especially vulnerable because they are close to Myanmar, another hotbed of the virus."

Till now, 154 rapid response teams have culled 1.6 lakh birds, destroyed 79,000 eggs and 2,865 kg of feed. Union agriculture and animal husbandry minister Sharad Pawar on Monday pointed to West Bengal's critical delay in reporting unusual mortality in poultry. TOI had reported that the deaths were first noticed on January 4 but the Centre was informed only on January 11.

Bengal bird flu spreads to humans?​

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Bengal_bird_flu_spreads_to_humans/articleshow/2719341.cms

NEW DELHI: India may record its first human bird flu cases if five persons in West Bengal, under observation for displaying "clinical symptoms" associated with the infection after handling backyard poultry, are confirmed to be afflicted with the disease.

All five are residents of Murshidabad, one of seven West Bengal districts to have been hit by the deadly H5N1 virus in its latest outbreak in India, and have been quarantined and administered Tamiflu - the most effective antibiotic against avian influenza.

Investigations revealed that the men had handled backyard poultry soon after the disease infected and killed birds. The outbreak has been traced to small pens maintained by individuals rather than large farms. The men reported influenza-like symptoms including fever, cough, sore throat and muscle ache.

Some of them are also suspected to be suffering from respiratory illness like pneumonia. A special team from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, collected blood and throat samples of the patients on Sunday.

They are being tested by scientists at the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata, and Delhi's National Institute of Virology and National Institute of Communicable Diseases - the only three bio safety level (BSL)-III labs in India equipped to test human samples for avian influenza.

The next 24 hours will be a nervous wait for officials monitoring the outbreak as final reports are expected on Tuesday.

Speaking to TOI, Dr Sekhar Chakraborty, NICED scientist, said: "Scientists from our institute have already left for Pune and Delhi with five human samples to be tested at NIV and NICD.

An NIV team collected the samples. All the five individuals have shown clinical symptoms of the disease and also had a history of handling infected and dead poultry. We should complete our tests by Tuesday morning."

India risks bird flu 'disaster', human cases feared​

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_198832.html

KOLKATA (India) - INDIA'S worst ever outbreak of bird flu could turn into a disaster, an official warned on Tuesday, as five people were reportedly quarantined with symptoms of the virus.

Eight districts in the eastern state of West Bengal have been hit by the virus, and dead birds are being sold and locals said to be 'feasting' on cheap chicken.

The state's animal resources minister, Anisur Rahaman, said authorities were 'determined to cull all poultry in the districts in three or four days, otherwise the state will face a disaster.'

More than 100,000 bird deaths have been reported, and teams are racing to cull two million chickens and ducks.

The Times of India reported five people in West Bengal have been quarantined with 'clinical symptoms' of avian flu - including fever, coughing, sore throat and muscle ache - after handling affected poultry.

If the tests are positive, this will be the first case of human infection in India, home to 1.1 billion people and hit by bird flu among poultry three times since 2006.

Bird flu outbreak worsening in Bangladesh: experts
DHAKA - AN OUTBREAK of bird flu among poultry in Bangladesh is far worse than the country's government is reporting, experts warned on Tuesday.

'Bird flu is now everywhere. Every day we have reports of birds dying in farms,' said leading poultry expert and the treasurer of Bangladesh Poultry Association M.M. Khan.
... more
Health officials in New Delhi said they were currently analysing blood samples from close to 150 people who have complained of fever.

On the ground, culling teams have been facing an uphill battle with villagers smuggling birds out of flu affected areas and selling them in open markets.

Thirty-year-old Sheikh Ali, a vendor in Birbhum's Gharisa market, 340 km from the state capital Kolkata, said the sale of poultry had doubled in the past week.

'The prices of chicken have come down from 60 rupees to 20 rupees (S$2.17) per kilogramme.

'Poor villagers are feasting on chicken. At normal times, they cannot afford to buy as prices are so high. Now they are enjoying the meat,' Mr Ali said.

People typically catch the disease by coming into direct contact with infected poultry, but experts fear a flu pandemic if the H5N1 mutates into a form easily transmissible between humans.

Migratory birds have been largely blamed for the global spread of the disease, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide since 2003.

In Birbhum, police seized two trucks of smuggled poultry early on Tuesday but culling teams were yet to arrive at the spot, an reporter said.

'Poultry owners are smuggling their birds out at night and transporting it to different places for fear of culling,' said Shubhendu Mahato, a security guard at Arambagh Hatchery, one of the biggest in West Bengal.

Chicken shops had also sprung up along the main highways overnight with people crowding them, a reporter said.

Neighbouring Nepal, which has banned poultry imports from India since 2006, said its border posts were on high alert.

Bangladesh, which also borders West Bengal, was meanwhile battling its own serious outbreak - with experts warning the situation was far worse than the government was letting on.

'Bird flu is now everywhere. Every day we have reports of birds dying in farms,' said leading poultry expert and the treasurer of Bangladesh Poultry Association M.M Khan.

'Things are now very, very serious and public health is under danger. The government is trying to suppress the whole scenario,' Mr Khan said, adding that farmers were also holding back from reporting cases. -- AFP

Indonesia

Children admitted to Garut hospital for bird flu symptoms​

http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=2430

GARUT, WEST JAWA, Jan 22 (ANTARA) - Three children were admitted to Garut General Hospital at 2.30 a.m here on Tuesday as suspected bird flu sufferers, a doctor at the hospital said.

Dr Widjayanti Utoyo identified the three suspected bird flu patients who were now being treated in an isolation room as M Ihsan (5), Saeful Fahmi (13) and Soni (six months).

The three were residents of Peundeuy sub district, she said.

Widjayanti said M Ihsan began suffering from high fever on Monday while Saeful and Soni who showed the same symptoms were admitted to the hospital 15 minutes after Ihsan.

Peundeuy sub district head Rosidin said at least 1,309 chickens had died in three villages in the area since January 6, 2008.

In Garut, bird flu had spread to 14 villages in eight sub districts, according to Dede Rochmansyah, chief of the communicable disease eradication section of Garut`s Health Office.

Bird flu has so far killed a total of 95 people in Indonesia.

The most recent fatality was a 32-year-old woman who died at her home after refusing to see a doctor.

The Health Ministry said Monday two laboratory tests confirmed the woman from Jakarta`s western outskirts was infected with the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus.(Antara)

Link to next weeks thread:

HEALTH - 1/23/08-1/30/08|Weekly Bird Flu Thread: Don't rely on drugs to delay flu pandemic

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=274198