Bird Flu - Avian Influenza - news - information

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Nigeria confirms first human H5N1 bird flu death in country

Jan 31 - A 22-year-old woman died from bird flu after handling infected chicken, Nigeria said on Wednesday, confirming the first human fatality in sub-Saharan Africa.

The government believes three other people may have died of the H5N1 virus in Africa’s most populous nation, but tests proved inconclusive.

Nigeria is one of three countries regarded by experts as the weakest areas in the global attempt to stem the virus’s spread.

The Lagos woman’s mother also died after handling the same bird but tests on samples taken from her body were inconclusive.

Another member of the household in Nigeria’s commercial capital displayed symptoms of bird flu but was responding to treatment in hospital, Nweke said.

“The three people feathered and disembowelled the chicken so we believe that is how they were infected,” said Abdulsalam Nasidi, a health ministry official.

Direct contact with infected poultry is the most common way for people to catch bird flu. Millions of Nigerians keep poultry in their backyards and in the absence of refrigerators in most households, birds are transported and sold live, and killed just before eating.

The two other suspected human victims were in the north-eastern states of Borno and Taraba. Samples from the Lagos woman are being sent to foreign laboratories for confirmation.

This will trigger additional funding for a focused fight against the virus.

“It is an epidemic, the funding will be allocated from a disaster fund in the state budget,” Suzetta said on Wednesday.

“The handling of this will no longer be on an ad hoc basis, but it will be done comprehensively.” Indonesia said in December it planned to tackle the virus more forcefully and hoped to beat it by the end of 2007.

World Health Organisation spokesman Gregory Hartl said a human case of bird flu in Nigeria was to be expected because of the experience in other countries, such as Indonesia, with huge poultry populations where chickens and hens live in close proximity to humans.

“It does not change anything from a public health point of view,” Hartl said. “It had to happen sooner or later.”

Avian influenza article source: Reuters’ Alertnet

Bulgarian authorities to close live bird markets over bird flu fears

Live bird markets in the Vidin region will be closed down starting January 31.

The regional epidemiological committee decided to introduce the restriction as a preventive anti-bird flu measure, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported.

Such measures were needed after Hungary registered the first case of bird infection, head of the regional veterinary medical office Valeri Velkov said.

Other preventive measures to counter an eventual spread of the infection among birds were introduced as well, said Velkov. All towns located on the Danube riverbank as well as Dobrich, Varna and Bourgas will be subjected to the restrictions.

Bulgaria registered the first case of bird flu in February 2006. A dead swan was found on the Danube bank, close to Vidin.

Avian influenza story source: The Bulgarian News Agency

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Southern Japan Hit by Another Case of Suspected Bird Flu (possible 4th outbreak)

TOKYO Jan 30, 2007 (AP)— Another outbreak of bird flu was suspected in southern Japan on Tuesday after 23 chickens were found dead at a farm, fueling concern about a string of cases in the country’s poultry industry.

The latest outbreak occurred in the town of Shitomi in southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki, which saw two separate bird flu cases earlier this month, Agriculture Ministry official Yasushi Yamaguchi said.

The case would mark Japan’s fourth bird flu incident in the past month. Authorities found 23 chickens dead at the farm in Shitomi, and seven of 13 birds that were tested showed initial signs of bird flu, Yamaguchi said.

“We found the dead birds today and are investigating whether the virus is present,” the official said. Results could take days.

The farm was quarantined and chicken ranchers within a six-mile radius were told not to transport poultry out of the area.

Separately Tuesday, officials were trying to determine whether the virus that killed dozens of chickens in the western prefecture of Okayama was the deadly H5N1 variety.

The H5N1 was pinpointed in the earlier Miyazaki outbreaks, which forced the slaughter of thousands of chickens in the region.

Avian influenza story Source: AP

Monday, January 29, 2007

Hungary confirms deadly bird flu strain

Hungarian authorities confirmed Monday that fowl in the southeast of the country was infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus, media reported.

In Brussels, European Commission spokesman Philip Tod said the deadly virus strain in geese in farms in southern Hungary was confirmed by the country’s state veterinary agency, the Hungarian BBJ.hu online reported.

This is the first outbreak in Europe since August.

Tod said a flock of nearly 9,500 geese was culled during the weekend after it was established the birds had bird flu symptoms at a farm 5 miles from another infected farm at the village of Lapisto in southeastern Hungary.

Last Tuesday, Hungarian authorities ordered culling some 3,300 geese at the Lapisto farm when veterinarians detected fowl with bird flu symptoms.

Avian influenza story source: Washington Times

Russia finds H5N1 bird flu strain in southern yards

MOSCOW - Russia has recorded its first cases this year of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu in dead domestic birds, the country’s animal and plant health agency said on Monday.

Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement the virus was detected in dead birds found in three domestic yards in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia.

“Yes, it’s H5N1,” a spokesman for the agency said, when asked to confirm the strain of the virus.

Rosselkhoznadzor said measures were being taken to prevent the spread of infection in the three settlements where cases were found—Labinsk, Upornaya and Borodinskaya.

The agency said tests had been carried out in regional laboratories and further tests would now be conducted in Moscow.

Russia recorded more than 90 cases of bird flu last year. Most were in southern regions, particularly the North Caucasus area that borders Georgia and Azerbaijan. Several cases were also found in the Siberian regions of Novosibirsk and Omsk.

Avian influenza source used: Reuters’ alert net

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Rumors of bird flu spreading in Azerbaijan untrue (Minister of Agriculture)

Azerbaijan - Sunday January 28, 2007 - The Azerbaijan Minister of Agriculture, Ismat Abbasov, said information about the spread of the deadly bird flu virus across the country is not true.

Commenting on results of the tests on a 14-year-old boy from Salyan province, suspected of having contracted the H5N1 virus, the Minister said they proved negative.

The boy was hospitalized after he fell sick with a high temperature, and local doctors feared he might have contracted bird flu.

But analysis carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture’s Veterinary Service and Ministry of Health found no signs of H5N1.

Avian influenza story source: Azerbaijan Ministry of Agriculture.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

H5N1 bird flu outbreak confirmed in Japan

Update: Read previous bird flu related story by clicking here

Tests confirmed that an outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm in southern Japan was caused by the virulent H5N1 virus, the agriculture ministry said Saturday.

A state laboratory analyzed samples from 3,000 chickens that died at a farm in Hyuga in Miyazaki state, Japan’s main chicken-producing region, and found the birds had been infected with H5N1, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a statement.

Earlier this month, some 4,000 chickens died from H5N1 in another town in Miyazaki, about 560 miles southwest of Tokyo.

Authorities began slaughtering the remaining 49,000 chickens at the Hyuga farm on Friday, state official Hisao Takase said.

About 21,000 birds had been destroyed by Saturday afternoon, Takase said. Another 50,000 chickens at a neighboring farm will also be killed as a precaution.

The H5N1 virus has killed or forced the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia since late 2003, and caused the deaths of at least 163 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Japan has confirmed only one human H5N1 infection, and no human deaths.

The bird flu virus remains hard for humans to catch, but international experts fear it may mutate into a form that could spread easily among humans and possibly kill millions around the world. 

Friday, January 26, 2007

Indonesia raises bird flu alert level calls on military to help

Indonesia called on the military on Friday to help fight bird flu, a day after a young girl became the country’s sixth victim this month.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the military chief to deploy soldiers to help fight the disease, Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi told reporters.

“He called on governors, regents, mayors to be more active in leading efforts to fight bird flu in affected areas,” Silalahi said after ministers held talks with Yudhoyono.

The sense of alarm was highlighted by the country’s welfare minister earlier in the day.

“Even though our continued effort is giving some significant progress, we are still on highest alert,” Aburizal Bakrie, said at a ceremony to receive 100,000 sets of protective equipment donated by the United States.

Indonesia has the highest bird flu death toll and is stepping up efforts to stamp out the disease after a flare up in cases this year.

“Indonesia is very serious in addressing this threat,” Bakrie said a day after a six year-old girl died, becoming Indonesia’s 63rd victim of the disease that has killed 164 people globally since 2003.

He said the government had succeeded in containing human infections in nine of the 30 high-risk provinces.

The disease, however, remains endemic in fowl in some of the most densely populated parts of Indonesia, including Java.

Avian influenza story source: Reuters’ Alert Net

Ukraine, Russia ban Hungarian poultry

Ukraine banned imports of Hungarian poultry after the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was detected earlier in the week, the Agriculture Ministry said Friday.

Russia’s veterinary watchdog also banned imports of Hungarian poultry Friday, the Interfax agency reported. Moscow had earlier banned poultry deliveries from Hungary between June and October last year.

Ukraine’s ban applies to deliveries of live birds, eggs and bird meat as well as any poultry products, the ministry’s press service said.

Hungarian laboratories detected the virus earlier this week after several dozen geese were discovered dead or showing signs of damaged nervous systems on a farm in southeastern Hungary.

Avian influenza story source: AP

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Japan confirms fresh H5 bird flu outbreak

Update to This story

Japan on Thursday confirmed another case of the H5 bird flu at a poultry farm in the southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki, a farm ministry official said.

But further tests were needed to confirm if the virus, which had killed more than 1,000 birds, was H5N1, she added.

Tests had so far confirmed the presence of H5 subtype influenza at the farm.

Earlier this month, Japan suffered its first outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in poultry in more than three years.

No cases of human infection have been reported.

The Agriculture Ministry said in a statement that it had ordered poultry at the farm to be killed and the site to be disinfected. Movement of people and goods within a 10 km (6 miles) radius of the farm was to be restricted, it added.

Avian influenza story source: Reuters’ Alert net