Bird Flu - Avian Influenza - news - information

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Indonesian doctor with suspected bird flu ‘improving’

JAKARTA (AFP) - An Indonesian doctor who fell ill after treating patients suffering from the deadly bird flu virus was improving, a fellow doctor said Friday.
The 29-year-old doctor was hospitalised on Thursday after developing symptoms similar to bird flu, raising concerns of human-to-human transfer of the deadly virus.

“His condition is improving, his fever is down and x-ray results came back good,” said Hadi Yusuf, a doctor who treats patients with the virus at the Hasan Sadikin hospital in West Java.

However the sick doctor, identified only by one of his initials S, will remain in isolation at the hospital until the results of tests were known.

The tests have been sent to the Ministry of Health’s laboratory in Jakarta.

Samples are usually taken on the first, third and seventh day after a patient is hospitalised to determine if they have bird flu.

There are currently four other patients suspected of contracting the virus in isolation at the same hospital, including two children aged four and six.

Bird flu story source: AFP

Kuwait culls 1.5 million birds to fight bird flu

KUWAIT, March 31 (Reuters) - Kuwait said on Saturday it was culling 1.5 million birds after almost 40 new cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu were confirmed, raising to 96 the total number of infected birds in the Gulf country this year.

The new cases were found after more than 11,000 birds were tested, mostly in pens and farms in Kuwait, Health Minster Massouma al-Mubarak said.

“No human infection has been found so far,” she told a news conference, adding that 552 people who had been in contact with the birds and their families had tested negative.

Officials said some 400,000 birds had been culled already, while the culling of 1.1 million chickens at three farms in the southern region of Wafra near the Saudi border would be probably completed later on Saturday.

The country has closed down the zoo and poultry shops in residential areas, and banned the import of live birds.

bird flu story source: Reuters’ alertnet

Third Egyptian child tests positive for bird flu

CAIRO, March 31 (Reuters) - A third Egyptian child has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, bringing the number of human cases in Egypt to 32, state news agency MENA said on Saturday.

An official with the health ministry said the 4-year-old girl came from Qalyoubia province, north of Cairo, MENA said.

Earlier, the health ministry said a 4-year-old boy from Qena province, around 670 kilometres (416 miles) south of Cairo, and a 7-year-old boy from Sohag province, around 470 kilometres south of Cairo, had been infected with bird flu.

The 4-year-old girl was admitted to hospital on Friday, MENA said, while the two others were admitted on Thursday.

All three had been suffering from fevers and had been treated with the antiviral Tamiflu drug.

Bird flu story source: Reuters

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

China confirms new human case of bird flu (patient died)

HEFEI, March 28 (Xinhua)—The Ministry of Health has confirmed a new human case of bird flu in east China’s Anhui Province, the Anhui Provincial Health Department announced Wednesday.

The 16-year-old boy student surnamed Wu in Bengbu City of Anhui died on Tuesday night, a spokesman for the health department said.

The boy developed symptoms of fever, fear of cold and muscle aches, and also demonstrations of pneumonia on March 17. He was sent to hospital on March 18 but medical operation failed to save his life, the spokesman said.

Tests by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday on the patient confirmed that he had been infected with bird flu virus strain H5N1.

Local health authorities said they are closely monitoring those who had close contacts with the patient. So far, they showed no symptoms of the disease, and there has been no bird flu epidemic reported in Bengbu.

According to Anhui health authorities, China’s Health Ministry has conveyed the information to the World Health Organization, health agencies in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and some countries.

Bird flu story source: Xinhua

Doctors test double Tamiflu dose to cut H5N1 deaths

HONG KONG, March 28 (Reuters) - Doctors in Asia and the United States will give double doses of Tamiflu to patients suffering bird flu and severe seasonal human flu from May in a trial aimed at cutting high death rates from avian flu.

People infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus are now prescribed the standard dose of Tamiflu, which is one capsule twice daily for five days.

But less than half the patients survive.

“In animal studies, higher doses of Tamiflu have resulted in higher cure rates for H5N1. The death rate from H5N1 is 60 percent, we want to see if we can solve this problem,” said Tawee Chotpitayasunondh, senior medical officer at Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health.

Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States will participate in the Tamiflu clinical trial.

All bird flu victims will be included in the trial and each country will pick 100 patients suffering from severe human flu.

In both categories, half of the participants will be given the standard Tamiflu dosage, while the other half will be given double doses, or 150 mg orally, twice daily for 10 days.

Severe human flu cases would be included because some symptoms and complications were similar to H5N1, such as pneumonia.

“We’ll find out if it is safe to give double dose,” Tawee said.

“We will look at clinical signs such as whether the person is feeling better. We will take secretions from the throat and lungs and check for viral load. We will check to see the progression.”

For the moment, there are no commercially available vaccines against the H5N1 virus and Tamiflu is regarded as the best front-line defence against the disease if given to a patient during the early onset of symptoms. Many nations have stockpiled the drug in the event of a bird flu pandemic.

News of the trial comes after growing concerns Tamiflu could induce psychiatric symptoms. Japan warned doctors this week not to give Tamiflu to young people, after two teenagers fell from buildings after taking it.

“We are concerned about the cases in Japan, but Japan consumes a lot of the total production of Tamiflu (for human flu). If you use a lot, you may have more side effects,” Tawee said. “But we will closely monitor our subjects.”

Bird flu article source: Reuters’ AlertNet

Three Indonesians die of bird flu

Editors note: This story confirms the two people earlier suspected of dieing from bird flu in Indonesia, see story here, died from the virus.

Three people in Indonesia have died from bird flu, taking the country’s death toll to 69, health officials say.

The virus claimed the lives of a boy aged 15, a 22-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man in separate parts of the country, the health ministry said.

Indonesia’s health ministry said tests had confirmed the three deaths.

The 22-year-old woman died on Saturday in southern Sumatra, followed by the teenage boy in West Java on Sunday and the 40-year-old man in East Java on Wednesday.

One health ministry official told Reuters news agency the man from East Java had been a bird lover.

“On March 11, his and neighbours’ chickens died suddenly. The test showed that they were infected by avian flu,” Muhammad Nadirin said.

Bird flu story source: BBC News

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Indonesia Finally Gives Bird Flu Samples to WHO

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia will resume sending bird flu virus specimens to the World Health Organization immediately, the health minister said Tuesday, ending a four-month standoff health officials feared could potentially put the entire world at risk.

Siti Fadiliah Supari—whose nation has been hardest hit by bird flu, with 66 human deaths—had earlier refused to share virus samples, saying she wanted a guarantee they would not be used to develop expensive commercial vaccines.

International scientists argued she was making it impossible to monitor the Indonesian virus to see if it was mutating into a more dangerous form.

“We will start sending bird flu samples to the World Health Organization immediately,” Supari told reporters after two days of talks with top WHO officials, who assured her the virus would not be misused.

“We trust WHO,” Supari said in an apparent about face. “We trust WHO will not violate our trust, because this is related to the WHO’s credibility.”

For weeks the health minister has been demanding that the global body change its 50-year-old virus sharing system, in which it collects regular flu samples from all over the world and makes them available to vaccine makers and others.

She argued that—in the event of a pandemic—large pharmaceutical companies would use the virus to make vaccines that were ultimately unaffordable to her people.

“These practices keep developing countries poor and sick,” Supari told el-Shinta radio station hours before Tuesday night’s press conference. “The system is more dangerous than bird flu itself.”

Indonesia’s decision to withhold the virus had received support from some other developing nations, many of which sent health chiefs to Jakarta for the gathering that wraps up Wednesday.

Dr. David Heymann, WHO’s top flu official, earlier said Supari’s demands would hinder research into the virus and jeopardize public safety.

“If we don’t know what’s going on, it’s dangerous, and here is where the virus is most affecting humans,” he told reporters late Monday, adding that vaccine makers are already looking elsewhere for virus samples.

“They will use other viruses, and it will leave Indonesia in great risk,” he said. “And it will leave other countries in great risk.”

Heymann suggested several ways to ensure a fairer distribution of vaccines, among them, creating stockpiles of vaccines for use in poor countries and transferring technology so they can produce their own.

To ensure it has access to a bird flu vaccine, Indonesia has reached a tentative agreement with U.S. drug manufacturer Baxter Healthcare Corp. Under the deal, Indonesia would provide samples of the virus in exchange for Baxter’s expertise in vaccine production. Indonesia would stockpile the vaccine for use in case there is a major human outbreak.

Bird flu story source: Fox News

Two more suspected bird flu deaths in Indonesia

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A teenager and a 22-year-old woman have died from suspected bird flu in Indonesia, a health ministry official said on Tuesday.

Both had tested positive for the H5N1 virus after an initial test, but officials were awaiting the result of a second test.

A 15-year-old boy from Indramayu in West Java died on Sunday after falling ill on March 16 and receiving treatment in several hospitals, Muhammad Nadirin at the health ministry’s bird flu centre said by telephone.

The 22-year-old woman from Palembang in southeast Sumatra died on March 24. The Antara state news agency reported that she had not had contact with fowl, but that there were at least 10 cats at her house.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned that cats should be kept away from areas affected by bird flu as they can pick up and spread the disease.

An initial test also showed that a 39-year-old man from Mojokerto in East Java was suffering from the H5N1 virus, Nadirin said. He was being treated at the Soetomo Hospital in the city of Surabaya.

Bird flu story source: Reuters

Thailand, Vietnam sign bird flu control protocol

BANGKOK, March 27 (TNA) – Thailand and Vietnam have reached an agreement to join their efforts to contain and control bird flu.

The Protocol on Prevention and Control of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) between Thailand and Vietnam was signed here on Tuesday by Thailand’s Department of Livestock Development deputy director-general Chaweewan Leowijuk and Vietnamese Livestock Department head Bui Quang Anh.

The protocol was drafted as a result of the meeting of the joint working committee of the two neighbouring countries on July 7, 2006.

Under the agreement, according to Dr. Chaweewan, Thailand and Vietnam will closely cooperate on bird flu control , including informing each other when bird flu outbreaks occur in their own territories, exchanging and sharing information, enhancing bird flu surveillance and diagnosis, as well as conducting joint researches.

Dr. Chaweewan said the protocol will benefit Thailand as it can take quick precaution and prevention once it is notified of bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam.

Besides, she said, Thailand can learn from Vietnam’s experience regarding its poultry vaccination scheme.

Bird flu article source: Thai News Agency

Bangladesh monitors farm workers for bird flu

Bangladesh says it is closely monitoring about 100 workers from farms where the H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed in poultry.

About 50,000 chickens have been culled since the outbreak of avian flu was confirmed in nine farms near the capital Dhaka and northern Jamalpur district last week.

No humans have tested positive for the disease in Bangladesh but officials are monitoring the workers.

“We have been closely watching some 100 farm workers for suspected infection and if necessary their blood and other samples will be sent for tests,” Mahmudur Rahman, a director of the government health directorate, said.

Blood and other samples of 10 other workers from the affected poultry farms also showed they were not infected with bird flu.

Mr Rahman said Bangladesh was adequately equipped to combat human cases of H5N1 influenza.

“We have 133,000 doses of Oseflu, an effective local version of Tamiflu, to combat human-infection by bird flu,” he said.

“These are sufficient, because cases of human infection were very low in the countries where bird flu had been reported so far.”

Bangladesh has 125,000 small and large poultry firms producing 250 million broilers and 6 billion eggs annually, with annual turnover of $US750 million.

About four million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming.

Bird flu article source: Australian Broadcasting Corp