Bird Flu - Avian Influenza - news - information

Friday, January 18, 2008

Ukraine finds H5N1 bird flu in Crimea

KIEV (Reuters) - A new outbreak of the strain of bird flu that is deadly to humans has struck Ukraine after being kept under control for two years, veterinarians said on Friday.

Ukraine’s Veterinary Inspectorate said the outbreak was detected this week in the village of Rovnoye in the Crimean peninsula, the same region hit in late 2005.

A total of 153 birds died suddenly at a private firm where more than 25,000 poultry were kept.

“Yesterday, tests were concluded and DNA of the H5N1 virus was found,” a veterinary inspectorate spokesman, Anatoly Osadchi, told Reuters.

“The village has been sealed off, guards have been posted at entry points and a quarantine is in place. All the birds are being incinerated.”

The inspectorate said the first six deaths were noted on Tuesday, followed by dozens more over the next two days.

Avian flu story link: Reuters

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Fourth swan tests positive for H5N1 bird flu in UK

LONDON (Reuters) - A fourth swan in southern England has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, Britain’s farm ministry said on Wednesday.

“There is currently no evidence to suggest widespread disease in the wild bird population but enhanced surveillance is taking place and poultry keepers in the area are reminded to remain vigilant,” a spokeswoman said.

Last week, the ministry confirmed that three wild swans at a bird sanctuary in Dorset had died from the virus. In the latest case, the dead swan was collected on January 11 as part of a wild bird surveillance program in the same area.

Bird flu story source: Reuters

Related stories:
Bird flu fears as strain found in wild swans

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Bird flu outbreak confirmed in east India

NEW DELHI, January 15 (RIA Novosti) - India’s agriculture officials confirmed on Tuesday that an outbreak of bird flu in poultry in the east of the country was the deadly H5N1 strain.

“Now we can say it is definitely bird flu,” Pradip Kumar, a ministry official, said adding that 250,000 birds would be culled

Kumar said bird flu cases had been reported in two administrative districts in the state of West Bengal. He said the outbreak was reported 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.

The affected area has since been cordoned off and is under surveillance, the official said.

Bird flu story source: RNIA

Note: This is an update to the earlier story found at this link: Chicken deaths in India prompt bird flu scare

Indonesian teenage girl dies of bird flu

JAKARTA, Jan 15 (Reuters) - A 16-year-old Indonesian girl has died of bird flu, taking the country’s confirmed human death toll from the virus to 96, a health ministry official said on Tuesday.

The girl from Bekasi area east of Jakarta tested positive for bird flu last week, said the official at the Health Ministry’s bird flu centre.

“One of the girl’s neighbors owns a chicken farm. Tests by the agriculture ministry’s bird flu centre show the chickens had bird flu,” said the official, who declined to be identified.

Source for this avian flu story: Reuters

Editors Note: This story is an update to the story found at this link: Indonesian teenager confirmed to have bird flu virus

Monday, January 14, 2008

Bird flu scare in India after chicken deaths: officials

KOLKATA, India (AFP) — Nearly 20,000 chickens have died in eastern India in the past week, triggering fears of an outbreak of bird flu, officials said Monday.

Samples from dead birds have been sent to a laboratory in central India to determine if the deaths were due to the H5N1 virus.

“The dead birds showed the flu symptoms,” said S.K Bhowmic, the chief health officer of the affected district in eastern West Bengal state.

The poultry deaths were reported from farms in the state’s Morgram village, about 125 kilometers (75 miles) from state capital Kolkata.

Preliminary tests suggest bird flu to be the cause of the deadly infection, state animal resources development minister Anisur Rehman said. A final report was expected later Monday.

Bird flu story source: AFP

Indonesian woman dies of bird flu - health official

JAKARTA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - A Indonesian woman from an area just west of the capital Jakarta has died of bird flu, taking the country’s confirmed human death toll from the virus to 95, a health ministry official said on Monday.

The 32-year-old woman from Tangerang died at her home last Thursday after her family had taken her out of a hospital where she had been receiving treatment a day before, said Suharda Ningrum of the health ministry’s bird flu centre.

Contact with sick fowl is the most common way of contracting bird flu, endemic in bird populations in most of Indonesia.

“She bought a live chicken and some eggs from a market and cooked them,” Ningrum said, adding there were also chickens living in her backyard.

Two tests at two different laboratories confirmed the H5N1 virus.

Avian flu story source: Reuters

Saturday, January 12, 2008

UN: Indonesia records 117th human case of bird flu

GENEVA (AP): Indonesia has recorded another human case of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, raising its world-leading total to 117 cases, according to the World Health Organization.

The agency said Friday night that the Indonesian Health Ministry had reported that a 16-year-old girl from West Java Province has been hospitalized since Jan. 4 with symptoms of the disease. It said the strain had been confirmed as H5N1.

WHO said investigations found that there had been a number of chickens dying in the girl’s neighborhood in the two weeks before she came down with symptoms, suggesting the case followed the pattern of infection when humans have been in close contact with infected poultry.

Bird flu story source: Jakarta Post (Indonesian news service)

Thursday, January 10, 2008

China says son likely infected father with bird flu

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man who died of bird flu last month likely passed the disease on to his father, but there is no evidence the virus mutated into a form which can be easily passed between humans, an official said on Thursday.

The man in the eastern province of Jiangsu was diagnosed with the H5N1 strain of bird flu days after his 24-year-old son died from the disease.

This rare case of two family members struck by the disease drew concern from health authorities, because humans almost always contract H5N1 from infected birds.

Experts fear the virus could mutate into a strain that jumps easily from person to person, risking wider outbreaks.

Chinese Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qun’an said it was likely the man had caught bird flu from his son.

“The initial judgment is that it was an infection from close contact,” Mao told a news conference, carried live on government Web site http://www.china.com.cn.

“It has no biological features for human-to-human transmission,” said Mao, adding the father had now recovered.

Mao had already said in December that samples had indicated no mutation of the virus.

But the ministry still did not know the cause of the initial infection, as neither had had any contact with sick or dead birds, he said.

Avian flu story source: Reuters

Bird flu fears as strain found in wild swans

Fears of a bird flu outbreak have returned to Britain after three wild swans found dead in Dorset tested positive for the virus.

Defra has confirmed that the mute swans, found in the picturesque Chesil Beach area, were infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, which can be passed to humans.

The wild swans were found near Chesil Beach

Officials battling to ensure the virus is contained have set up a control and monitoring area around the Abbotsbury Swannery, a sanctuary nine miles from Weymouth.

Bird owners within the zone, which includes Chesil Beach and Portland Bill, are being asked to isolate their flocks from wild birds.

John Houston, from the popular swannery, said: “Our main concern is the welfare of the swans, our staff and the general public.

“We are working closely with Defra to ensure that this outbreak is contained and that the number of swans affected is limited.
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“We are also working with the Health Protection Agency to make sure that the public and staff are fully protected.”

Fred Landeg, acting chief ceterinary officer for Defra, said: “While this is obviously unwelcome news, we have always said that Britain is at a constant low level of risk of introduction of Avian Influenza.

“Our message to all bird keepers, particularly those in the area, is that they must be vigilant, report any signs of disease immediately, and practice the highest levels of biosecurity.”

The highly pathogenic bird flu strain has not been found in domestic birds but a programme of surveillance is being carried out in the local wild bird population.

Defra said there is no culling of wild birds planned because such action may disperse birds further and would not help control.

The Abbotsbury Swannery is a reserve for free flying swans and wild birds and is part of an internationally important wetland.

Records of a Swannery existing on the site, a seasonal tourist attraction, date back to 1354.

Bird flu story source: Telegraph

Friday, January 04, 2008

China Reports Bird Flu Outbreak in West

China says a recent outbreak of avian flu in the northwestern Xinjiang region has killed nearly 5,000 birds.

Official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Friday that authorities killed 29,000 birds to control the outbreak in the city of Turpan.

On Thursday, a government laboratory confirmed the presence in poultry of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.

Source for bird flu story: VOA