Flu
More Nigerian states hit by bird flu infection
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The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has spread in the last few weeks to two new states in Nigeria and reappeared in two others where it was believed to have been contained, officials said on Friday.
Nigeria is one of three countries regarded by experts as the weakest areas in the global attempt to stem infections among birds and head off a potentially devastating human flu pandemic.
The disease was first discovered in the northwest state of Kaduna in February and it spread rapidly in the early weeks to 12 other states and the Federal Capital Territory, despite culling and quarantine measures.
South Korea says third bird flu case confirmed
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A third case of bird flu has been discovered in southwestern South Korea just as officials have completed culling hundreds of thousands of poultry from two earlier outbreaks.
Last month South Korea confirmed its first cases of the H5N1 strain in about three years, saying the virus had been found at two poultry farms close to each other in the North Cholla province.
The fresh case emerged after South Korea completed culling all 760,000 poultry near the two farms, raising concerns that quarantine measures had failed to control the outbreak.
Bird flu could force changes to African traditions
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African customs such as using children to rear village poultry could expose them to deadly bird flu and must be addressed to lower the risk of human infection, delegates said at a summit this week.
Experts from around the world are meeting in Mali’s capital Bamako to discuss how to fight the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus and prevent it causing a human influenza pandemic.
Control Measures Fail to Stop Spread of New H5N1 Virus
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A new variant of the bird flu virus H5N1 emerged in late 2005 and replaced most of the previous variants across a large part of southern China, despite an ongoing program to vaccinate poultry, according to researchers at the University of Hong Kong in collaboration with scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The new virus, called Fujian-like (FL), appears to be responsible for the increased occurrence of H5N1 poultry infections since October 2005, as well as recent human cases in China, the researchers said. FL has now also been transmitted to Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand, resulting in a new bird flu outbreak wave in Southeast Asia that has caused human infections as well, according to the Hong Kong/St. Jude team.
The investigators also warned that it is possible that this new H5N1 variant will spread further through Asia and into Europe, as it evolves to form other sublineages that vary from place to place. This evolution into different sublineages also occurred during the previous two waves of H5N1 transmission that occurred during the past several years, according to the investigators. A report on these findings appears in the November online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Glaxo says more govts will buy bird flu vaccine
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GlaxoSmithKline Plc expects to sign more contracts to supply governments with its experimental bird flu vaccine for humans, following purchases by Switzerland and an unidentified Asian country.
“Between now and Christmas, I expect we will sign a few more in Europe and elsewhere,” Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Garnier told analysts in a post-results conference call.
Europe’s biggest drugmaker announced earlier this month that the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health had ordered 8 million doses of its H5N1 vaccine to protect its entire population in the event of an influenza pandemic, which many experts fear may be triggered by bird flu.
Another bird flu outbreak in China
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China’s Ministry of Agriculture says scientists have confirmed an outbreak of bird flu has killed 1,000 domestic poultry in a village in China’s northwest.
The news comes just one day after another reported outbreak in a neighbouring region.
Nearly 1,000 chickens and ducks reportedly died suddenly in a poultry farm in Xincheng Village of Jiuyuan District of Baotou City last week and as a result authorities have quarantined the infected area along with the farmer and his wife and anyone who had close contact with them.
UK doctors warned about flu vaccine delay
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Flu vaccines may not be delivered to UK physicians in time to meet demand before the winter, the government warned on Monday—a delay doctors said may put some patients at risk.
The Department of Health (DoH) said that while there would be no long-term shortage, a delay in production would mean some GP practices would not immediately get enough of the vaccine to immunise eligible patients.
“We informed GPs about the industry’s production difficulties at the earliest opportunity, so they could plan for any potential problems with the supply of the vaccine,” said Dr. David Salisbury, the DoH’s head of immunisation.
Bird flu back again in Egypt
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The Egyptian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have confirmed that another case of avian flu in birds has been found in the country.
The latest case of H5N1 has been detected in Edfu a town near Aswan, in Upper Egypt.
Egypt has suffered the worst outbreak of avian flu so far this year apart from Asia, and although the disease was largely brought under control, fears remain of a renewed outbreak.
Bird flu experts call for sharing virus samples
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International experts on Tuesday called on countries to share freely all influenza virus samples and genetic sequencing data, key to developing a vaccine against a potential bird flu pandemic.
The appeal was among recommendations issued by the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) new influenza pandemic task force, whose experts held a first, closed-door meeting in Geneva.
The 21-member task force was launched last May to advise the WHO’s director-general on technical issues amid fears that the H5N1 virus could spark a human pandemic and could kill millions.
H5 and N1 avian influenza found in Pennsylvania wild bird samples
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The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior today announced that the presence of the H5 and N1 avian influenza subtypes in samples from wild mallard ducks in Pennsylvania.
Testing has ruled out the possibility of this being the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain that has spread through birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. Test results thus far indicate this is low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI), which poses no threat to human health.
The ducks were sampled August 28, 2006 in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The ducks were showing no signs of sickness, which also suggests this is LPAI. The samples were taken by Pennsylvania Game Commission personnel under a cooperative agreement with USDA, as part of an expanded wild bird monitoring program. The Departments of Agriculture and Interior are working collaboratively with States to sample wild birds throughout the U.S. for the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). As a result of this expanded testing program, USDA and DOI expect to identify additional cases of common strains of avian influenza in birds, which is not cause for concern.
Hand gel kills bird flu virus and Indonesian update
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A company in the UK has come up with a hand gel which has the ability to kill the H5N1 bird flu virus in under a minute.
The gel which could be on the market by the end of the year, has been developed for the prevention of the disease among health workers, consumers and agricultural workers and kills the virus within 30 seconds.
The London based company DermaSalve Sciences, makes products for treating dry skin, and says the gel remains active for 30 minutes after it is applied.
Indonesia reports 47th death from bird flu
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A 14-year-old Indonesian girl who died in June was infected with bird flu, health officials said on Thursday.
The case took a long time to identify because it was from blood samples taken during routine surveillance of people with mild influenza symptoms.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said tests on the girl’s blood sample were completed late on Wednesday.
13,000 plus wild birds in Alaska tested, no bird flu found
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Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has announced that their departments and the State of Alaska have tested more than 13,000 wild migratory birds for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in Alaska.
No HPAI H5N1-a virus that has killed wild birds, commercial poultry and more than 140 people in Asia, Europe and Africa-has been detected in any of the Alaska samples.
“Guided by the national wild bird surveillance and early detection plan, our collaborative efforts have comprehensively sampled and tested high-priority species throughout Alaska,” said Secretary Kempthorne, who this week is visiting a sampling camp near Barrow, Alaska.
More tests confirm low-risk bird flu in Michigan
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A second round of tests on swans in Michigan confirmed the birds have a low-pathogenic strain of H5N1 and not the deadly avian influenza virus that has killed more than 141 people in Asia, Europe and Africa, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday.
Routine tests conducted in a Michigan gaming area earlier this month found two of about 20 swans had what was believed to be a low-pathogenic strain of H5N1.
“Genetic testing confirms that these swans were not carrying the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 avian influenza that is circulating overseas,” USDA said in a statement.
Indonesia girl tests positive for bird flu - official
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A 6-year-old Indonesian girl tested positive for bird flu on Tuesday, a government official said, as the World Health Organisation ruled out human transmission in a village with a series of confirmed and suspected bird flu cases.
The girl from Bekasi, an eastern suburb of Jakarta, is the 60th case of avian influenza in Indonesia, 46 of which have been fatal.
“The girl is still alive and receiving treatment in hospital. She is getting better,” I Nyoman Kandun, director general of communicable disease control, told reporters.
