A farm in North Wales was the site of a new outbreak of a low pathogenic H7N2 virus. Thirty chickens were slaughtered on Wednesday in efforts to control the viral spread.
Two people showing flu symptoms are under observation and were tested for the virus and a quarantine was set up around the farm.
Dr Christianne Glossop, chief veterinary officer for Wales:

“I’d like to think people have learned from foot-and-mouth. Wales and Great Britain contingency plans have been activated and in line with these the farm has been placed under restrictions.
We are not yet asking bird keepers within the zone to bring …read more

EGYPT: Teenage girl dies of bird flu. Egypt’s 12 fatal bird flu victim was a 17-year old girl from the rural Fayyoum region who died on February 2. Egypt has been the country worst affected by H5N1 outside of Asia, and a new strain of the virus recently found to be moderately resistant to Tamiflu. [via Reuters]
Bird Flu Expert Warns of More Outbreaks in Nigeria. Nineteen states and Abuja, the Nigerian capital, have reporte bird flu outbreaks in poultry in the past days, amidst news of the first human case of H5N1. Concerns abound that Nigeria risks becoming a permanent …read more

Roaming ducks raise flu fears. It’s Vietnam’s age-old practice of ferrying ducks to newly harvested rice fields and letting them feed on leftover grain. Now, that practice is outlawed for helping fan bird flu across eight provinces in one month.[via The Standard ]
Vietnam faces shortage of bird flu vaccine. Because of illegal hatching of free-range ducks, plus the illegal transport of poultry during the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival, Vietnam is now in serious shortage of the bird flu vaccine. Already 20 million doses of the vaccines have been given to local authorities.[via Thanh nien news ]
Deadly bird flu found …read more

Tests are being carried out to find out why 4,000 chickens suddenly died Saturday on a farm in northeastern France. The rest of the poultry appeared completely healthy, so officials are skeptical it’s the bird flu.
The farm owner was quoted as saying he was “99 percent certain it is not bird flu”. Autopsy and clinical results didn’t point to bird flu, but full reports won’t be in until Tuesday. So we’ll wait for further notice, and do hope it’s not H5N1. The last outbreak in February had more than 11,000 turkeys dying or slaughtered, and caused panic across the …read more

It’s common knowledge that heavily relying on one antibiotic increases drug resistance by organism it was trying to kill, in the first place. This is true, even of bird flu drugs. And especially scary for the fight against bird flu if we find ourselves facing a pandemic flu virus that’s already resistant to the drugs we’re yet to treat people with.
A UK expert panel has criticized its government of heavily relying on Tamiflu as the drug-of-choice against bird flu, and recommends that UK implement a diverse strategy such as stockpiling new drug classes and vaccines.
I have a feeling UK is …read more

I don’t know if I should believe this, but I’m reporting it anyway… It seems that a UK pharmaceutical company has developed a hand gel that destroys the H5N1 virus in 30 seconds, and remains effective for 30 minutes.
DermaSalve Sciences is a pharmaceutical company known making skincare products for people with extremely dry skin. Dr. Mark Randle, CEO, announced that the gel, which also has anti-bacterial properties and beneficial for dry skin treatment, will be in the market by the end of 2006.
Well, it remains to be seen how effective this gel is… if only it were this easy to …read more

Russia bans poultry imports from both the Netherlands and the USA, following reports that low-pathogenic avian flu viruses have been separetely identified in birds from the two countries.
A low pathogenic bird flu H7 strain was found at a large poultry farm in the Netherlands early August, and Dutch authorities quickly moved to prevent spread of the disease. Last week, two mute wild swans from the Lake Erie Michigan area were identified to carry two separate strains – an H5 and an H1, but investigators say they don’t necessarily fit together to form the dreaded H5N1 subtype.
According to Reuters Alert, Agriculture …read more

Following positive findings from the US where flu shots given to pregnant women showed very little side-effects, UK government advisers are now also recommending that pregnant women get the flu jabs of they are past the first trimester, or due to give birth between November and March.
The flu subgroup of the Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) are also advising that the “at risk group” be extended to people with degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. At present, the flu vaccine is offered to everyone over 65 years old, and those with diabetes or respiratory disease.
Although the recommendations still await approval …read more

A low pathogenic bird flu H7 strain was found at a large poultry farm in the Netherlands this week, and Dutch authorities wasted no time to sealing off the farm and 130 other farms in the area, plus culling all the 25,000 cickens from the infected farm. Trade and transport of live birds, meat and eggs as well as other live animals in and out the safety zone were banned, and exhibits and fairs involving live birds have also been prohibited. All in good effort to stop the spread of disease.
Although authorities are saying that the strain is low-pathogenic …read more

Bulgaria revealed last week that it has detected an outbreak of bird flu in three farms near the Turkish-Greece border, and fearing that it may be the H5N1 strain, 1500 domestic chickens have been slaughter or culled and seven villages were placed in quarantine.
The good news: tests showed the outbreak wasn’t caused by either the H5 or H7 strains, Agriculture Minister Nihat Kabil told reporters (Reuters), instead this was a mixed infection of bird flu and Newcastle disease. The infected village will continue to be quarantined and the European Union will still band poultry exported from the region but judicious …read more