Over 1,600 ducks have died from H5N1 in the southern Thap Muoi district and another site in a northern Quang Ninh Province. So far this month, bird flu was confirmed in 15 communies in 6 provinces across the asian nation. The VietnamNet reports that no pattern can be found in this latest string of outbreaks.

Normally this disease appears in the cold and wet weather but this year it occurs in the hot weather, which stirs worries of the change of the H5N1 virus in Vietnam.

Tags: bird flu, outbreaks, Vietnam

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Bird flu confirmed again in Vietnam

The rest of the 6,000 birds on the affected farms have been culled but there are no reports of human infection.

This year alone, there have been 23 H5N1 outbreaks in Pakistan but authorities are quick to say these have been rapidly controlled. In a rare case, an Islamabad zoo was affected last February when the virus was found in peacocks and geese.

[source: MedIndia]

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Bird flu outbreaks in 3 Pakistan farms

A poultry outbreak is reported in the eastern port city of Tema, Ghana. All the 1,600 birds on the farm have been incinerated when 145 birds were confirmed to be H5N1-infected.

Neighboring countries have already reported oubreaks since last year, including Africa’s most populous nation -Nigeria.

[source: iht.com]

Tags: bird flu, flu, Ghana, outbreak, H5N1, virus

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First bird flu case appears in Ghana

The highly pathogenic Asian-type bird flu virus has killed at least 333 domestic birds since February 9. More birds are being slaughtered and villages have been quarantined in a desperate effort to stop the outbreaks.

Fortunately for veterinary officials, all the first five outbreaks could be traced to one location – the Sadovod market, commonly known as “”Ptichka” (”Birdie”), Moscow’s best known pet market. This makes it so much easier for health officials to trace the movement of possibly infected birds, quarantine infected areas and determine possible human cases. So far, no humans have reported any flu-like symptoms.

Sources:

Russia confirms bird flu outbreak

Official: Avian flu confirmed in Moscow

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Bird flu breaks out in 8 Moscow districts

Four more villages, the village of Akcay and three nearby hamlets in Silvan town, were placed under quarantine after chickens died in these areas.

Three people and four children who reported flu-like symptoms were cleared Tuesday of having cotracted the virus. No human cases have yet been reported since the outbreak.

Let’s hope it keeps that way. Vigilance, vigilance, vigilance.

Sources:

More fowl test positive to bird-flu virus in south-eastern Turkey New bird flu case reported in Turkish village
Four more villages in southeastern Turkey quarantined over bird flu fear

Tags: flu, bird flu, Turkey, outbreaks, H5N1

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Turkey confirms new cases of bird flu

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 host to the virus. Already considered one of the weakest links in the campaign to curb the disease, Nigeria suffers from overcrowded cities, endemic poverty, weak surveillance and greater animal-to-human contact especially among the numerous backyard farmers. [via VoA]

England reports first H5N1 poultry outbreak. A confirmed H5N1 outbreak was reported at a large turkey farm in Suffolk, England that began on January 27 and affected 2,500 turkeys being raised for meat production. The strain is similar to the one detected on a goose farm in southeastern Hungary in late January. [via CIDRAP]

In a related development, 160,000 birds now culled after H5N1 avian flu outbreak. Experts are working on finding the source of the H5N1 strain. A Suffolk farm worker was admitted to the hospital with a mild respiratory illness but England’s Health Protection agency said it could not yet confirm if the person was exposed to H5N1. [via 24dash, Manchester Online]

Tags: bird flu, H5N1, outbreak, Egypt, Nigeria, England, UK, human case, human fatality

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Express news on bird flu (February 6, 2007)

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 in Hungary. A suspected H5N1 bird flu outbreak has been detected in a flock of 3,000 geese south of Hungary. This is the first outbreak of bird flu in the European Union this year, but the virus first appeared in Hungary early last year in wild geese, swans and domestic poultry. [via BBC] In a related development, Serbia banned poultry imports from Hungary over bird flu.[ via Reuters]

Indonesian scientist warns of bird flu in flies. A new study reveals that bird flu can survive in the digestive and respiratory tracts of flies, along with the cuticle layers, flesh and ovum. The virus was not only found in flies taken from areas in the middle of bird flu outbreaks but also from places that had been declared bird-flu free.[ via Bernama ]

Tags: flu, bird flu, avian influenza, H5N1

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Express news on flu (January 24, ‘07)

In the past month, bird flu has found its way into Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan . On Thursday, it reached Thailand with news of 4 family members in Thailand’s northern province of Phitsanulok were suspected of being infected with bird flu.

The family had eaten a dead duck recently and fell sick soon after. About 30 pigs from the same farm are also suspected of contracting bird flu, reported People’s Daily Online.

The Money Times reported as well that H5N1 bird flu was found in 100 dead ducks from the same 1 kilometer radius as the infected family’s farm.

Because Phitsanulok is a one of Thailand’s northern province where free-range and wild ducks abound, several government agencies were mobilized to curb the outbreak and prevent further infection.

A boy from the province of Phichit is in the hospital for suspected H5N1 infection, reported ETNA. He had eaten a sick chicken that then died suspiciously and later developed high fever. Doctors are still waiting for laboratory confirmation.

Sources:

Four bird flu suspects found in Northern Thailand; H5N1 virus spreads sfurther, now entraps Thailand; New bird flu suspect hospitalised in Phichit

Tags: Thailand, H5N1, bird flu, flu, outbreak, avian influenza

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H5N1 bird flu virus now spreads to Thailand

About 800 ducks in the Tra Vinh province died from the H5N1 virulent strain of bird flu, just as 130 ducks were being culled in Soc Trang for the same reasons. Other affected areas include the southern provinces of Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, Hau Giang, Kien Giang, Vinh Long, where thousands of ducks and chickens were slaughtered and 5.8 million poultry were vaccinated in the last two months. Surveillance in roadways and waterway checkpoints have also been strengthened. New breeding of poultry flocks are temporarily forbidden, and re-education of new breeding methods are being taught – all in a desperate effort to control the outbreaks.

Even the World Health Organization and the UN FAO already sent in expert teams to assess the situation.

Despite Vietnam’s nationwide poultry vaccination campaign and strong political will to root out the virus, what went wrong?

Vietnam News Agency says it’s the illegal slaughter houses and transport of unquarantined poultry products.

Sources:

Bird flu hits sevent Vietnam province
Mekong Delta’s bird flu cases force urgent action

Tags: Vietnam, bird flu, outbreaks, H5N1, Mekong Delta, provinces, flu, avian influenza

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Vietnam on alert as bird flu hits seven provinces

The bird flu outbreak that killed 4000 chickens in a poultry farm last weekend was caused by the virulent strain H5N1, confirmed a farm ministry official. Where this outbreak originated is still a mystery.

Authorities killed and began incinerating all the remaining chickens in that farm. Quarantine and restrictions were further placed for farms within a 10 km radius to prevent spread of the dreaded virus. The farm ministry also plans to check the other poultry farms in the prefecture, as well as across the nation.

“The rule is to visit each farm whenever possible … but when this cannot be done then the checks may be conducted by making phone calls,” a ministry official said.

At this point, I think it would more cost effective to use maximum resources for physical and thorough checks to prevent H5N1 from spreading across Japan than deal with resulting outbreaks because a “phone call” was thought sufficient.

[Source: ABCNews: Japan says bird flu outbreak is from deadly H5N1]

Tags: Japan, H5N1, outbreak, poultry, chicken, prefecture, bird flu, flu, avian influenza

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Japan confirms bird flu strain is H5N1