News Reports for December 26, 2012

Nepal: 2‚500 chicks culled

KATHMANDU: Officials on Tuesday culled over 2,500 chicks and destroyed 19,000 eggs from Manjushree Poultry Farm at Ramkot VDC-6 after the confirmation of bird flu (H5N1).

(Snip) the surrounding of the farm was cleaned and a special campaign would be launched on Wednesday as well.

(Snip) the Directorate of Animal Health was carrying out necessary investigations into the bird flu seen at Ramkot and urged that one and all consume the chicken with confidence.

Earlier, the owner of the poultry, (Snip) was given order to destroy the chicken, but the local administration had to act as the poultry farmer denied to it. http://thehimalayantimes.com/f...

(Note: Urging people to eat the chickens in an area where H5N1 has been found is reckless and dumb, IMO. I don't think enough time has gone by or enough investigation has been done to insure it has not spread to other farms and backyard poultry.)

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Wed Dec 26, 2012 at 05:59:55 AM UTC

Nepal: Bird flu confirmed in a Kathmandu farm

The rapid response teams of District Animal Health Office Kathmandu on Tuesday destroyed over 19,000 eggs after bird flu was confirmed in a Kathmandu-based poultry farm.

The central veterinary laboratory under the Directorate of Animal Health (DoAH) had confirmed bird-flu virus (Snip) two days ago.

(Snip) 2,500 chickens in Basnet´s farm had already died due to disease and the team only found 19,444 eggs sent to hatchery. Basnet had informed the veterinary officials after chickens in his farm started dying. Samples of dead chickens had been sent for laboratory analysis.

"We did not find any live chicken in his farm. He told us all the dead chickens had been buried," Narayan Prasad Ghimire, a senior veterinarian at DoAH said.

(Snip)

(Snip) locals have been alerted about possible spread of the disease. The team will destroy poultry droppings and continue disinfecting the farm on Wednesday as well.

The veterinary laboratory had also confirmed a strain of H5N1 virus in a poultry farm in Dharke of Dhading two weeks ago. The district rapid response team had culled 3,000. The virus had also been detected in a poultry farm of Bode, Bhaktapur some two months ago.

DoAH has appealed to the locals to cook the chicken properly before eating. "Be sure the chickens and eggs are well cooked before eating," Ghimire added. He said there is a high possibility of the outbreak of bird flu during the winter season.

(Note: All the chickens were dead and had been buried by the owner? It wouldn't surprise me to learn he sold at least some of them. JMO)

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Wed Dec 26, 2012 at 06:17:57 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Link to the above article:

http://www.myrepublica.com/por...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Wed Dec 26, 2012 at 07:03:40 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

ProMED: Influenza (115): Russia, influenza-like illness

The incidence of influenza-like-illness (ILI) has exceeded the normal baseline level in 6 regions of Russia (Snip). According to the Rospotrebnadzor announcement, as well as in Moscow city and district, the threat of an epidemic of respiratory disease [influenza-like illness/ILI] also applies to the regions of Pskov, Saratov, Perm, Nenets and Yamalo-Nenets. Isolated outbreaks have been observed already in the cities of Ivanovo, Ryazan, Murmansk, Cheboksary, Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Ekaterinburg, Yakutsk, and Naryan-Mar.

(Snip)

The Ministry [of Health] has reported that seasonal influenza vaccination is close to completion. Vaccination of more than 37 million people, which represents 25.9 per cent of Russia's population was funded by the Federal Budget, and in addition more than 3 million people have been vaccinated privately or through funding from regional budgets. The lowest uptake of vaccine was recorded in the Murmansk and Novgorod regions.

The Director of Rospotrebnadzor has stated that a country-wide epidemic of influenza is unlikely to occur before the end of the year. The rise of an epidemic will increase after the end of the New Year holidays [January 2013].
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Communicated by: ProMED-RUS

[According to the most recent EuroFlu bulletin (Snip), the influenza season has begun in the WHO European Region, with growing numbers of countries in different parts of the Region reporting sporadic co-circulation of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2), and type B viruses, though influenza activity is still at a low level. (Snip) the percentage of influenza-positive sentinel samples has increased over the past 2 weeks (from 6 per cent to 15.8 per cent) together with the number of specimens tested for influenza, indicating the start of the influenza season.

The Rospotrebnadzor statement suggests that a similar situation now pertains to several regions of Russia. - Mod.CP] http://www.promedmail.org/dire...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Wed Dec 26, 2012 at 06:32:17 AM UTC

Bangladesh: A flap over Avian flu

Bangladesh's livestock authorities are slaughtering around 150,000 chickens at a giant poultry farm near Dhaka after the worst outbreak of avian flu in five years, officials said Wednesday.

The deadly H5N1 strain of flu was detected at Bay Agro farm at Gazipur, 40 kilometres north of Dhaka, on Monday after dozens of chickens died, prompting the company to send samples to a laboratory for tests.

"There are about 150,000 chickens at the farm. We have already killed and destroyed 120,000 chickens and we will kill the rest today," (Snip).

Bangladesh was hit by bird flu in February 2007, when over one million birds were slaughtered on thousands of farms. Since then the flu has entrenched in the country, seriously ravaging one of the world's largest poultry industries.

(Snip)

The latest outbreak is the 23rd to be recorded this year. Even before the new mass slaughter, a total of 107,252 chickens had been destroyed in 22 farms (Snip).

The country has also reported six confirmed human cases of bird flu since May 2008, but the government's health department said all have recovered. http://news.iafrica.com/worldn...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Wed Dec 26, 2012 at 07:20:28 AM UTC

Surveillance and characterization of avian influenza viruses from migratory water birds in eastern Hokkaido, the northern part of Japan, 2009-2010.

Avian influenza virus (AIV) surveillance was conducted around a small pond in Obihiro, eastern Hokkaido, Japan.

Abstract:

Eleven AIVs were isolated from a total of 1,269 fecal samples of migratory wild birds collected during 2009 and 2010. The sample number covered approximately 60 % of the total number of birds observed (Snip).

The subtypes of the isolates included H3N8 (4 isolates), H5N2 (3), H6N2 (2), H6N1 (1), and H11N2 (1). The H3N8 subtype was most prevalent (Snip) The three H5N2 isolates (Snip) were closely related to the strains previously isolated from aquatic wild birds in Japan and also to the Korean strains isolated from aquatic birds in recent years.

In Korea, H5N2 subtype virus has often been isolated from poultry and wild birds, as well as reassortant viruses generated from duck H5N2 viruses and chicken H9N2 virus, and avian-swine-like reassortant H5N2 viruses. Considering the previous chicken outbreaks caused by highly pathogenic H5N2 viruses (Snip) it should be an important priority to continue, monitoring the evolution of H5N2 viruses circulating in the region. http://www.unboundmedicine.com...  

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Wed Dec 26, 2012 at 07:49:22 AM UTC

New Bird Flu Virus May Brought Migrant Birds

December 26, 2012
http://sains.kompas.com/read/2...
Yogyakarta, Indonesia:  A virus that has attacked thousands of ducks in Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java is indicated that it is caused by a new variant of the bird flu virus.  This virus has begun attacking other birds such as chickens and quail.  Expert Faculty of Veterinary Virology, Prof. drh.  Widya Asmara, SU, Ph.D., said that in some cases, deaths occurred in ducks, most of the AI was caused by a new virus subtype H5N1 clade 2321.
According to him, 2321 Clade virus mutation is not the result of AI virus clade 2.1 which previously has been endemic in Indonesia.  

"Certainly, there is a a new virus in Indonesia," he said Wednesday (26/12).  He explained that the virus is already spreading in the year 2010 in the regions of Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and China.  Meanwhile, in 2011 the new (one) was found in Fukushima Japan.  Certainly this virus was in Indonesia by mid-late 2012's.  Likely the 2321 clade viruses are carried by wild birds migrating from Asia to Indonesia or because of trade between countries," he said.

Meanwhile, at the same place, epidemiologist BBVet DIY, Putut Djoko Purnomo said the attack of AI subtype H5N1 clade was found in 2321 beginning last September in Central Java.

"In their own DIY the number of ducks dying from it reached 4700 tails spread over three districts namely Kulonprogo, Bantul and Sleman," he said.

Until now they were still doing research on non-duck poultry that died suddenly.  He urged poultry farmers in the region to continue to perform DIY disinfectant regularly to avoid new virus attacks.  Why, because so far they have not found a vaccine against this new virus.

"Based on the results of the laboratory, the AI virus subtype H5N1 clade 2321 is more virulent than the previous virus AI clade 2.1," he concluded.

"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson

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by: History Lover @ Wed Dec 26, 2012 at 23:30:58 PM UTC

Please post new news stories ...

...to News Reports for December 27, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Thu Dec 27, 2012 at 06:40:02 AM UTC