Bird Flu Center

Charal Trinvuthipon, the Thailand Vice Minister for Agriculture, announced that the country’s severe bird flu prevention measures will remain in place until the end of the year, focusing on free-range duck-raising farmers, who are forced to choose the closed system farming, which can reduce the risk of infection from wild birds. More than half of Thailand’s duck farmers have registered for this system so far. Other measures will control the spread of the virus carried by migratory birds, whilst harsh punitive measures will be taken against those who clandestinely transport or sell poultry of unknown origin.  The country will also continue with its campaigns meant to raise awareness and consciousness of poultry farmers and vendors.

A 62 year old man from the Xinjiang region in Western China has died following an infection with the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus. The farmer was the 21st recorded case of human bird flu infection in the country and its 14th fatality. This includes the case that the government only confirmed last week to have occurred in late 2003, two years before the first publicly announced case. It is believed the farmer contracted the virus after coming into close contact with disease birds. The highly pathogenic virus has killed at least 138 people world wide since 2003.

After becoming the world’ worst hit country by avian influenza last week, when two new patients died and brought the total victim count to 44, Indonesia records yet another case. A 17 year old teenager from West Java’s Garut district, an isolated area of Indonesia, was diagnosed with avian influenza, but is refusing treatment at a special hospital designated for such cases. Laboratory tests have confirmed the suspicion, but the young man’s refusal to be treated is typical to the level of understanding local inhabitants have about the virus. The strain of the virus in question is H5N1, the most dangerous one. The man had been in contact with dead chickens in the vicinity of his house and subsequently became ill. Samples from relatives and close neighbours have also been collected to test for any transmission of the virus, while culling of birds in the area will be conducted soon.

The curing of the latest bird flu patient in China, a person surnamed Jiang, aged, 31, is claimed to bee owed in some degree to traditional Chinese medicine. The patient made a complete recovery, leaving the hospital on August 2nd, after receiving treatment for a period of about 50 days, in Guangdong province. A Chinese medical expert says during the early days of the man’s treatment, doctors used a special soup prepared by ginseng, a known medicinal herb, as well as another Chinese medicine, which were used to aid the ailing body in fighting the disease. Other Chinese medicines were used to help sustain the function of the lungs. The man had contracted the disease after visiting a local poultry market and coming into close contact with infected birds. He developed fever and pneumonia and was in serious condition when he was taken to hospital, with many of his internal organs showing signs of failure. By June 22nd however, tests revealed the influenza virus was no longer in his system. A few weeks later, he was able to breathe without the aid of a respirator machine.

A report issued by an Iranian medical university, claiming the warning status for regional bird flu contamination should be raised in the north of the country, has urged Iran authorities to inform people once more about the danger the disease poses. People are asked to refrain from selling and buying live birds, while rules of hygiene should be carefully applied. It is also advisable that people avoid any form of contact with domestic and wild  birds and immediately inform the authorities of any suspicious cases. Iran first reported a bird flu case early this year, when 135 were found dead in marshes near Bandar Anzali and were confirmed to carry the avian influenza virus.

Starting Saturday, India has declared itself a bird flu free country, following a positive report by the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory. The report has been sent to international authorities for world wide acceptance of the status. The country has not detected any case of the flu since April 18 and international organizations ask for a three-month disease free period for a country to be considered free from bird flu. The country is to receive credit for strong preventive and curative measures. The country had a strong initiative towards the disease, applying a massive and instant culling campaign in areas where the virus was found, as well as disinfecting those regions and distributing Tamiflu to farm workers and other people involved in the operations. India has reportedly culled 1 billion birds and destroyed almost 1.5 billion eggs.

A small village farm in Cambodia has been ravished by avian flu, 1,200 chickens dropping dead in a recent outbreak. Authorities are now strictly monitoring the area, after culling the remaining 400 birds in the village. Samples are regularly being collected from poultry in the village and from a two-mile perimeter around it. Cambodia’s people are urged to be on high alert for bird flu, as the Agriculture Minister ordered strict enforcement of the ban on poultry imports from other countries in the area who are dealing with the disease. There are no signs yet the virus has passed on to local villagers, but health officials are keeping their eyes open. Cambodia has recorded 6 human victims so far, in it’s battle against bird flu.

46 people from 16 different provinces of Thailand are being kept under close medical surveillance, after developing flu-like symptoms. The announcement was made by the country’s Public Health Minister on Sunday. 96 other people are awaiting laboratory results to check if their illnesses are caused by one of the strains of the bird flu virus. Thailand is one of the countries fighting current avian influenza outbreaks in several provinces from across the country. In the latest outbreak, a 27 year old man from Uthai Thani died at the beginning of August, bringing the country’s victim count to 16. Previously that week, in Phichit, another case had been recorded, causing officials to start a massive chicken culling campaign in the area.

Denying an attempt to cover up a very early case of bird flu, Chinese authorities blame a lack of communication between its researchers and health officials for failing to announce the country’s first avian influenza victim, in November 2003. Following international suspicions, China analyzed and later confirmed that its first bird flu case and fatality dates from late 2003, two years before it was previously thought the virus had appeared in the country. Research institutes were only required to report bird flu cases from December 2004, when a new law concerning infectious diseased included bird flu as a disease that should be taken into consideration. Also, 2003 saw a massive outbreak of SARS, an illness with symptoms resembling flu, so it was easy to mistakenly diagnose cases.  Chinese officials now hope that such communication problems withing its system will be resolved and claim there is no evidence of other bird flu cases before the one in question.

Media reports state that more ducks and geese infected with a strain of bird flu were found in the South of Vietnam. An important health official says the tests carried out on waterfowl in Tien Gian, Long An and Ben Tre provinces have revealed the virus belongs to the H5 subtype. Apparently authorities do not consider this to be an outbreak of the virus yet, but measures have been taken to cull the birds in the area and monitor the situation in the following days. Although new cases of infection have not been discovered in Vietnam for months, government authorities fear the population might have become complacent in its anti bird flu measures. An urgent directive sent on Thursday by the Prime Minister urged officials to focus strongly on the education and deployment of the forces needed to carry out preventive measures against the deadly virus. It seems a better control of waterfowl, avian influenza’s main host, is needed to ensure the country will not become yet again vulnerable to new outbreaks.

Indonesia’s latest bird flu victims have drawn attention once again on the highly populated Asian country. Although mainland countries in the region, such as China and Vietnam, have more or less successfully tackled the problem, the archipelago based country seems incapable of containing the massive outbreak of avian influenza that has been sweeping across the country. The death toll has recently reached 44, the highest in the world. However, Indonesian authorities claim they are doing their best to stop the spread of the disease. However, a population of 220 million, distributed on roughly 18,000 islands, makes it difficult to implement an efficient system to combat the avian influenza epidemic. One thing that international experts warn on is the fact that the issue is still primarily an avian one. Human victims are provoked by a rapid spread of the virus among its natural host - poultry. And inefficient prevention measures among fowl will fail to contain the virus among humans. Despite extensive campaigns in the media and even door-to-door visits in some parts of the country, many of the islands’ inhabitants remain indifferent to the danger of coming into contact and handling diseased or dead birds. Cultural differences in the country also makes it difficult for a central, coordinated effort to take place.

Fearing the latest bird flu outbreaks will not be contained fast enough, Thailand has declared the disease a national threat and embarked on a national effort to tackle the dangerous virus, which has claimed the lives of 16 people since first appearing in the country in 2004. A meeting of about 260 local officials was held  and Deputy Prime Minister urged everyone to take the matter very seriously. The virus outbreaks could seriously jeopardize tourism as well as the local poultry industry. Few days ago, more than one third of the country, including the capital Bangkok, was declared a disaster zone, in an attempt to help local officials fight the avian influenza outbreaks. Before the appearance of the disease, Thailand had been the world’s biggest poultry exporter. However, bans imposed from different countries to avoid a further spread of the virus have badly affected the industry.

After admitting that a bird flu case in late 2003 was incorrectly identified, China is asked to analyze other similar cases. The United Nations health agency asked Beijing to re-examine similar pneumonia cases with unknown origin. A health ministry spokesman declared that the 2003 case was not an evidence of a severe outbreak of avian influenza at the time and that the government does not intend to review other similar cases. A letter published abroad by Chinese scientists revealed that a soldier had died following an infection with the H5N1 strain of the virus, two years before the country’s first publicly announced case. Further tests by national health authorities confirmed the suspicion and raised considerable doubts as to how Beijing detects emerging diseases as well as its transparency. China has so far reported 20 avian influenza infections to humans, of whom 12 have succumbed to the disease, but this does not include the 2003 case. World Health Organization officials state that a conclusion cannot be drawn that the virus originated from China, just that the virus has been sweeping the region for a long time. The case also highlights communication difficulties withing the Chinese government.

Only hours after Indonesia’s bird flu death toll became the worst worldwide, the number rose yet again. A teenage girl who died on Tuesday tested positive for the avian influenza virus, declared a health ministry official. The girl, aged 17, lived in North Jakarta, but it is not yet clear how the girl contracted the disease. Just hours before this announcement, a 16 year old boy also living in the outskirts of the capital city Jakarta, was confirmed as the country’s 43rd bird flu victim. Results from the World Health Organization are now expected to confirm the results, as local tests are not considered definitive. Indonesia has been heavily criticised for not applying severe enough measures to stop the bird flu outbreaks that have been ravishing the country since late 2003. The disease is still essentially an animal one, but it is feared mutations of the virus could spark a world epidemic among humans.

On June 22nd eight reputed Chinese scientists published a letter in the New England Journal of Medicine, attempting to prove that a 24-year-old man who became ill and later died in November 2003, was actually a bird flu victim, and not a SARS one, as authorities had claimed at the time. The Chinese Ministry of Health has now confirmed these suspicions, after the case was analyzed by parallel laboratory tests. These were carried out by Chinese health officials in cooperation with scientists from the World Health Organization. This only adds to the suspicion that the country had tried to cover up its bird flu cases, attributing some of them to the SARS disease.

The Indonesian teenager being treated for bird flu in the Sulianto Saroso hospital has died on Monday. Confirmation of preliminary tests to show the infection was indeed caused by the H5N1 virus is expected and could bring the country’s death toll to 43, the highest recorded by any nation so far. The boy’s name has not been released. He was admitted to hospital on Saturday and his condition rapidly deteriorated. The virus apparently spread after he had contact with sick chickens from his home, east of the capital city of Jakarta. This puts Indonesia at the top of the victims list in the world, narrowly topping Vietnam, country which has, however, used an aggressive campaign against bird flu and has not recorded any human cases this year. Indonesia has a poultry population of hundreds of millions and there are fears the virus will be very difficult to contain.

The 16 year old Indonesian teenager who recently tested positive for bird flu is said to be in a deteriorating condition. Although results of additional tests were expected to confirm the diagnostic, health officials are quite certain avian influenza has caused the boy’s condition to deteriorate so rapidly. He is now receiving treatment at Sulianto Saroso Hospital, but needs a respirator to carry out simple breathing functions. Indonesia has been heavily affected by the H5N1 strain of the virus, recording 42 human deaths in the last year. In May, seven members of the same family all succumbed to the disease, raising fears that a dangerous transmission from person to person had taken place.

Nirandorn Uangtrakulsook, Thailand’s Agriculture Ministry, has announced the start of a country wide campaign which will try to stop the resurgence of the H5N1 virus, the one causing avian influenza, that has caused the death of two people in the last three weeks alone. During this week-long campaign, every house from 29 provinces will be checked by hundreds of thousands of volunteers. These will check backyard farms for sick or dead poultry and will also try to educate villagers about the disease. Any sickened or dead bird with a suspicion of bird flu infection will cause all the poultry on a one km radius to be culled. Of Thailand’s 76 provinces, more than one third are bird flu risk zones. Since the beginning of the bird flu outbreaks in Asia, late 2003, 16 Thais have died from the disease, which is now spreading to other parts of the world.

A 16 year old Indonesian teenager has been found to be infected with the deadly bird flu virus, as results from a local laboratory have proven. The young man resides in Bekasi, on the outskirts of the capital city Jakarta and is being treated in a special bird flu center in the Sulianti Saroso Hospital. Apparently the patient had been in contact with diseased chickens, this being the most common mode of transmission of the virus, which is endemic in poultry in nearly all of the country’s provinces. However, local tests on samples taken from the patient are not thought to be definitive, and further results from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are awaited to confirm the diagnostic. Indonesia has recently equalled Vietnam’s bird flu death toll, although Vietnam has not recorded any new cases this year, following an aggressive culling campaign in infected areas.

A chicken farm worker from the Uthai Thani province in Thailand has become possibly the third confirmed bird flu case in the past two weeks. The 19 year old man had buried dead birds, possibly infected with the H5N1 virus, without using and proper protection equipment. He has been put under hospital surveillance now. The man fell ill last Thursday and was admitted to the provincial hospital on Saturday. Laboratory tests are awaited to verify whether or not the suspicions are proven. Thai authorities have given strict instructions to about 800,000 public health volunteers that villagers should be instructed to exercise extreme caution when handling dead birds, as it is the most common form of infection to humans. As of today, a national cleanliness campaign will also be started, trying to encourage people to wash their hands frequently.

53 wild storks from a theme park in Ho Chi Minh City were killed after two of the birds were found to be infected with a strain of the bird flu virus that is sweeping across Asia. Although the birds appeared healthy, officials decided to take no chances and order the culling of the wild storks to prevent a possible spread of the virus. Wild birds are natural hosts of this particular virus and symptoms are often not showed, but the viral agent can still be passed to domestic poultry. Vietnamese authorities say that an initial failure to control waterfowl has made the country so vulnerable to new outbreaks of the disease and that the risk of infection would once again rise once wild birds will migrate from the north.

A 35 year old man admitted to Kien Giang general hospital in southern Vietnam last Sunday was found not to be infected with the avian influenza virus. The man was brought to the hospital presenting clinical symptoms of bird flu, including acute pneumonia. He has been in a deep coma for several days, but tests carried out the at the Pasteur Institute in the country’s capital have found no sign of the bird flu virus. The patient originates from the Thach Hung Commune in Giong Rieng District and suspicions arose about a possible avian influenza case after he butchered a dead duck for his family and subsequently fell ill. None of his family members or poultry have shown any flu symptoms since.

A 27 year old man that had buried diseased chickens on his farm, without using any protective clothing, has died following an infection with the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus. Thailand is in the middle of a serious avian influenza outbreak which has swept across different provinces. Another death had been recorded last month and now the country is stepping up surveillance, although suspicions of new human infections arise every day.

Two more provinces in Indonesia, South Sulawesi and North Sumatra, have been hit with avian influenza outbreaks. Last week 1,500 chickens died from the flu in Bone and Sinjai, two regions of South Sulawesi. The disease is to be contained soon, or else it is likely to spread to other areas. However, recent floods and landslides could make such efforts more difficult. Indonesia is one of the most affected countries in the world, and experts say the disease could reach a peak in August, as the cold season begins and the virus becomes more widespread. In May, eight members belonging to the same family residing in Tanah Karo, North Sumatra, died and raised fears that the virus had found a way to become contagious among humans. A campaign conducted by authorities to raise awareness on the virus and the disease has not been very effective, especially among urban population. Also, people who raise poultry are often reluctant to allow their culling in areas where the virus has been found, as the compensation offered by the government is very low. Currently, authorities are offering little more than a dollar for every chicken culled.

The Thai Public Health Ministry said on Monday that laboratory tests have been conducted on samples taken from 131 people suspected to have contracted the bird flu virus. They are all under surveillance until a positive confirmation of the disease. Since the beginning of this year there have been almost 2,000 cases of suspicions in humans. The most affected province is now Phichit, with 37 of the persons suspected to be carriers of the virus living in that area. Sukhothai and Phitsanulok are two other provinces with a high number of suspicions. Medical experts and senior health officials are on high alert in an attempt to control the virus, as well as dengue, fever and hand, foot and mouth syndrome. 300,000 fowls were culled on Sunday alone in the province of Nakhon Phanom, where diseased chickens had been found. 765 persons in the area were also monitored for a period of two weeks, to make sure the virus had not spread to humans.

Put on high alert by the recent avian influenza outbreaks in neighbouring Indonesia and Thailand, Malaysia is not letting its guard down and is trying to prevent the virus from reappearing on its soil. The focus is now on the Malaysia - Thailand border, as Thailand has discovered tens of patients who might be carriers of the virus, in 19 provinces. Indonesia has also been heavily hit by the virus, as its death toll has reached 42 in the last year, almost topping Vietnam as the world’s hardest-hit country. However, Vietnam can boast severe measures of protection which have prevented any bird flu related deaths this year. One Malaysian health authority said that people should give their full cooperation to authorities in ensuring that chickens, dead or alive, and their connected products, were not illegally introduced into the country. Smugglers are one threat that Malaysian authorities fear could bring the dangerous virus into the country. All state health departments are on high alert for people with flu-like symptoms, especially foreigners coming to Malaysia who have previously been in bird flu infected countries. Another measure taken are simulation exercises, like the one that took place at all health clinics and hospitals in the provinces of Sarawak, Penang and Johore.

As a local foreign minister reported on Friday, Laos has confirmed an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus strain, in a flock of chickens form a farm near the capital city of Vientiane. 2,850 birds were found dead last week on that location and now health officials have ordered the culling of an additional 3,500 chickens from the farm. The farm is located in the Xaythany district, south of Vientiane and has experienced another bird flu outbreak in the year 2004. Although neighbouring Thailand (country which has reported 15 human fatalities due to the virus so far), Laos has not yet had any human deaths. Poverty in Laos has determined the United States to give a financial aid of 3.4 million dollars to the country in October 2005, in an effort to fight off the disease.

Encouraged by the lack of any bird flu outbreaks on its territory for the past three months, India is planning to claim the status of bird flu-free nation next month. As Sharad Pawar, Agriculture Minister, declared, the last avian influenza case reported in India was found in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra in May. This makes the country eligible for the status to be given by the World Organization for Animal Health. As authorities declare, the country’s Council of Agricultural research has also independently developed a bird flu vaccine at its Bhopal laboratory.

Researchers at the Hokkaido University and Shiga University of Medical Science, in Japan, are preparing to start a six-month study on a vaccine which is believed will be effective against the highly pathogenic H5N1 form of the bird flu virus. Its effectiveness will be tested through the inoculation of the virus in groups of both vaccinated and unvaccinated monkeys. The study is expected to bring clarification on certain aspects concerning the strain’s infection mechanism and lead the way for a universal human vaccine. One professor at Shiga University says that although the effects of the virus on mice and chickens is known, it is not yet clear what exactly happens to infected monkeys. As these animals have immune system cells very similar to those of humans, it is hoped that the study will be of use in developing prevention measures against a possible infection to human beings.

Just days after the Asian country announced its 15th bird flu human fatality, but only its first this year, a flock of chickens in the northeastern province of Nakhon Phanom has been found to be infected with the disease. Around 2,200 chickens died on farms across the province last week and laboratory tests confirmed that some of them had fallen victim to the highly pathogenic virus H5N1. It is the second bird flu outbreak confirmed in Thailand in the last two weeks, as Deputy Agriculture Minster Adisorn Piengket reported during a news conference. However these new cases have triggered a state of alert among both agricultural and health authorities in the country. All chickens in the area (around 300,000 of them, in 78 farms) were culled, while a ban was imposed on the transport of any poultry from a perimeter of 10 kilometers around the hotbed. The population has been asked not to panic, but caution is to be exerted when dealing with any suspicious poultry deaths.