Influenza Virus Mashup

Via ABC News, a slightly confusing report: Crackdown on avian influenza in Victoria. Excerpt:

Victorian authorities are tracing all poultry movements from two duck farms where avian influenza has been found. 

The low pathogenic strain of the disease was discovered on Friday afternoon and 10,000 ducks have already been destroyed. 

The two farms are north west of Melbourne and under one ownership. 

Veterinarian Dr Peter Scott, who advises the egg industry, says this is not bird flu, but is a local disease carried by wild waterfowl.

The Chief Vet of Victoria, Dr Andrew Cameron, says it is not as contagious or harmful as the H5N1 strain that is affecting poultry and people in Asia. 

He says there is no risk to human health from this outbreak.

So it's avian influenza but it's not bird flu, and it's "not as contagious or harmful as the H5N1 strain." What are we dealing with here? 

(Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:24:00 +0000)

Indian House Crow – Photo Credit Wikipedia

# 6107

Roughly two months ago crows by the hundreds (some say thousands) began falling from their perches and dying in Jharkhand, India. 

By mid-December the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bhopal, confirmed that it was the H5N1 virus that was behind these deaths. (see EpiSouth Bulletin eweb_195_15_12__11.pdf).

You can find additional AFD coverage of this event in Media Report: H5N1 Killing Crows In Jharkhand  and several from Crofsblog, including India: ‘New bird flu strain killed Jharkhand crows’.

Today the Times of India is reporting (h/t Emily on FluTrackers) that after ignoring dying crows in the capital city of Kolkata for weeks, West Bengal authorities are finally launching an investigation.

Govt gets cracking on crow deaths

TNN | Jan 29, 2012, 07.36AM IST

 

KOLKATA: After ignoring the mysterious crow deaths in the city for nearly two months, the state government flew into action mode on Saturday and sent scientists to Rabindra Sarovar to gather carcasses and blood samples.

TOI on Friday first reported on crows dropping dead all over the city.

(Continue . . . )

Somewhat remarkably, two weeks after the discovery of H5N1 in Jharkhand crows, India declared itself to be bird flu free, leading to some highly critical media coverage (see Dying crows deny India is bird flu free).

There are other possible causes of the crow deaths in Kolkata; insecticides, accidental poisoning, and Newcastle disease to name a few.

But with the recent positive test results in neighboring Jharkhand positive for H5N1, concerns are running high that the virus may be behind these deaths as well.

The New York Times has published an editorial: The Missing Bird Flu Report. The NYT supports redaction of the reports before they're published.

Mike Coston at Avian Flu Diary has a fascinating post on The Kolkata Crow Mystery, reporting that the city authorities are finally looking into local crow deaths.

(Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:05:00 +0000)

BLS-4 Lab – Photo Credit CDC PHIL 

# 6106

The weekend edition of the New York Times contains a `dialog’ – well, actually letters to the editor – received over the past few days by some well known academics and researchers on the volatile subject of H5N1 research.

The recent successes in turning the H5N1 virus into a more transmissible virus have raised alarms among many of those in the bio-security field (see The Furor Over H5N1 Research Continues).

At the same time, many scientists are decrying what they see as heavy-handed attempts to halt, or censor what they see as crucial research.

You’ll find a lot of familiar names weighing into the NYTs dialog today, including Tom Inglesby, Philip Alcabes, and Vincent Racaniello.

Sunday Dialogue: Bird Flu Experiments

The World Health Organization has tentatively scheduled a meeting of experts in Geneva in a couple of weeks with hopes of resolving some of the thornier issues involved.

But as we continue to see by the arguments coming from both sides of this debate - there is a sizable chasm separating them – making a workable compromise coming out of this meeting far from assured. 

Stay tuned. 

(Sun, 29 Jan 2012 02:05:57 GMT)

Reminder: Please do not post whole articles, just snippets and links, and do not post articles from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Thanks!

China

•  5 dead birds in Causeway Bay tested for virus (Link)

India

•  Bird flu scare spreads to Ganjam as 16 crows found dead (Link)

•  Keep the crows flying to save the environment (Link)

Mexico

•  Additional Cases of Swine Flu in Mexico  (Article & Video) (Link)

Pakistan

•  Last bird flu case reported in July 2008 (Link)

Research

•  CIDRAP: Study finds non-drug flu-fighting benefits (Link)

•  CIDRAP: In ferrets, H5N1 can reach nervous system via olfactory mucosa (Link)

General

•  CIDRAP: Flu season shows signs of life in US, EU (Link)

•  H (Link)

News for January 28, 2012 is here.

Thanks to all of the newshounds! Special thanks to the newshound volunteers who translate international stories - thanks for keeping us all informed!

Other useful links:

WHO A(H1N1) Site

WHO H5N1 human case totals, last updated January 24, 2012
Charts and Graphs on H5N1 from WHO
Google Flu Trends
CDC Weekly Influenza Summary
Map of seasonal influenza in the U.S.
CIDPC (Canada) Weekly FluWatch
UK RCGP Weekly Data on Communicable and Respiratory Diseases
Flu Wiki Main Page

Via The Jakarta Globe: Deceased Indonesian Had Swine Flu, Not Bird Flu. Excerpt:

Rohmad, 18, from Tangerang, died on Wednesday after five days in the isolation ward at Tangerang General Hospital. He had been admitted last week complaining of high fever, shortness of breath and a sore throat. 

“The cause of death of the Tangerang resident was because of the H1N1 virus, not H5N1 [bird flu],” Ministry of Health official Trihono said. 

There have only been a handful of fatalities attributed to H1N1 in Indonesia, and Trihono stressed that this patient had been suffering from a condition that made him more susceptible.

Via Middle East Online, an IRIN report: Egypt set to launch anti-bird flu campaign. Excerpt:

A nationwide campaign to stop the spread of H5N1 avian influenza in Egypt is to be launched by the government in a few weeks, say officials, but details are still sketchy. 

The new plan, which will involve coordination between the Health Ministry, the Agriculture Ministry and poultry producers, requires close monitoring and various bio-safety measures. 

“These measures are just a small part of a more general plan to curb the spread of the virus in our country,” Saber Abdel Aziz, a senior official from the state-run General Organization for Veterinary Services, told IRIN. 

“We will also offer incentives to poultry growers to look for signs of illness in their animals, report sick ones, and practice bio-security.” 

H5N1 has infected 159 and killed 55 people in Egypt since 2006. 

The most recent fatalities occurred on 19 January 2012 - a two-year-old girl from Cairo, and a 31-year-old man from Fayoum Governorate in the Nile Delta. Epidemiological investigations indicated they had both been exposed to backyard poultry. 

Abdel Aziz and his colleagues at the General Organization for Veterinary Services say they will work hard to prevent this from happening again by applying bio-security prevention measures. 

“Taking commonsense precautions to prevent the disease from coming onto a farm is a cornerstone of keeping the poultry healthy,” he said. “But apart from these commonsense precautions, we will give training to poultry farm workers, make basic infection control, and promote the use of personal protective equipment.” 

Aziz said, however, that funding for the plan was still being negotiated with the Finance Ministry. 

The latest two avian flu deaths, along with a Health Ministry announcement that 2011 saw the highest number of H5N1 infections ever, has created anxiety across the country. The ministry said 40 people had contracted the virus in 2011, up from 23 in 2010. More shocking still, 16 of the 40 who contracted the virus last year died.

Via The Assam Tribune Online: Bird flu: Culling begins in Tripura. Excerpt:

Culling operations have begun in avian flu affected gram panchayats of West Tripura district on Friday after confirmation from Bhopal based High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL). 

The State Government has already ordered culling of birds in three km radius of Lembucherra poultry farm as advised by the Centre. 

Twelve teams of Rapid Response Squad of Animal Resource Development Department (ARDD) have been pressed into the culling operation in the affected gram panchayats, said Manoranjan Sarkar, Director of ARDD here. 

He said though exact number of culled chicks and ducks could not be ascertained yet, the people engaged in the operation were asked to visit each house so that no chick or duck is left out of the operation. 

All necessary precautionary measures have been made to prevent fresh outbreak of bird flu in the State, Sarkar said adding that movement of poultry products had been banned in the affected areas.

Via the Bagalore Mirror: ‘R-Day pigeons suffer from disease’. This is a bizarre report, given the casualness about presumed avian flu. Excerpt:

Despite great efforts to nurse the birds back to health, two more of the diseased pigeons, that were released during Republic Day celebrations at the Manekshaw grounds, died within 24 hours of being rescued. 

Ten birds were rescued by wildlife volunteers from the BBMP’s forest cell after they had flopped to the ground. The birds, purchased from Russell Market at a substantial discount, were unhealthy and were unable to fly. Experts say the birds suffer from a strain of avian influenza and are taking every precaution to ensure the virus does not spread.    

“Our volunteers are in shock as we lost two more pigeons out of the 10 rescued on Thursday,” Sharath R Babu, honorary wildlife warden, Bangalore Urban said. “It seems most them are suffering from a strain of avian influenza. It’s a disease which afflicts birds kept at Russell Market. The strains of flu differ greatly and while this is a common strain among pigeons from Russell Market, we are not taking any chances as it could spread.”   

Said Rajesh M, a wildlife expert, “The flu can spread to other animals. For example if a dog eats an infected bird, the dog too could get infected. So the birds will be buried with lime and salt to ensure the virus does not spread.”   

While some birds flew away, at least 20 of the pigeons released during the celebrations just flopped to the ground where they struggled to fly. VVIPs, including the chief minister and the governor were witness to the fiasco. Some of the birds had broken wings, while others had turned blind.   

“The flu causes the birds to become weak,” an expert said. “Because of the weakness they don’t have the energy to fly. Infected birds also gradually turn blind and if left untreated, they die.”    

BBMP wildlife volunteers say that sending these birds for a flu test would not be necessary as the strain is common. But ensuring the survival of the infected birds is a hard task.   

“We are doing all we possibly can to ensure the survival of the rest of the birds, but the chances of their survival are grim,” Sharath said.