Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
No evidence of bird flu in Northern of Iran
Health ministry of Islamic republic of Iran declare No evidence of bird flu in Northern of Iran.
All of people can travel to northern of Iran with out agitation in new year . Following the pandemic of the bird flu in some of the neighboring countries last year, the veterinary organization ordered the culling of chickens in some of the chicken farms around the
nation. In last year,The killer strain of avian influenza known as bird flu had been detected in dead wild birds in northwestern Iran at 2006 , according to the World Health Organization (WHO). “It is the H5N1 strain , but there have been no human cases, it has only been found in dead wild swans.
All of people can travel to northern of Iran with out agitation in new year . Following the pandemic of the bird flu in some of the neighboring countries last year, the veterinary organization ordered the culling of chickens in some of the chicken farms around the
nation. In last year,The killer strain of avian influenza known as bird flu had been detected in dead wild birds in northwestern Iran at 2006 , according to the World Health Organization (WHO). “It is the H5N1 strain , but there have been no human cases, it has only been found in dead wild swans.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
BAHRAIN READY TO FIGHT BIRD FLU
MANAMA, MARCH 10 (BNA) -- A JOINT GCC BODY HAS BEEN SET UP TO WARN AGAINST ANY SIGNS OF BIRD FLU, ESPECIALLY AMONG POULTRY, BEFORE IT ENTERS BAHRAIN. THIS WAS ANNOUNCED BY THE DIRECTOR OF ANIMAL RESOURCE AT THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND MUNICIPALITIES AFFAIRS, SALMAN ABDULNABI. IN A STATEMENT PUBLISHED IN THE ARABIC DAILY AL AYAM, ABDULNABI SAID HIS DIRECTORATE HAD NOT RECEIVED ANY REPORT THAT POULTRY IN BAHRAIN HAD BEEN HIT BY BIRD FLU AND ADDED THAT THE KINGDOM WOULD NOT ALLOW THE VIRUS TO ENTER THE COUNTRY. HE SAID THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH WAS CONSTANTLY CHECKING FROZEN POULTRY PRODUCTS IMPORTED FROM KUWAIT AS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE. EM//BS 10-MAR-2007 11:58
Vietnam reinforces fight against bird flu
The Head of the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Control has requested localities and relevant branches to simultaneously take preventive measures against bird flu as there is a high risk of recurrence nationwide.
The Steering Committee Head, Cao Duc Phat, who is also Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, sent an instructional message nationwide after the virus reportedly to re-occurred in the north, firstly in Hai Duong province on Feb. 14, and then Ha Tay and Hanoi.
The Committee Head warned that many provinces have so far concentrated only on vaccinating their fowl flocks against the disease but neglected to take other preventive concurrent measures.
In the message, Phat said "vaccination is only one of many essential measures to combat bird flu."
Accordingly, he required combined measures, including monitoring all poultry raising households, especially egg hatching farms and minimising the contact of poultry with migrating birds.
Farmers were asked not to raise chicken with waterfowl an
d other farm poultry animals and not to keep live poultry bought from markets with their poultry flock.
The Committee Head also asked for regular disinfection of poultry farms, slaughterhouses, poultry processing establishments, live birds markets, high-risk areas and former bird flu-hit spots.
Quarantine officials were told to intensify their control over the transport, slaughtering, and trade of poultry and poultry products. (VNA)
ref:http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/life/100307/life_v.htm
Avian Flu kills a girl in Vientiane
Bangkok (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A 15-year-old girl has died from bird flu, the first confirmed death from the H5N1 virus in Laos. Meanwhile across South East Asia and the Arab peninsula a growing number of cases are certified of infection among birds.
Today Laos Health Minister Ponmek Dalaloy confirmed the girl’s death, and that she had been brought to a hospital in Thailand. The teenage girl had lived in a suburb of Vientiane, the capital, where the virus was found in poultry in January. The minister stressed the importance of surveillance and public awareness to avoid further infection. Most of the 5.9 million inhabitants live in remote villages.
January’s was the first case of bird infection in the country over 7 months. A 42-year-old Lao woman died of suspected bird flu last week, but tests have not yet confirmed the H5N1 virus.
South Korea. The 7th source of an infectious outbreak among birds since was confirmed today, despite the rigid quarantine measures put in place and the suppression of entire stock from poultry farms. The virus was found among the poultry from a farm in Chonan, circa 90 km. South of Seoul and not far from January’s contamination source.
Vietnam. Yesterday animal health authority confirmed that the H5N1 virus had killed a total of 1,150 birds in two separate farms in Dong Anh district near Hanoi. All remaining poultry was destroyed and the are is currently under maximum surveillance. In the last few weeks more infections were detected in ducks in the southern province of Vine Long and in chickens in the northern provinces of Hay Duong and Ha Tay.
China. March 6th an outbreak was detected in a farm in the Lhasa district (Tibet), where 680 fowl have already died from the virus. The region was already hit by the disease May last. March 1st it was confirmed that a 44 year old farmer had contracted the virus from contact with infected chicken in Jian’ou County (Fujian). She is the 22nd human carrier of the virus in the country and has caused concern because it hadn't been forewarned by a poultry outbreak in the surrounding area. Joanna Brent, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for the United Nations health agency, observed that this confirms that “an exclusive focus on outbreaks among birds is no longer sufficient”, particularly in countries such as China because vaccination programs there may mask the virus in poultry.
On March 5th, researchers at the University of California in Irvine traced the H5N1 virus that's infected people in a dozen Asian countries during the past four years to Guangdong; their study was based on analyzed genetic sequences from 192 avian- flu samples collected across Asia and northern Europe to identify mutations that have occurred during the virus's evolution. Yu Yedong, head of the Guangdong Animal Epidemic Prevention Institute and chief of the team at the Guangdong Bird Flu Prevention Office, described the study as “unscientific” and “ridiculous” and that it was impossible to find out where the H5N1 virus first emerged.
Hong Kong. Trade in wild fowl has been banned, after 13 birds were found dead from the virus in the last few months. About 70 percent of the infected birds were found within three kilometres of the Mong Kok bird market, where there is an elevated presence and heavy trade in birds. However frequent testing has produced negative results.
Kuwait. In recent weeks over 52 birds have been found dead from the virus in diverse locations The bird markets have been closet down and imports and exports of fowl prohibited. Even the zoo has been shut down following the discovery of an infected falcon.
Saudi Arabia. Health authorities have proclaimed a “state of emergency”, to prevent possible infection, following news reports on many cases along the border with Kuwait. Numerous poultry farms are under constant surveillance, as are all migratory birds.
Avian Influenza H5N1 Outbreak in Afghanistan - Press Release FAO
FAO Press Release – Kabul, 8 March 2007 (Update 2)
In our last press communiqué, we mentioned confirmed cases of H5N1 from samples from Nahea 4, Jalalabad City, of Nangarhar Province on 20 February 2007 and from Sawki district of Kunar Province on 24 February 2007.
Now H5N1 has been confirmed on 7 March 2007 in the districts of Khogiani, Rodat and Bati Kot of Nangarhar province, in the districts of Khas Kunar and Kuz Kunar in Kunar province and in Shah Shahid area of Nahea 8, in Kabul City.
Positive samples were collected from backyard poultry (domestic chickens). All the samples were analyzed and confirmed in the FAO and Naval Medical Research Unit 3 (NAMRU3) supported laboratory in the Central Veterinary Diagnostic and Research Laboratories (CVDRL).
The Government has taken immediate actions for disinfection, culling and quarantine of the affected areas. Further vaccinations will take place.
Bird flu story source: FAO
Rejction of bird flu in pardisan bird park in Tehran
Health Minister Kamaran Bagheri Lankarani said all of tests from Pardisan Park in Tehran are
negative.In this park several species of birds were displayed.
The minister said the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had not been detected in Iran.
Bird Flu :: Laos bird flu - teenage Lao girl died
A Lao girl, 15-year-old, has died from bird flu, the country's first confirmed death from the H5N1 virus, reported by BBC and Reuters today.The Health Ministry has stepped up surveillance and public awareness efforts to check the spread of avian bird flu."Knowledge can save lives," Health Minister Ponmek Dalaloy said in a statement after the girl's de ath in a hospital in neighbouring Thailand on Wednesday.Since 2004, some 270 humans have been infected with bird flu in 10 countries, with about 167 fatalities, mostly in Asia, according to the World Health Organization. With the flu spreading around the world, the virus has turned up in birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. So far, bird flu has mostly been passed from birds either to other birds or, in isolated cases, to humans.In June 2006, WHO reported the first case of human transference of the disease, when an Indonesian man died after catching the flu from his 10-year-old son. If the flu mutates into a strain that can pass more readily from human to human, people will have no immunity and the flu will probably pass rapidly from person to person, creating a pandemic. Flu vaccines can only be made to protect against a particular virus, and, since the virus had yet to be passed from human to human, no vaccine has been developed.
from:http://www.spiritindia.com/health-care-news-articles-7327.html
Friday, March 9, 2007
Bird Flu Booklet - 'What You Need to Know' - is Available from United Poultry Concerns in PDF and Printed Formats
MACHIPONGO, Va., March 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- United Poultry Concerns is pleased to announce publication of our new 8-page booklet, "Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) - What You Need to Know." The booklet provides facts and expert opinions on the role of poultry production practices in promoting avian influenza viruses. It can be ordered in quantity from United Poultry Concerns and read on the Web at http://www.birdflufowlplay.com/.
While the avian flu virus H5N1 has appeared mainly in non-western countries, last month's outbreak on a large turkey farm in Britain confirmed predictions that the virus will most likely enter western countries through an infected poultry trade, including the trade in live birds, contaminated feedstuffs and fertilizer.
Avian flu viruses have already struck North American poultry flocks. For example, in 2004, the Canadian government destroyed 19 million birds to combat the H7N3 virus that infected bird flocks in British Columbia. In 2002, U.S. companies destroyed 4.7 million turkeys and chickens to combat the H7N2 avian flu virus that infected poultry flocks in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia. In 2004, tests confirmed avian influenza on chicken farms in Pennsylvania and Delaware, including a supplier to the live bird markets in New York City.
Many Americans would be shocked to learn how many tax-funded massacres of birds are quietly conducted on U.S. factory farms to control the viruses and bacteria that thrive in those places, supporting the claim in World Poultry (Jan. 16, 2007) that "Disease causing organisms are ubiquitous in poultry producing facilities all around the world."
"'Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) - What You Need to Know' is a concise resource for people interested in learning more about bird flu within the larger context of transmittable poultry diseases and disease-causing practices, and what people can do to eat healthier, more humanely produced, bird-friendly food," says Karen Davis, president of United Poultry Concerns. "We don't need to be hostages to bird flu. We can have a better life, and so can the birds."
United Poultry Concerns is a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl.
On the Web at http://www.upc-online.org/.
Website: http://www.birdflufowlplay.com/
Website: http://www.upc-online.org/
FACTBOX-Bird flu's spread around the globe
March 9 (Reuters) - The deadly bird flu virus is spreading into southern provinces of Laos, a government spokesman said on Friday.
Laos confirmed on Thursday its first human death from bird flu, a 15-year-old girl living in a suburb of Vientiane where the virus was found in poultry last month.
Bird flu first broke out in Laos in January 2004 in Vientiane and nearby provinces.
The outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza began in Asia in 2003 and has spread rapidly over the past year.
Following are some facts about the H5N1 avian flu virus and its spread around the globe.
* Since the virus re-emerged in Asia in 2003, outbreaks have been confirmed in around 50 countries and territories, according to data from the World Organisation for Animal Health.
* More than 30 countries have reported outbreaks in the past year, in most cases involving wild birds such as swans.
* The virus has killed 168 people since 2003, according to thr WHO. Countries with confirmed human deaths are: Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
* In total, the virus is known to have infected 277 people since 2003, according to the WHO. Many of the dead are children and young adults.
* Vietnam and Indonesia have the highest number of cases, accounting for 105 of the total deaths.
* The H5N1 virus is not new to science and was responsible for an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Scotland in 1959. Britain confirmed new cases in birds in Scotland in April 2006 and in Suffolk earlier this month.
* H5N1 is not the only bird flu virus. There are numerous strains. For example, an outbreak in 2003 of the H7N7 bird flu virus in the Netherlands led to the destruction of more than 30 million birds, around a third of the country's poultry stock. About 2.7 million were destroyed in Belgium and around 400,000 in Germany. In the Netherlands, 89 people were infected with the H7N7 virus, of whom one (a veterinarian) died.
* The H5N1 virus made the first known jump into humans in Hong Kong in 1997, infecting 18 people and killing six of them. The government ordered the immediate culling of the territory's entire poultry flock, ending the outbreak.
* Symptoms of bird flu in humans have ranged from typical influenza-like symptoms, such as fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches, to eye inflammations (conjunctivitis), pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, viral pneumonia, and other severe and life-threatening complications.
For a chronology of bird flu developments, double click on [ID:nL09373496]
For a Factbox of WHO figures for bird flu cases in humans, double click on [ID:nL09373098]
(Sources: OIE, WHO, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
ref:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09382913.htm
New bird flu assays expected to expand on detection kits
Applied Biosystems and the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA), a UK government agency specializing in animal disease surveillance and veterinary research, have announced a strategic collaboration to manufacture and commercialize the VLA's molecular avian influenza and Newcastle disease environmental detection kits.
These kits are expected to be broadly available in Europe and other parts of the world, such as Asia and Africa. This collaboration is intended to help early detection of these harmful bird diseases, which is a critical step in managing the threat posed by these diseases.
The VLA has used these tests to confirm that the avian flu strain that recently killed 2,600 turkeys in Suffolk, England was the H5N1 virus. It was the first reported case of H5N1 on a UK commercial farm. The agency said that early detection enabled immediate response to contain the outbreak. These tests have also been used in a follow-up enhanced survey of the wild bird population.
The goal of the VLA and Applied Biosystems agreement is to make these types of tests - known as assays - more readily available for the same type of early warning detection in various countries. In addition to the Influenza A virus and its H5 subtype, the assays are also expected to address the H7 subtype and Newcastle disease. The new assays are designed to rapidly and reliably detect a broad range of avian influenza strains in laboratory samples.
"This collaboration agreement between Veterinary Laboratories Agency and Applied Biosystems is an ideal opportunity to combine both VLA's experience and expertise of these two very important avian diseases and Applied Biosystems' expertise and manufacturing skills," said Professor Steve Edwards, chief executive of VLA. "As with any notifiable disease, rapid confirmation is essential for control measures to be implemented quickly and to minimise the impact. These molecular detection methods should help to improve, sensitivity, specificity and turnaround time. We look forward to a long and successful partnership."
Under the terms of the agreement, Applied Biosystems will commercialize the VLA real-time PCR assays. Real-time PCR is a laboratory method used to simultaneously detect and determine the amount of nucleic acids present in samples.
The VLA assays are veterinary molecular tests that are used in a laboratory. Applied Biosystems intends to further develop these assays in a new dry format designed to render more reliable results by consolidating steps in the testing process and minimizing manual procedures. The VLA will perform the validation prior to the release of the tests, which are intended for use in animal health laboratories around the world outside the United States.
ref:http://www.labmgr.com/News_Articles.asp?pid=130
Migration Of Avian Flu Virus Reconstructed By UCI Scientists
UC Irvine researchers have combined genetic and geographic data of the H5N1 avian flu virus to reconstruct its history over the past decade. They found that multiple strains of the virus originated in the Chinese province of Guangdong, and they identified many of the migration routes through which the strains spread regionally and internationally. By knowing where H5N1 strains develop and migrate, health officials can better limit the spread of the virus by strategically intervening. Local vaccinations can be better administered by using strains from regions that have repeatedly contributed to infections. "If you can control the virus at its source, you can control it more efficiently," said Walter Fitch, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in the School of Biological Sciences at UCI and co-author of the study. "With a road map of where the strain has migrated, you're more likely to isolate the strain that you should be using to make the vaccine." The study appears this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This research offers the first statistical analysis detailing the geographic distribution of influenza A H5N1, the bird flu strain. While previous work informally identified H5N1 strains by location, the UCI analysis is the first to systematically track the migration of H5N1 through its evolutionary history, adding new details that identify the relative importance of the geographic and evolutionary advances the virus makes. From 192 samples obtained across Eurasia, the UCI team reconstructed the virus's geographic reach and evolution. The analysis shows that Guangdong - home to a large poultry industry - is the source of many H5N1 strains that have spread to other provinces and countries. To the south in nearby Indochina, the strains appear largely limited to dispersal among local areas. Genetic sequences the scientists analyzed suggest that parallel evolution of different H5N1 strains lets the virus infect and cycle through different host species in a region, regardless of the host or vector species it infects first. This way, the virus can find the right host to spread the infection to the next location. This parallel evolution - the independent evolution of similar traits - enables H5N1 to spread quickly, the scientists believe. "The ability to develop the right mutation allows the virus to hop from one host type to the next," said Robert Wallace, UCI postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study. "By spreading across a large area, the virus in essence can run multiple experiments in multiple locations, increasing the likelihood that it will mutate into a form that can be transmitted from human to human." Avian flu has been isolated almost exclusively among bird populations. The H5N1 virus has only sporadically been passed on from a bird host to humans; there is little evidence that the virus can efficiently be passed on from human to human. Although fewer than 300 recorded human cases of this flu have been recorded worldwide, its high mortality rate raises concerns that if the virus mutates to where humans can pass it on, a flu pandemic may occur. ### Hoang-Minh Ho-Dac and Richard Lathrop in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at UCI also worked on the study, which was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,800 faculty members. The second-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion. Contact: Jennifer Fitzenberger University of California - Irvine
Bird flu virus high on Health Ministers' agenda
THE threat of an influenza pandemic caused by the highly pathogenic (H5N1) avian influenza virus circulating in a number of countries around the world will be high on the agenda of Health Ministers and senior officials from 21 Pacific Island countries when they meet in Vanuatu next week.
Discussions on this subject will focus on the World Health Organisation's Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases (APSED), the International Health Regulations (2005) and the Pacific Leaders response to the avian influenza threat in the region through the Pacific Regional Influenza Pandemic Preparedness initiative (PRIPPP).
The three-day meeting from 12 March will also seek ways to further promote health of the Pacific Island people and to strengthen the collaborative fight against diseases.
Dr Jimmie Rodgers, Director-General of the SPC, said: ''I am happy to see the agenda of the meeting giving more prominence to a strategic approach to health in the region. Tabling non-communicable diseases at the meeting is very important, as recent studies indicate that diseases related to lifestyle are becoming a major threat for Pacific Island people.''
The meeting is jointly organised by the SPC and WHO.
Avian influenza in Laos
The Ministry of Health in Lao People's Democratic Republic has confirmed the country's first death from H5N1 avian influenza. The 15-year-old female from Vientiane, whose infection was announced 27 February, died on 7 March after being hospitalized in neighbouring Thailand.
Viral diseases in ostriches : a review article(BY: A.ghalyanchi1 , S.M.M.Kiaei 2 , M.modirsanei2 , A.shojaee 3
During the last decades there have been many reports on virus isolation and viral diseases in ostriches. Scientific knowledge of ostrich diseases is incomplete and very fragmented, with specific details on technical aspects of diagnostic , epidemiological and/or screening tests which are completely absent in most cases. The ostrich viral diseases wich are discuss in this paper are :Newcastle disease , other paramyxo viruses , Avian influenza, Fowl pox, Borna disease ,Crimean_ Congo hemorrhagic fever, Spongiform encephalopathy, Eastern and Western equine encephalitis ,coronoviral enteritis , Gumboro and other viral infections that caused by adenovirus , reovirus ,herpes viruses ,circovirus , retrovirus ,rotavirus ,astrovirus,picornavirus .
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