India, France Cull Fowl; Azerbaijan Tests Human Bird Flu Cases

March 15 2006 (Bloomberg) -- India and France may cull more than 1 million fowl after outbreaks of avian influenza in farmed poultry, as Azerbaijan tested its possible first human bird flu fatalities that may take the global death toll to 101 people.

Azerbaijan's Health Ministry reported three women, who died between Feb. 23 and March 9, tested positive for an H5 avian flu subtype, the World Health Organization said yesterday. Results of tests, including checks for the lethal H5N1 strain, may be announced by a U.K. laboratory later this week, the WHO said.

``H5N1 is the only strain within the H5 subtype known to cause human infections,'' the WHO said. ``It is highly likely that the H5N1 strain will be detected in further tests.''

Cases in Azerbaijan would bring to eight the number of countries reporting human H5N1 infections since 2003 as the virus spreads west from Asia to the Middle East, Europe and Africa, heightening concern it may spawn a pandemic that may kill millions of people. Since 2003, H5N1 has killed at least 98 of 177 people infected, the Geneva-based WHO said on March 13.

Avian flu was found in poultry raised in backyards in four more villages in India's western state of Maharashtra, Upma Chawdhry, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture in New Delhi, said yesterday. As many as 75,000 fowl may be culled to contain the spread, he said.

In France, poultry farmers started slaughtering 1 million chickens yesterday in the area where some domestic turkeys caught the virus. The measure is a voluntary step after the government didn't allow farmers to sell their fowl.

The French government last month banned farmers from the Ain region, near the border with Switzerland, from selling their poultry after one farm in the area was found to have been infected with the deadly H5N1 strain, the first time the virus was detected in farm animals in the European Union.

The spreading H5N1 strain in birds increases the risk of human infection and creates more opportunity for the virus to mutate.

75,000 chickens are destroyed in bird flu cull

Sat 18 Mar 2006 - India: Workers have largely completed a cull of more than 75,000 chickens in four villages in a western state containing a second outbreak of avian flu in poultry, officials said today.

While no human infection has been reported yet, a boy with fever was found in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district yesterday and put under observation.

Hawaii: Rescue teams found a third body on the island of Kauai three days after a privately-owned dam burst. Authorities said a woman's body, which has not yet been identified, was recovered yesterday. - scotsman.com

Afghanistan begins bird flu cull

KABUL, March 22 (Reuters) - Afghan workers in protective suits and masks fanned out through a Kabul neighbourhood of low, mud-brick homes on Wednesday, rounding up chickens and spraying disinfectant, hoping to stamp out the H5N1 birdflu virus.

The H5N1 virus was confirmed in chickens in the capital and an eastern province last week and is assumed to have spread to at least three other provinces, officials said.

The cull was delayed for several days while impoverished Afghanistan tried to find protective suits for the teams. Eventually, the U.S. military provided enough to get going.

"Two cases were confirmed in this village, some chickens already died here, some pigeons also died here," Azizullah Osmani, chief of the Agriculture Ministry's veterinary department, told reporters as the cull was launched.

Bird flu has killed 103 people since late 2003, most of them in Asia. Although difficult for humans to catch, experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily between people and trigger a pandemic that could kill millions.

There have been no human cases in Afghanistan but there is concern that, with veterinary and health sectors still recovering from decades of conflict, the country could struggle to contain an outbreak.

Many Afghan chicken farmers and traders are illiterate and have little knowledge of the disease. Authorities have yet to produce much public information on the danger. Osmani said that as well as collecting and culling all chickens in the area, pens and yards were being sprayed with disinfectant.

Teams would monitor a zone 5-10 km (3-6 miles) from the site of the cull, he said, and if sick chickens were found, the process would be repeated there. Culls would be conducted in at least three other areas of Kabul province, he said.

Residents of the neighbourhood in the west of Kabul, where many people keep a few chickens in back yards, appeared resigned to losing their birds. One man, Mohammad Ibrahim, said his 20 chickens had all suddenly died as had a cat that ate one of the carcasses.

Officials have said it will be important to compensate people whose chickens are culled. Afghanistan's poultry industry was decimated by several years of drought up to 2005 and is small-scale with only an estimated 12 million chickens in the country. - alertnet.org/

HK mulls long-term precautions against bird flu

3/4/2006 11:19

As any bird flu outbreak will ruin the achievements of last year's economic recovery, Hong Kong government is considering a series of long-term precautionary measures to keep the deadly disease outside the region.

To avoid live poultry slaughtering in wet markets or back alleys, a site near the boundary has been identified for the proposed central poultry slaughtering plant, which will come into operation in 2009, Hong Kong Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said.

With the nearest residential area over 200 meters away, the 10,500-square-meter plant will operate year-long with a daily slaughtering capacity of up to 40,000 chickens and 3,000 pigeons and other small sized poultry except water birds. Its capacity can be expanded for slaughtering up to 60,000 chickens.

The plant, which will cost 200 million HK dollars (25.64 million U.S. dollars), is expected to be enclosed and comprise three major areas for holding live chickens, slaughtering and distribution. Lorries used for delivering live chickens will go to the plant direct from the boundary or local farms and be cleaned after unloading within the plant.

The district council is scheduled to discuss the issue on April 6. An official tender will be called this year to complete everything including legislation within the next legislative year.

As the government is balancing employment in poultry sales, tourism and catering industries, it is studying compensation for the 3,000 poultry retailers or wholesalers who will be affected by the changes to Hong Kong's chicken supply.

Besides, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) has earmarked 10 million HK dollars (1.28 million U.S. dollars) for the promotion of organic farming and greenhouse production, especially targeted at poultry farmers who may switch to organic farming due to avian influenza. So far, about 120 poultry farmers have attended seminars held by the AFCD for organic cultivation of strawberries, golden cap mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang agreed that organic farming can produce food in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner." Diversified development suits Hong Kong's economic need. With a good business outlook, organic farming provides local farmers with a viable alternative and more choices for consumers," he said.

To nature reserves, wetlands and urban parks that are fragile to avian flu, the government begins to exert controls with international criteria.

The Worldwide Fund For Nature, formerly known as World Wildlife Fund, suggests that the government should also follow other international examples in developing a more detailed set of scientific criteria to determine whether to close the reserve in the future as a precautionary measure against bird flu.

"Such clear criteria would not only benefit Mai Po, but also other educational facilities that have been closed because of concern over bird flu, such as the new Wetland Park in Tin Shui Wai, and the aviaries in Ocean Park, Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Gardens, and in the many urban parks," Lew Young, WWF Hong Kong Mai Po Reserve Manager, said. - english.eastday.com

Niger to cull 26,000 birds over avian flu epidemic

Niamey, Niger 04/05 -- Niger, one of five African countries hit by avian flu, is to cull some 26,619 birds in the 47 afflicted villages in the Magaria district, some 900-km east of Niamey, official sources said here.

The sources said the culling, expected to begin this week would last seven days, adding that the owners of the affected birds would be compensated.

The operation is estimated to cost some 45 million CFA francs, 30 million of which would be for compensation. (about 540 CFA francs=1USD). Niger has since set up an emergency plan estimated to cost seven billion CFA francs to deal with the bird flu epidemic, which is still believed to be localised in one district.

Other African countries that have reported the fluare Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt and Burkina Faso. The disease has killed more than 100 people and claimed millions of birds in Europe and Asia, since it erupted in 2003. - Angola Press

Palestinians to step up bird culling to combat H5N1 spread in Gaza

By News Agencies

United Nations health officials said on Wednesday that another 250,000 birds in the Gaza Strip would be killed in the coming days in a bid to halt the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

Ambrogio Manenti, head of the World Health Organization's office for the Palestinian territories, said the Palestinian Authority lacked adequate supplies of Tamiflu, a medication regarded as the best defence against bird flu. He told a news conference in Jerusalem the bird flu outbreak could have serious health consequences for Gazans because chicken is, for most, the main source of animal protein.

Many Gazans have stopped eating chicken in response to the outbreak, although there is no evidence of a risk of infection as long as the poultry is well-cooked. The main commercial crossing into Gaza has frequently been closed by Israel, and the UN has warned of food shortages. UN officials said they were particularly concerned about an outbreak in Gaza because it is so densely populated.

Avian flu was initially detected at two chicken farms in Gaza last month. Since then, three other Gaza farms have been reported to be infected with H5N1.

Some 250,000 birds have been culled so far, approximately 10 percent of the total in flocks in Gaza, said Luigi Damiani, project manager for the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Damiani said another 250,000 birds would be culled in the coming days.

The UN said Israeli agriculture officials have been assisting their Palestinian counterparts by providing them with protective equipment as well as with 300 doses of Tamiflu.

But Manenti said at least a few thousand doses were needed. "It's quite an urgent requirement," he said.

The swearing-in of a Hamas-led government last week has cast doubt on future contacts between Israeli and Palestinian officials. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israeli officials would not be permitted to have contacts with Palestinians who work for Hamas-led ministries.

Regev said Israeli coordination with the Palestinians on a wide range of issues, including combating bird flu, would be conducted through UN agencies and non-governmental organizations. But so far, direct Israeli and Palestinian contacts have continued on bird flu. UN officials said a meeting on the virus would be held in Jerusalem on Wednesday, bringing together Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian officials.

Israel has also been culling chickens and turkeys after discovering an outbreak of the H5N1 virus at farms.

Bird flu can infect people who come into close contact with infected poultry and has killed about 100 people since late 2003. Experts fear the virus will mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic in which millions could die and which could cripple the global economy. There have been no confirmed cases of the virus infecting humans in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, or Israel.

Egypt reports ninth human case of bird flu

Egypt has found its ninth case of human bird flu, a government minister said on Wednesday.

Health and Population Minister Hatem el-Gabali, quoted by the official MENA news agency, said the latest case was a girl aged 16 months from a province in southern Egypt. The deadly H5N1 strain has so far killed two Egyptians.

"This case was discovered on Tuesday and tests carried out... showed that the case was positive," Gabali said, adding that she was in a stable condition after receiving treatment.

The government says nine Egyptians have now been infected by bird flu. The World Health Organisation has verified that four Egyptians have caught the deadly H5N1 strain, including the two who it killed.

Gabali said the girl, whose father raised birds in his home, started feeling unwell on Friday and was admitted on Sunday to a hospital. The family was being checked for infection. The avian flu virus has so far not been transmitted from human to human, but can be caught from infected birds. The government said on Sunday two sisters aged 18 months and six years were the most recent human cases of the virus.

The disease, which has killed at least 108 people worldwide, was first detected in birds in Egypt in February and has since devastated the poultry industry.

The government has banned domestic rearing of fowl. But many Egyptians are ignoring the ban because they are too poor to slaughter their birds.

Although difficult for humans to catch, scientists fear bird flu could mutate into a form that can pass easily between humans, causing a pandemic.

Jordan begins culling 50,000 poultry birds to prevent spread of avian flu

Jordan began culling 50,000 birds in poultry farms along its western border Wednesday in case avian flu has entered the country from Israel, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

Ministry spokesman Faisal al-Awawdeh said the cull was taking place in the valley of the River Jordan, which separates Jordan from the West Bank and Israel - where bird flu was detected late last month. The culling is "a precaution to prevent the spread of avian flu to the Jordanian side of the valley," al-Awawdeh said.

Twelve days ago the government sent notices to valley residents urging them to eat their backyard chickens and turkeys or risk having them killed. Jordan announced March 24 that avian flu had been detected in turkeys in a village near Ajloun, 75 kilometers north of the capital Amman. The authorities promptly destroyed about 13,500 birds within a three-kilometer radius of the village.

Later in March, Jordan reported that the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had been detected in an Egyptian worker who had arrived in the kingdom from his home country.

The worker is being treated in hospital. - haaretzdaily.com

More bird flu deaths: Germany starts a cull

April 6, 2006

A 16-year-old Egyptian girl died from bird flu today, taking to three the country's human death toll from the virus. Eleven people have caught the virus in the country so far, the Egyptian government said.

A Cambodian boy also died this week from the disease which has killed at least 108 people worldwide. In Egypt, it was first detected in birds in February and has since devastated their poultry industry. The government has banned the domestic rearing of fowl.

In Europe, Dr Albert Osterhaus, of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, called for new precautions because cats, and possibly other mammals, could help spread the virus.

H5N1 bird flu has spread rapidly across Europe and the Middle East in recent weeks, and has flared anew in Asia.

Germany said yesterday that tests had shown that a form of H5N1 had spread to domestic fowl on a farm. Although several European countries, including Germany, have reported cases of avian flu in wild birds, most have managed to keep it out of domestic flocks.

In February, France was the first European country to report an outbreak on a poultry farm.

Britain has found bird flu in a dead swan in Scotland and are testing to see if it is the deadly H5N1 strain. Officials have set up a 3km protection zone in Fife, Scotland, where the bird was found. A further 10km surveillance zone is in force.

Bird flu remains essentially an animal disease, but can infect people who come into direct contact with infected birds. Experts warn it could mutate into a form that passes easily from person to person.

Children who play around poultry are one of the groups most at risk.

The Cambodian boy, from the province of Prey Veng, abutting Vietnam, died on Tuesday night.

Egypt said its latest human case was a baby girl from the south of the country whose father raised birds in his home. "Tests showed that the case was positive," Health and Population Minister Hatem el-Gabali said, adding that the child was in a stable condition.

Fears over the virus have grown in Europe after reports that German cats had become infected. Animals such as dogs, foxes, ferrets and seals may also be vulnerable to infection, researchers say in the journal Nature.

They recommend that in areas where avian flu is endemic, cats should not be in contact with birds or their droppings. If pets or other carnivores showed signs of illness they should be tested for H5N1.

There is no evidence that people can contract bird flu through eating properly cooked meat, but the spread of the virus has depressed poultry sales in many markets.

Germany said yesterday that it would start culling to prevent the spread of bird flu after finding its occurrence on a farm which houses more than 16 000 turkeys, geese and chickens. "This is the first case of H5N1 in domestic fowl (in Germany) and this makes it somewhat explosive," Saxony's Minister of Social Affairs, Helma Orosz1, told a news conference. "Tonight we will start to kill all the birds." - Reuters

Russia manages to contain avian flu in four regions

MOSCOW, Apr 4 (Prime-Tass) -- Russian veterinarians have managed to eradicate the highly pathogenic avian flu in six Russian regions and the infection remains registered in four other regions, Russia's Federal Service for Veterinarian and Phytosanitarian control said Tuesday.

There are 15 villages and towns still affected by the disease, while the situation has been normalized in 52 villages and towns during the past three months, the service said. Of the areas where the disease still needs to be dealt with, the largest number are located in South Russia's Krasnodar Region.

Other affected areas are situated in neighboring Stavropol Region, as well as in the constituent republic of Dagestan in North Caucasus and the Volgograd Region, which is located in the Volga River area.

Around 1.35 million domestic birds died or were culled in January-March in Russia, while more than 12.1 million birds were vaccinated.

The supply of vaccines amounted to 22.19 million doses during the period. Russia's Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev earlier said that Russia was fully prepared to prevent massive outbreaks of avian flu. - prime-tass.com

Avian blues: Burma still culling poultry despite saying bird flu under control

Apr 06, 2006 (DVB) - Although Burma's military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) authorities have announced that they have brought avian flu under control, we understand chickens are still being slaughtered at poultry farms in Monywa, Sagaing Division in upper central Burma.

Local residents say over 100,000 chickens have been culled in more than 80 poultry farms located in Yadanabon, Ledi, Tara, and other wards.

Bird flu was discovered when chickens were dying at the poultry farm belonging to San Ngwe and they discovered an outbreak of the disease when one of the chickens was sent to Mandalay for inspection. Authorities urgently summoned all the poultry farm owners on the evening of 3 April and issued orders to cull all the chickens overnight. We contacted a member of a poultry farm family to inquire about the bird flu situation in Monywa, and she said:

"When it first occurred, chickens began dying in Monywa. Earlier, it was said that the symptoms did not look like avian flu. But later, as a lot of chickens died, people complained about it. After inspecting the situation, it was found that it was not an ordinary sickness because chickens were bleeding from the nose and there were spots on the wings and legs which are symptoms of bird flu. As the news spread about the outbreak of bird flu, people were terrified and news reached the authorities. They sent the birds to Mandalay but I don't know if the situation threatened to spread to the humans. They held a meeting and said there were signs of bird flu and therefore all the chickens must be culled."

Asked if the authorities took proper care and provided help, the same woman said:

"We had to dig our own holes and bury the chickens. Earlier, we were told they would send help but in reality, no one was sent. We dug the holes and waited but they never came, so we had to hire workers to kill the birds, put them in bags, and bury them. Once that was done, we told the authorities that the birds had been buried, and we were given some disinfectants, which we had to spray ourselves by borrowing spraying cans. They did give us the disinfectants, however. The culling continued on 4 and 5 April. Some are continuing to do so even today. We had to kill the birds and bury them in bags. Depending on the space available, they were buried around the farms. Some had smaller farms so they buried them in their farms."

She added that no authorities alerted the local people or cautioned them.

"After we culled the birds we informed them about it and they asked as if we really did kill the birds, and we said we did and they can inspect if they wanted to. They then asked us our national registration number and the number of birds we killed. They took the statistics but never did anything definitive," she said. "Some poor people came and took the dead chickens for food. They said it was an opportunity for them to eat chicken, so they ate the birds. In some wards, the owners said the people could have the birds if they were not afraid to eat them, and people came and took the birds. Some took away the birds alive and killed them at their homes for food. They did not seem to be afraid. They have not been able to afford chicken for a long time already [chuckles]. They saw it as an opportunity and ate the birds. It is such a pity, some said: Sister, this is the only time we could eat… They ate the eggs and the meat also. People went to the farms near them to get the chickens."

Asked how the farm owners feel about culling their chickens, the woman answered: "Of course, they aren't happy. That is their livelihood and now they have no income. Each one would lose about 1m or 1.5m kyats depending on the size of the farm. All the authorities did was give an order and did nothing in return. So, they are not satisfied." We also contacted the authorities in Monywa and Mandalay but they refused to comment. According to reports received, chickens are also being culled in Kani in the northern part of Sagaing Division because of suspicion of avian flu in the area. In Shwebo, where the first incident of avian flu was reported, poultry farm owners have suffered because they were not given compensation although they all were ordered to cull their chickens.

- source

Firefighters wearing protective clothing pass a sign reading 'Keep off the scene', Wermsdorf, Germany, Thursday, 06 April 2006. On the day after the confirmation of the avian influenza H5N1on the German poultry farm, rescue forces search for ways off disinfecting the farm near Leipzig. EPA/JENS WOLF

Germany completes poultry cull after bird-flu outbreak

Apr 9, 2006, Hamburg -

German authorities said Sunday they had completed a cull of 23,000 domestic fowl in the area hit by the country's first bird-flu outbreak at a commercial poultry farm and were moving on to the disinfection phase of the operation.

A spokesman for the state of Saxony said the farm at Wermsdorf and the slaughterhouse would be thoroughly cleansed of the H5N1 virus. Scientists suspect wild birds spread the highly contagious avian influenza strain to the poultry, but are still checking that. The outbreak was noticed Wednesday at a farm that kept 10,000 geese, turkeys and ducks. Birds were also ordered killed at 90 nearby sites as a precaution. Hundreds of wild birds and three domestic cats have died since H5N1 was first observed in Germany in February.

Although bird flu has now been confirmed in 45 countries on three continents, efforts to combat the disease on poultry farms 'are slowly proving successful on many fronts,' the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Thursday.

'To date, the virus has killed 108 people, all in Asia. More than 200 million birds have died from the virus or through culling in efforts to slow the spread of the disease,' the FAO added.

Georg Alpers, a German academic psychologist, said Sunday research showed fewer phobias about bird flu than expected among Germans. 'We've had very few people suffering from great fear of it,' said Alpers, who studies phobias at the University of Wuerzburg. 'Most of those who are scared tell us they are generally phobic.' He said authorities should be careful not to spread panic, but should present the facts. 'They have to be frank about the dangers. As soon as the public gets the feeling something is being covered up, obviously you get a lot more fear,' he said. - monstersandcritics.com

Bird flu: Culling on after third outbreak
[One lakh is equal to a hundred thousand]

By: PTI April 9, 2006 Jalgaon:

Operations to cull about 3.10 lakh birds [300,000] following the third outbreak of bird flu in this district of northern Maharahstra began here after authorities quarantined 47 of the total 354 villages where layers are to be slaughtered to prevent spread of the deadly h5n1 virus.

District collector Vijay Singhal, after holding a review meeting of officials of the animal husbandry and health departments here last evening, said 90 teams of animal husbandry department have fanned out across the affected area to accomplish the task in next five days.

He said bus services to and from the 47 villages have been suspended until further orders. He further said that 19 weekly bazars, where people buy and sell poultry and eggs to supplement their income, too, have been ordered closed as a precaution. The collector said culling would be first carried out in 47 villages located in 3 km radius of the 14 villages where the third outbreak of avian flu was confirmed on Thursday. Subsequently, the operation would be extended to another 307 villages located in 3 to 10 km range of the flu-hit 14 villages, he added.

Of the estimated 3.10 lakh birds to be culled in a total of 354 villages, 1.20 lakh layers are housed in commercial poultry farms, while the remaining 1.90 lakh birds are scattered in the backyards of rural houses.

A day before the third outbreak, the animal husbandry department had slaughtered 2.40 lakh chickens during a week following the second outbreak of the bird flu in 288 villages of the district on march 28. After the first outbreak on march 14, as many as 95,000 birds were killed in 174 villages. - source

Niger begins bird flu cull, after delay

April 10, 2006 - 11:29AM

Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, began culling poultry on Sunday, more than a month after it first discovered an outbreak of deadly avian flu near its southern border with Nigeria. The semi-desert former French colony ordered the culling of all poultry in affected areas on February 28, the day after an outbreak of H5N1 was confirmed. It later appealed for international help, saying it lacked the resources to do the job.

The security forces sealed off some 46 villages around Magaria, a town on Niger's southern border just a few kilometres from Nigeria, and only those wearing protective suits were allowed into the area, state radio reported.

Environmental officials said other measures had been tightened as soon as the outbreak was confirmed, including restrictions on the movement of poultry in the affected region and the isolation and permanent surveillance of some 20 farms around the country.

Health experts fear Africa's poor human and animal health services, large backyard poultry population, and lack of resources to fight bird flu make it an easy target for the disease, which has killed more than 100 people worldwide. They also fear lack of funding and international help could stymie efforts to curtail its spread.

Much of the $US1.9 billion ($A2.6 billion) pledged at a bird flu summit in January was for Asia and the UN bird flu coordinator, David Nabarro, has said countries infected more recently, such as those in Africa, need more funds.

According to the World Health Organisation, the virus has killed 109 people, most of them in Asia and involving people who had close contact with infected birds.

Burkina Faso last Monday became the fifth African country to report the disease after Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Egypt. It has already started culling poultry in the area where the virus was discovered.

While mainly affecting animals, scientists fear the disease could mutate into a form that could pass between humans, causing a pandemic.

Meanwhile in Kenya children, artists, performers and conservationists have gathered to celebrate World Migratory Bird Day. They met on the edge of the Great Rift Valley to try to counter the negative influence which bird flu has had on how people view migratory birds. Their meeting in Laikipia, about 180 km north ofNairobi, precedes a UN Environmental Program bird fluseminar in Nairobi this week. Kenya's part of the Great Rift Valley - a vast geographical feature that runs from northern Syria to central Mozambique - is a haven for birds like flamingos, pelicans and storks, but is thought to be at risk from bird flu.

Millions of birds migrating from Asia to the northernhemisphere stop here to enjoy the freshwater ponds, dams and lakes, all possible conduits for the avian flu virus. The role of migratory birds versus the trade in birdproducts in the spread of avian flu has also been the source of much debate, with conservationists contending the disease's spread has not closely followed known bird migrations.

Scientists have not reached a consensus on the issue.

"Because the role of migratory birds is a very obvious one, it's often very tempting to say that migratory birds are bringing the disease," Robert Hepworth, executive secretary of the Convention on Migrating Species, told Reuters. "Migratory birds have been involved of course, but theactual evidence of migratory birds spreading this disease across continents on a large scale is very patchy."

"Something they look forward to seeing in the back garden is now being seen as a threat," Leon Bennum, director of science and policy at BirdLife International, said. "There's a panic and hysteria spreading. People don'tunderstand the role wild birds play."

Conservationists say some people have destroyed nests orhave wanted to cut down trees for fear infected migratory birds would perch in their gardens.

"For people in Europe to be destroying swallows' nests as a response to this disease is a disproportionate, unjustified overreaction," Hepworth said. - theage.com.au

Farmers receive NIS 20.6m in damages for bird flu cull Gadi Golan 11 Apr 06

As of today, farmers received NIS 20.6 million in compensation for direct damage for the culling of 1.2 million poultry.

Today, the day before Passover, farmers received full compensation for damages from bird flu. The compensation is unprecedented in scope worldwide, and meets Minister of Agriculture Zeev Boim's timetable. Farmers received advances on the compensation ten days ago.

As of today, farmers received NIS 20.6 million in compensation for direct damage for the culling of 1.2 million poultry. After Passover, compensation will be paid to farmers for eggs destroyed at the order of the Ministry of Health Veterinary and Animal Health Services. - globes.co.il/

Nine poultry farmers commit suicide in flu-hit India

MUMBAI, April 12 (Reuters) - Nine poultry farmers in India have killed themselves and more are facing a grim future after bird flu slashed demand for chicken meat, an industry group said on Wednesday.

India has culled hundreds of thousands of birds to contain several outbreaks of the H5N1 avian flu virus in poultry since February, but the disease has continued to resurface, mostly in western Maharashtra state.

The scare has decimated the country's $7.8 billion poultry industry, which says losses in the past two months have reached $2.2 billion.

"Nine farmers across India have committed suicide after their businesses suffered huge losses," O.P. Singh, member of the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), told Reuters.

The suicides have been reported during the past 15 days from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, the latter state being the epicentre of bird flu outbreaks in the country.

The committee said there were 123,000 poultry farmers in India and about 70 percent of them were in a "dire situation".

"Most small poultry owners start their business by selling off land and jewellery. And when they can't recover their costs, they are left with no choice," Singh said.

The Indian government and the poultry industry have been running awareness campaigns to encourage people to eat chicken and eggs, but there has been little response from the public.

Chicken is a staple for meat-eaters in India, where beef and pork are rarely eaten either for religious reasons or quality concerns.

The poultry industry says the wholesale price of chicken had fallen to about four rupees (9 U.S. cents) a kg. Before bird flu, wholesale prices were about 20 rupees, or about 50 cents, a kg.

"Sales are down by half, which is a slight improvement, but really it's still very grim," said Bharat Tandon, chairman of the Compound Livestock Feed Manufacturers' Association of India, one of the main lobby groups. "We just pray there are no fresh outbreaks (of bird flu) and the media understands the need to not play this up."

Indian authorities have announced financial assistance for the farmers whose birds are being culled, but industry officials say the compensation is not enough.

"What about those whose birds are not being culled but who aren't able to sell their stocks?" asked Singh.

India's central bank has announced some relief for the poultry industry, including allowing a one-time reduction of 4 percentage points on bank loans and a moratorium of one year on loan repayments. ($1 = 44.9 Indian rupees) - alertnet.org

Workers cull 8,000 chickens on China farm - paper

HONG KONG, April 18 (Reuters) - Authorities have culled about 8,000 chickens in a poultry farm in China's eastern Shandong province after 400 chickens died there last week, a Hong Kong newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The South China Morning Post said the farmer, identified only by his surname Chen, was ordered by officials not to talk about the cull as "it was a state secret". He and his wife were given injections on Sunday, but they did not know what they were for.

Over 400 chickens died at Chen's farm in Laixi city last week. The farmer reported the deaths on Saturday to the city's animal husbandry bureau, which sent staff to collect samples of the dead chickens on the same day.

But Chen said he was not told of any test results before about 30 workers dressed in protective garments moved in to kill and bury the remainder of his chicken stock on Sunday.

The newspaper cited a Shandong Bird Flu Control Office official as denying there was an outbreak of bird flu, saying authorities were still determining the cause of the deaths.

The chicken deaths come as a deadly strain of the H5N1 avian flu virus is spreading quickly around the world, with more than 30 countries reporting outbreaks of the disease.

It has spread across Asia, into parts of the Middle East, Africa and Europe since 2003.

Although only 194 people are known to have been infected so far and 109 of them have died, scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that jumps easily between people and trigger a global flu pandemic. - Reuters

Pakistani authorities cull thousands of chicks following H5N1 outbreak at 5 farms

HLT-PAKISTAN-BIRDFLU

Pakistani authorities cull thousands of chicks following H5N1 outbreak at 5 farms ISLAMABAD, April 20 (KUNA) -- Authorities Thursday culled over 16,000 chicks following outbreak of deadly avian influenza strains at five poultry farms near here, said officials.

The slaughter was ordered after suspected fourth outbreak of bird flu virus at a farm on Wednesday night in Tarali area, on the outskirts of Islamabad, Livestock Commissioner, Muhammad Afzal Khan, told newsmen on Thursday. He said the blood tests of farm workers had been sent to the National Laboratory for tests, adding, the farm had been quarantined and area sealed off. An official source told KUNA, the virus had hit four more poultry farms in Taralai area. The source said that culling had been ordered at these farms also and that the farm workers were under observation.

Muhammad Afzal said the outbreak at all these five farms could only be confirmed after laboratory tests on Friday. But, he added, protectively culling of birds had been ordered. Earlier about 30,000 chicks were culled following confirmed trace of H5N1 virus at two poultry farms in northwest Frontier province (NWFP).

So far, no human case had been reported in the country. (end) amn. - kuna.net.kw

Spray teams dispatched to chicken farms to prevent bird flu

BANGKOK, April 20 (TNA) - To prevent a return of the deadly bird flu during the coming months, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives plans to spray chemicals in poultry production farms hit by the virus during past outbreaks and in areas that might otherwise be at risk.

Yukol Limlamthong, head of the ministry's Livestock Development Department, said officials feared the H5N1 avian flu might return and spread quickly in the predictably erratic hot summer weather of April and May. As a precaution, Mr. Yukol urged the public to report any mysterious deaths of any fowl without delay.

He said by the end of this month, the department will spray chemicals in formerly infected chicken farms nationwide to prevent the bird flu from returning again.

Thailand was visited by the deadly virus twice during the past two years and more than 10 people died from it.

The outbreaks forced officials to cull millions of chickens to contain its spread.

Mr. Yukol said officials would also spray free-range duck and fighting cock farms and areas where migrating birds are found.

Meanwhile, Nirandorn Euengtrakulsuk, director of the Bureau of Disease Control ND Vetterinary Service, said some 2,773 free-range duck farmers had joined a government scheme to regulate them by offering low interest rate loans and finding markets for duck eggs.

He said the scheme aimed at modernising traditional fowl farming practices to prevent future outbreaks of animal diseases.

''Even though we have not found any new outbreak of bird flu in Thailand," Mr. Yukol said, "the government wants to increase awareness and cooperation from the public and farmers to report mysterious deaths among their chickens and ducks to local officials; so the authorities can take action right away to contain the spread if the need arises,'' he said. - etna.mcot.net

Key West chickens targeted in face of bird flu fears

By Stacey Singer Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Wednesday, April 19, 2006

KEY WEST - More than Cuban cigars or strong coffee, some here say, it's Key West's chickens that lend the city its old-Havana air.

But the steady flight of bird flu through Asia, Africa and Europe prompted the city's commissioners Tuesday to launch a new campaign: coop the chickens or cull them, before it's too late.

"If even one person dies in Key West, that's one too many," said Commissioner Clayton Lopez, before a unanimous vote to plan to remove the unwanted chickens.

Key West lies in the path of two migratory flyways. It's home to an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 stray chickens and nearly as many cats - also a carrier for the virus. If and when the H5N1 strain of avian influenza reaches the Western Hemisphere, Key West could be a sitting duck, warned Commissioner Bill Verge.

A gaggle of chicken lovers pleaded for a reprieve.

"One of the reasons I fell in love with this city was its quirkiness, it was certainly because of the chickens," said Victoria Weaver, a 20-year resident of the island. "It's a wonderful part of Key West."

Verge countered with an image of cruise ship passengers strolling up Duval Street, marching through the droppings of diseased chickens, then going back aboard to remove their unwashed shoes with hands that would move on to the buffet.

The fecund fowl foul nearly every yard and garden, he said. It's the birds' droppings that spread the disease, and in Key West, chicken droppings fall like drunks off bar stools - people step over them and keep going.

If bird flu hits, health authorities have discussed quarantines, and a quarantine could choke the life out of the island's tourist economy, Verge said. Since 2003, the avian influenza strain has sickened 194 people in nine countries in Asia, Africa and Europe, killing more than half. Nearly all of those had close contact with ducks and chickens.

"We get 2.4 million visitors a year to Key West," Verge said. "If we have even one case of avian flu our tourist industry would be heavily impacted. What if it happens in Miami and they cut off the road to the Keys? What happens to your population and how do you survive?"

Local health officials have reported eight cases of salmonella poisoning in the past year, he warned. In Key West, it's almost impossible to avoid close contact with chickens. They beg for crumbs on sidewalk cafe tables, pose for pictures with tourists and scratch and screech under cottage staircases. They roost in gumbo limbo boughs clucking gently at sunset. Broods scamper through alleyways, roosters preen on porch railings, and kindly old women chat them up like old friends.

On a recent run to KFC for a bucket of extra crispy, Verge counted 18 chickens dancing between the cars in the parking lot.

"Maybe that's their inventory? I don't know," he chuckled. "We always tend to take things tongue-in-cheek here, but this one, I think, we need to take a little bit more seriously."

For 30 years Key West has had an ordinance requiring chickens to be kept in cages or coops, but the ordinance has never been properly enforced, Verge said. Chickens have been a part of the city's history for as long as anyone can remember. Early settlers alternated fish dinners with a fine roasted ibis - the white birds were dubbed Chockoloskee chickens. Dining on the real thing was a treat. Without refrigeration or grocery stores, a clutch of chickens kept a family fed.

But in the age of Publix, Checkers and KFC the chickens run free as fish crows. The most recent eliminate-the-chickens campaign was launched in 2004, with limited success. Katha Sheehan, known by most locals as "the chicken lady," has consistently mounted a defense of the flightless birds, passing out T-shirts and fliers, rousting a small brigade of chicken-loving protesters.

In 2004 they made the campaign a source of local mirth, passing out pictures of Ziggy, a reddish cock, above the words, "You want to send me where? Pluck you."

On Tuesday, though, the protest was more subdued. "Bird flu has cast a pall over all this," Sheehan groused. She noted that after the great chicken roundup of 2004, chicken lovers were assured the birds would go to a lovely farm in Miramar. But subsequent trips to the site could turn up no Key West chickens.

Commissioners tried to assuage concerns by adding an animal protection agency to the list of those charged with overseeing the effort.

To persuade the island's animal-loving locals that the bird-flu threat is real, Verge and local health officials are planning a bird flu seminar next Wednesday. They've asked officials from the Florida Department of Health to come and discuss the disaster planning they've done in case of an outbreak.

So far, bird flu is not particularly contagious. It runs rampant through shore bird and water fowl communities, multiplying in their intestinal tracts. In humans, this strain apparently latches onto lung cells deep within the chest. It has not mutated to favor human cells, but if it does, health workers fear it could then pass easily from person to person and kill millions.

City staff members will now draw up a plan to round up the birds. They've set up a collection center at a park. "We're not going to be real successful," Verge said. "But if I can cull 1,000 out of 2,000, doesn't that cut the risk by half?" As an answer, Sheehan left the meeting passing out bumper stickers that said, "This too will pass. Key West chickens are forever."

No need to cull wild birds to stop birdflu: expert

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) -

Ducks and other wild birds are carrying the feared H5N1 virus, but there is no need to cull or otherwise target them as part of efforts to control the virus, experts said on Thursday.

Poultry are more important carriers of the virus, and H5N1 avian influenza has probably been circulating, unseen and steadily, for years in Southeast Asian flocks, the experts in the Netherlands and Sweden said.

"With our current limited knowledge on highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds, there is no solid basis for including wild birds in control strategies beyond the physical separation of poultry from wild birds," Ron Fouchier and Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam and a team of colleagues wrote in a report published in the journal Science.

"Even in areas with significant outbreaks in poultry, virus prevalence in wild birds is low, and the role of these wild birds in spreading the disease is unclear," they wrote. "However, there is at present no scientific basis for culling wild birds to control the outbreaks and their spread, and this is further highly undesirable from a conservationist perspective," they added.

The H5N1 bird flu virus has spread quickly in recent months, and has been reported in birds in more than 40 countries across Asia, Europe and parts of Africa. Humans rarely catch the virus, but it has killed 110 people and infected 196 since 2003. Experts fear the virus could acquire the ability to pass easily from human to human and could kill millions of people in a pandemic. The virus is found naturally in ducks, and usually does not make them sick. But they can spread it, especially in their droppings.

"It has been shown that influenza viruses remain infectious in lake water up to 4 days at 22 degrees C (72 degrees F) and more than 30 days at 0 degrees C (32 degrees F) (7)," the researchers wrote.

DABBLING IN DISEASE

Dabbling ducks -- those that prefer to browse in shallow waters, such as mallards -- are particularly likely to carry the virus with no ill effects. When chickens and ducks are allowed to mingle, chickens can become infected and H5N1 kills them very quickly.

Veterinarians and other animal-health experts say quick culling of poultry is the best way to deal with this, but there has been some debate about the role of wild birds.

"It is clear that the H5N1 problem originated from outbreaks in poultry and that the outbreaks and their geographical spread probably cannot be stopped without implementation of proper control measures in the global poultry industry," Fouchier's team wrote. "Poultry trade and mechanical movement of infected materials are likely modes for spreading highly pathogenic avian influenza in general," they added. "It is most likely that the H5N1 virus has circulated continuously in domestic birds in Southeast Asia since 1997 and, as a consequence, has evolved substantially," they wrote.

Something must have changed, experts agree. H5N1 has been around in birds since 1959 and a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong, in which 18 people became infected, was quickly stopped with merciless culling and disinfection of bird markets.

But it re-emerged in 2003 and has accelerated its spread.

The experts suggested that the spring migration may not spread the virus much. Water fowl seem most susceptible to infection when they are young, and they cited studies showing that the viruses are more common in birds in the autumn and less common in the spring. - alertnet.org

No human bird flu cases in Pakistan, chicken culling continues

Apr 21, 2006, Islamabad - Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) in Pakistan on Friday said no humans had shown symptoms of having contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus, following the detection of the disease in poultry.

However authorities continue to cull chickens in an effort to halt the spread of the disease among poultry. 'There is not even a single human case with bird flu symptoms detected in Islamabad,' WHO country chief in Pakistan Khalif Bile told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

WHO teams were working in close coordination with officials of the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad to prevent the outbreak of the virus in humans, Bile said. Meanwhile, a senior agricultural ministry official said local authorities culled some 19,500 chickens in two different poultry farms in the past two days following a suspected outbreak of bird flu.

'We are to kill another 5,000 chickens some time today in another three nearby farms,' Muhammad Afzal, Commissioner of Livestock and Animal Husbandry told dpa in Islamabad on Friday.

He said authorities had identified five poultry farms in Islamabad where chickens were being culled. Afzal added that an area of five kilometres around these farms had been placed under strict surveillance, and no movement of poultry was being allowed from there to any part of Islamabad.

Livestock officials had collected samples from these farms and sent them to the National Poultry Avian Influenza Laboratory in Islamabad, Afzal said.

'It may take a few days to receive the results but we are sure they will be positive,' the official said.

Last Sunday, some 3,500 chickens had been killed at a small poultry farm east of Islamabad after extensive tests turned out to be positive. Earlier, the World Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza at Weybridge, England had confirmed the presence of the H5N1 avian influenza virus at two farms in northern Pakistan. Pakistan had announced the presence of avian influenza H5 on February 27 this year in two regional farms, following which both farms were quarantined and all birds there were culled.

The H5N1 virus has killed at least 91 people, mostly in Asia, since its outbreak in 2003, according to the World Health Organization. - monstersandcritics.com

Pakistan culls 40,000 chickens

23rd April - 2006 - Islamabad: Pakistan has culled around 40,000 chickens at six farms near the national capital, where confirmed cases of bird flu have come to fore, officials said Sunday.

Pakistan reported its first case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu at two farms in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in February and found the virus at other farms near here last week.

Scientists detected a mild strain of bird flu, H5, in flocks at six farms in Sihala, Tarlai and Ali Pur Farash areas on the outskirts of this city, said Afzal, commissioner at the state-run Animal Husbandry.

Afzal said a large number of samples had been taken from other farms to carry out tests. "Immediate action is taken if we suspect any bird flu virus in any farm," he added.

Another official said bird flu was fast spreading from farms here to the nearby city of Rawalpindi.

"The outbreak of H5 strain has now spread to 12 farms," said Muhammad Sham, director at the state-run Poultry Development Research Centre.

Sham said fears about the spread of bird flu were high and special teams had been formed to cull and bury the affected chickens and to disinfect the affected farms.

Despite the outbreak of bird flu in parts of Pakistan, no case of human avian flu has been detected so far, according to Health Secretary Anwar Mehmood.

He said 25 samples had been sent for bird flu tests following the identification of the H5N1 strain at some poultry farms near here April 16. But their test results were negative. - newkerala.com

Flu spread is no reason to kill wild birds; Study says

LONDON. April 21, 2006. KAZINFORM - Wild ducks and other migratory birds could be important carriers of deadly bird flu, researchers say. Even so, the infectious-disease experts say there is no solid basis for killing wild birds to protect poultry and minimize the risk of human infection.

The European team investigating the global spread of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza says certain duck species may be infecting wild bird populations; KAZINFORM refers to James Owen in London for National Geographic News.

Geese and wading birds are also possible vectors of the virus, the team says. The team's study, to be published tomorrow in the journal Science, was led by Bjorn Olsen of Umea University in Sweden. Olsen runs Europe's largest wild-bird flu-monitoring program. Studies have shown that influenza viruses in lake water, generally passed via bird feces, can stay infectious for up to 30 days. The migration or feeding behavior of dabbling ducks could at least partially explain the spread of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the researchers add. This group of duck species includes mallards, teal, pintails, and others that feed at or near the surface, where viruses in water are most likely to be picked up.

Perhaps as a result, dabblers have the highest known rates of avian influenza infection, the study says. For instance, nearly 13 percent of mallards tested positive for bird flu. Other species tested include the American black duck (18.1 percent), blue-winged teal (11.5 percent), and northern pintail (11.2 percent).

However, bird flu viruses appear to exist in ducks in a low-pathogenic form, meaning infection doesn't usually lead to severe illness and death.

Prime Hosts

"Dabbling ducks are for sure the prime hosts for low pathogenic viruses," said study co-author Ron Fouchier, a virologist at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

But the big question is, How much of our knowledge about these viruses can we translate to high-pathogenic viruses" such as the H5N1 strain of bird flu? In poultry avian viruses can mutate into more virulent influenza strains, including H5N1.

If this mutated virus then finds its way back into wild populations, the birds could then spread the disease through migration. Some scientists have argued that wild birds infected with HN51 would be too ill to migrate. Swans, for instance, appear to be particularly vulnerable to the strain.

"Swans apparently drop dead quite easily, but they are unlikely to be the vector because they are not going to fly very far if they are dead," Fouchier said.

But the study team says that some birds that have been purposely infected for the sake of research show that wild birds can survive H5N1. "For some reason H5N1 has adapted so it no longer kills dabbling ducks," Fouchier said.

This means the ducks may be able to spread the virus over a wide area. The study team says migratory geese may also be vectors, because they often graze in huge flocks, a practice that could encourage transmission. Migrating ducks, the researchers add, "could provide an intercontinental bridge" for bird flu to North America, which has not yet had any known cases of H5N1.

No Wild Culls Needed?

However, there is currently no reason to cull wild birds to control the spread of H5N1, the study says. Wild birds, though, should be kept away from poultry, the researchers say.

"For all of the outbreaks that have ever been recorded for bird flu, it's clear that the poultry-production industry itself is responsible for most of the spread through poultry trade [and the] movement of people and equipment between farms," Fouchier said. "You can prevent your chickens and turkeys from getting into contact with wild birds by simple biosecurity measures" such as keeping farm birds enclosed, he added.

BirdLife International, a global bird-conservation group based in Cambridge, England, says culling operations may in fact spread the virus to noninfected areas by forcing diseased birds to disperse.

Last week Shafqat Kakakhel of the United Nations Environment Programme spoke at a conference on bird flu and migratory birds in Nairobi, Kenya.

"Blaming avian flu on bird migrations is misleading. And a 'quick fix' of culling migratory birds is certainly not the solution," Kakakhel said.