Showing posts with label Bird Flu. Show all posts
Health Authorities Still Search for Cause in Bird Flu Death
Posted by Unknown in Animal Health, Bird Flu, Chicken, Poultry on Friday, 25 January 2013
(Xinhua)
-- Health authorities in south Guangdong province have yet to find the
cause of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, commonly known as bird flu,
that led to the death of a bus driver, a local disease control official
said Sunday.
The
39-year-old man surnamed Chen in Bao'an district of Shenzhen was
hospitalized for fever on Dec. 21 and tested positive for the H5N1 avian
influenza virus. He died of multiple organ failure Saturday afternoon,
the Guangdong Health Department said in a statement.
The
department also said that during the previous month prior to his fever,
he had no direct contact with poultry and hadn't traveled out of the
city.
Chen's
wife said he had a habit of doing morning exercises every day near a
wetland park and an artificial lake not far from his home, but "no proof
has been found that his infection is connected with the migratory birds
there," He Jianfeng, director of the Epidemics Studies Institute of the
Guangdong Disease Control Center, said Sunday.
"We also don't know whether he had eaten poultry before he fell ill," He said.
He said contacts with poultry and migratory birds are two ways for humans to be infected with bird flu.
"But
Chen had been in coma after being hospitalized, so we couldn't inquire
about what birds or poultry he may have had contact with," he said.
The
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine (AQSIQ) on Dec. 22 suspended supplies of live poultry to Hong
Kong after a dead chicken tested positive in Hong Kong for the highly
pathogenic H5N1 virus.
The
AQSIQ said it would maintain close contact and work together with the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to jointly step up
measures to control the epidemic.
The
Guangdong Department of Agriculture announced Saturday that no epidemic
of bird flu among poultry had been reported in the province.
Chen's
wife said he had asked for sick leave and stayed at home five days
before he was sent to hospital due to an ankle injury. While she
prepared his dinners, she didn't know what he had been eating for lunch.
Hong
Kong media reports have quoted one of Chen's friends as saying that
Chen had slaughtered a chicken to cook for others, but He Jianfeng
doesn't think that was the cause of his death.
"That took place a month ago. It cannot be the reason. The latent period of bird flu virus doesn't last that long," he said.
He advised locals against panicking, saying no proof has been found to show that bird flu virus can be spread among humans.
"By
Jan. 1, among the 120 people who had close contact with Chen, including
his wife, colleagues and medical workers, no one has shown any
symptoms," he added.
Also
on Sunday, the Shenzhen Municipal Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine
Bureau announced it had commenced 24-hour monitoring at all ports during
the ongoing three-day New Year holiday to enhance health inspection of
overseas visitors and guard against possible health incidents.
EU confirms virulent H5N1 bird flu found at British poultry farm
Posted by Unknown in Bird Flu, Europe, News, Poultry Farming on Monday, 10 September 2012
The European Commission confirmed on Saturday that the bird flu virus detected at a turkey farm in eastern England was the virulent H5N1 strain, which can be transmitted to humans.
"Samples from the infected establishment were immediately sent to the Community Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, which has this morning swiftly confirmed the disease to be the H5N1 strain of avian influenza," it said in a statement.
"Further tests to characterise the virus are underway, in order to ascertain whether or not it is the Asian strain."
The virus was found at a factory farm run by one of Britain's biggest poultry producers, Bernard Matthews, in Holton, Suffolk.
It is the first time the H5N1 strain has been found at a poultry farm in Britain.
The Bernard Matthews farm is in the heart of the country's chicken and turkey farming region and faces having to slaughter as many as 160,000 of its birds as a precautionary measure.
A three-kilometre (1.8-mile) protection zone and 10-kilometre surveillance zone have been set up around the farm, while strict movement controls are in place and farmers are being told to keep poultry indoors.
Britain's environment ministry said it was set to impose further restrictions, adding it was banning bird shows and pigeon racing nationwide following the outbreak.
In a statement, Bernard Matthews stressed that consumers should not be alarmed and said it had strong biosecurity measures in place.
"While Bernard Matthews can confirm that there has been a case of H5N1 avian influenza at its Holton site, it is important to stress that none of the affected birds have entered the food chain and there is no risk to consumers," it said.
And Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union, told BBC television that consumers should not stop buying poultry because of the scare.
"There's enormous concern, both for the whole farming community, the producers of poultry in the United Kingdom, and making sure we get the message about how well this will be managed and controlled," he said.
"We're encouraging all farmers to be incredibly viglant, look at their flocks carefully.
"We do need to reassure consumers, however, that this is not an issue about safety of poultry. It's completely safe to eat."
Officials announced on Friday that they had detected the H5 strain of the virus at the farm, though it was not confirmed as H5N1 until Saturday.
Government vets were called to the farm earlier this week after the death of more than 2,000 turkeys before H5N1 was confirmed.
It is still not clear how the virus was transmitted to the farm, where animals are housed in warehouses.
Professor John Oxford, a virologist at London's Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, told the BBC that the "most likely" explanation was that a small bird had come in through a ventilation shaft.
Adding he was confident that the outbreak could be contained, he said: "I don't think it has made any difference as a threat to the human population...
"One good thing about this virus is that it's easily destroyed. You can kill it with a bit of detergent."
In March 2006, a wild swan found in Cellardyke, on the east Scotland coast, was found to have the H5N1 variant of the virus.
The H5N1 strain can be transmitted to humans and has killed more than 160 people worldwide since 2003, most of them in Asia. - AFP/
