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Avian Influenza Daily Digest
August 20, 2008 14:00 GMT
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Article Summaries ...
Quid Novi
Indonesia: Bird Die-Off Spreads to Tebing Tinggi City
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
USA: Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory plans new poultry facility
8/20/08 Texas A&M--Construction has been approved for a new building for the state poultry diagnostic laboratory in Gonzales. The facility will expand both the space and the capacity for testing specimens submitted for poultry disease detection at the Gonzales lab. Since 1991, the lab has been operated by the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, a service agency of the Texas A&M System.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Brazil?s import claims irk local poultry industry
8/20/08 Economic Times--The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), an umbrella organisation representing large segments of the country?s poultry industry, is up in arms over a news agency report from Brazil about a huge order for the import of chicken into India.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Malaysia: Perplexing plague
8/20/08 The Star--Influenza is a common infection that affects many people. It is caused by RNA viruses of the orthomyxoviridae family. The influenza viruses are classified into types A, B and C based on their core proteins.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Singapore: Flu pandemic drill for financial institutions
8/20/08 Straits Times--Financial institutions will soon face a life-like test of how they might hold up in a devastating flu pandemic. A simulation exercise to test their contingency plans for such crises will take place from Aug 28 to Sept 11.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia: Young scouts add voices to curb bird flu in West Java
8/20/08 UNICEF--More than 5,000 Indonesian boy and girl scouts have pledged to fight the battle against avian influenza in their home province of West Java. The scouts recently gathered at a seaside town in Sukabumi district to learn about bird flu and how they can help protect their communities from the deadly virus.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Africa: Avian Influenza, Deadlier Than HIV/Aids
8/19/08 This Day--The Gombe State Public enlightenment committee on Avian Influenza has described the disease as more dangerous and deadlier then HIV/AIDS.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Africa: More Diseases Surface As Bush Meat Eating Rises
8/20/08 All Africa--As high beef and fish prices push populations to rely on home reared chicken and bush meat, the likelihood of them contracting zoonotic diseases increases in a continent not adequately prepared for bird flu, ebola and other animal-spread diseases outbreaks.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Science and Technology
USDA Licenses BinaxNOW® Avian Influenza Virus Type A Antigen Test Kit for Veterinary Use
8/20/08 Rapid Microbiology--Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. have received licensure from the USDA to manufacture, market and distribute the BinaxNOW® Avian Influenza Virus Type A Antigen Test Kit. Test results are available in 15 minutes compared to traditional methods, which can take days to produce results.
Science and Technology
Avian influenza vaccines: a practical review in relation to their application in the field with a focus on the Asian experience
8/20/08 Epidemiology and Infection Cambridge University Press SUMMARY--Vaccination can be a useful tool for the control of avian influenza (AI) outbreaks, but its use is prohibited in most of the countries worldwide because of its interference with AI surveillance tests and its negative impact on poultry trade. AI vaccines currently in use in the field increase host resistance to the disease but have a limited impact on the virus transmission. To control or eradicate the disease, a carefully conceived vaccination strategy must be accompanied by strict biosecurity measures. Some countries have authorized vaccination under special circumstances with contradictory results, from control and disease eradication (Italy) to endemicity and antigenic drift of the viral strain (Mexico). Extensive vaccination programmes are ongoing in South East Asia to control the H5N1 epidemic. This review provides practical information on the available AI vaccines and associated diagnostic tests, the vaccination strategies applied in Asia and their impact on the disease epidemiology.
AI Research
Bacteria Teamed Up With Flu Virus in Most 1918 Pandemic Deaths
8/19/08 Bloomberg--Bacterial infections, which often occur in people suffering from influenza, were a major cause of death in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed at least 50 million people, U.S. scientists said.
AI Research
Full Text of Articles follow ...
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
USA: Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory plans new poultry facility
8/20/08 Texas A&M--Construction has been approved for a new building for the state poultry diagnostic laboratory in Gonzales.
The facility will expand both the space and the capacity for testing specimens submitted for poultry disease detection at the Gonzales lab. Since 1991, the lab has been operated by the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, a service agency of the Texas A&M System.
?We are extremely grateful for the generosity of our former poultry lab director Dr. Sam Glass and his wife, Sally,? said Dr. Tammy Beckham, director of the state veterinary medical diagnostic laboratory. ?Their gift of a prime parcel of land in Gonzales will make this laboratory possible.
Because it is strategically located in a major poultry production area, the laboratory will continue to serve primarily commercial poultry companies, as well as veterinarians and individual producers of domestic fowl, game and exotic birds, Beckham said.
?The routine diagnostic testing performed here also provides the surveillance necessary to detect and contain potential outbreaks of high-consequence diseases such as Exotic Newcastle Disease and highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu),? she added.
The new laboratory will be built on the 1200 block of Sarah DeWitt Drive (Highway 90A East). The old lab building, located about one mile away, will become the property of Gonzales County after construction is completed on the new facility, according to Dr. José Linares, the Gonzales lab?s current director.
?The Glasses have had a long history of dedicated service to the poultry industry, which continues even today,? Beckham said.
Sam Glass, a native of Gonzales, graduated in 1960 from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University. In 1963, he became director of Texas A&M?s South Texas Poultry Research Station, Poultry Disease Laboratory in Gonzales. After the field station was closed, the Poultry Diagnostic Laboratory was erected in its current location in 1971. Glass served as the lab?s director until his retirement in 1997.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Brazil?s import claims irk local poultry industry
8/20/08 Economic Times--The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), an umbrella organisation representing large segments of the country?s poultry industry, is up in arms over a news agency report from Brazil about a huge order for the import of chicken into India.
According to the news report, the Brazilian Association of Chicken Producers and Exporters (ABEF) claimed that the potential for exports to India in the first year could amount to 3 lakh tonnes of unprocessed poultry. It further noted that this amounts to 10% of their global export and India would then overtake Russia, which has till now been the largest importer of Brazilian poultry.
The NECC is agitated that such imports will drastically affect the domestic poultry industry worth Rs 40,000 crore, which is still reeling from the multiple crises of rising input costs and the outbreak of avian flu in the backyard poultry of West Bengal.
Ms Anuradha Desai, chairperson, Venkateshwara Hatcheries group, and chairperson, NECC, pointed out that retail prices in India for processed chicken range between Rs 75-80 per kg (just under $2 per kg) while retail prices in Brazil are at $3.90-8 per kg (approximately Rs 160-320 per kg). These figures do not include the high freight cost.
?The very fact that they are ready to export to India in spite of this vast disparity in prices proves that they are desperate to get into the Indian market,? Ms Desai said. She added that the NECC would explore if anti-dumping measures could be invoked.
The news agency report quoted the Brazilian agriculture ministry as saying that India?s need to import poultry had increased following the outbreak of bird flu and the subsequent culling of over a million chickens over the last few years.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Malaysia: Perplexing plague
8/20/08 The Star--Influenza is a common infection that affects many people. It is caused by RNA viruses of the orthomyxoviridae family. The influenza viruses are classified into types A, B and C based on their core proteins.
Type A viruses infect humans and mammals such as pigs and horses, and birds. Type B and C viruses usually affect humans. Type A and B viruses are common causes of acute respiratory infections.
Type A virus is the main cause of epidemics and pandemics. The Spanish flu in 1918 resulted in an estimated death of 40 million worldwide.
The Asian influenza pandemic of 1957 and the Hong Kong influenza pandemic of 1968 caused significant mortality worldwide.
The virus often mutates. Minor mutations (antigenic drift) are frequent and cause repeated outbreaks. Major mutations (antigenic shift) are rare and are due to reassortment of genetic material from different A sub-types.
When they occur pandemics result, causing many deaths. The type B virus does not exhibit antigenic shifts. The frequent viral mutations lead to outbreaks annually. This is because the immunity from an infection does not provide full protection against another infection by an antigenic or genetic variant of the same sub-type A virus or type B virus.
Influenza is spread by droplets from the respiratory secretions of infected persons. The virus usually infects the upper respiratory tract, that is, the nose, throat and bronchi. It rarely infects the lungs. Symptoms develop between one and five days.
A person can be infectious from the day before symptoms develop until seven days afterwards. The infection spreads rapidly, especially among those in crowded circumstances. The virus survives longer outside the body in cold and dry weather. As a result, epidemics in temperate countries usually occur in winter.
The clinical features of influenza include a sudden onset of high fever, muscle ache, headache, non-productive cough, sore throat, and running nose. Most people recover within a week or two without requiring any treatment.
It is difficult to distinguish influenza from other respiratory infections. Laboratory tests will help in confirming the diagnosis. There are rapid diagnostic tests available that can detect influenza viruses within 30 minutes.
Secondary bacterial pneumonia is a common complication, especially in children below two years, senior citizens and those with chronic conditions (lung diseases, diabetes, cancer, kidney or heart problems). Infection can also lead to death.
Influenza is an upper respiratory tract infection that lasts a few days in most people, and is usually treated symptomatically. The body gets rid of the virus in a few days. Antibiotics have no role in the treatment of people who are otherwise healthy. However, they are used to treat secondary bacterial complications.
Antiviral medicines are available. The M2 inhibitors (amantadine and rimantadine) act against type A viruses only, while the neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors (zanamivir and oseltamivir) act against type A and B viruses.
There may be serious adverse effects with M2 inhibitors, for example, delirium and seizures that occur mostly in senior citizens. The more recently available NA inhibitors have fewer adverse effects.
However, resistant viral strains have occurred. The costs and limited availability of antiviral medicines emphasise the important role that vaccines play as the main preventive measure against influenza.
During an influenza epidemic in the developed world, about 5% to 15% of the population is affected. Hospitalisation and deaths usually occur in senior citizens and those with chronic conditions.
It is estimated there are three to five million cases of severe illness and between 250,000 and 500,000 deaths annually worldwide. Most deaths associated with influenza in the developed world occur in those aged 65 and above.
There is less knowledge about influenza in the developing world. The general view is that the mortality rate is greatly underestimated.
Influenza vaccines
There are two types of influenza vaccines: inactivated and live attenuated vaccines (live disease-producing viruses modified in the laboratory). Due to the constant genetic changes in influenza viruses, the composition of the vaccines has to be adjusted annually to include the most recent circulating influenza A and B viruses.
The annual vaccine formulation is prepared by the World Health Organisation?s (WHO) Global Influenza Surveillance Network. The network monitors the influenza viruses circulating in humans and identifies new strains. WHO recommends annually a vaccine that targets the three most virulent and prevailing viral strains.
WHO recommends that vaccination be considered for:
· Residents of long-term care facilities for the elderly and disabled.
· Elderly individuals with chronic conditions, for example, lung and cardiovascular illness, diabetes and kidney dysfunction, and various types of immunosuppression (HIV/AIDS) and transplant recipients.
· Adults and children aged more than six months with any of the conditions above.
· Elderly individuals above a nationally defined age limit, irrespective of other risk factors. Most countries define the age limit to be more than 65 years.
· Other groups defined on the basis of national data and capacities, for example, contacts with high-risk people, pregnant women, healthcare workers and others with key functions in society, and children between six and 23 months of age.
TIV vaccines are well tolerated but the reactions differ. About 15% to 20%, especially children, have a reaction at the injection site lasting a day or two with the whole virus vaccine. There may be transient fever or myalgia. The reactions with the split and subunit vaccines have fewer reactions.
The reactions to the CAIV-T vaccine are transient and include running nose or nasal congestion, headache, fever, vomiting, and muscle ache. These symptoms are usually associated with the first dose.
The reactions are transient and usually disappear without treatment.
Severe allergic reaction leading to shock, inflammation of blood vessels (vasculitis) with transient kidney involvement and neurological disorders are very rare.
As influenza is common with potentially serious consequences, WHO emphasises the importance of raising public awareness of influenza, its complications and the beneficial effects of vaccination.
* Dr Milton Lum is the chairman of the Commonwealth Medical Trust. This article is not intended to replace, dictate or define evaluation by a qualified doctor. The views expressed do not represent that of any organisation the writer is associated with.
Science and Technology
USDA Licenses BinaxNOW® Avian Influenza Virus Type A Antigen Test Kit for Veterinary Use
8/20/08 Rapid Microbiology--Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. have received licensure from the USDA to manufacture, market and distribute the BinaxNOW® Avian Influenza Virus Type A Antigen Test Kit. Test results are available in 15 minutes compared to traditional methods, which can take days to produce results.
Responding to a USDA-identified need for a rapid influenza test for veterinary use, Inverness sought and has now obtained USDA clearance for testing in avian species. Inverness is the only manufacturer to have two versions of their rapid antigen test kit for influenza: one USDA licensed for veterinary use and the other FDA cleared for human use.
The BinaxNOW AI Antigen Test is an easy-to-use, rapid immunochromatographic test that detects influenza A nucleoproteins in chicken, turkey and duck samples. No specialized equipment or training is necessary. Use of the BinaxNOW AI test enables early and accurate identification of influenza A nucleoproteins, facilitating the implementation of appropriate and cost-effective action plans.
Worldwide, many strains of avian influenza virus can cause varying degrees of disease in poultry. Some strains are extremely infectious and a fatal form of the disease can spread rapidly from flock to flock. The prominent subtypes of avian influenza viruses include H5 and H7. The BinaxNOW AI Antigen Test is capable of detecting all subtypes, including H5 and H7.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Singapore: Flu pandemic drill for financial institutions
8/20/08 Straits Times--Financial institutions will soon face a life-like test of how they might hold up in a devastating flu pandemic. A simulation exercise to test their contingency plans for such crises will take place from Aug 28 to Sept 11.
It will centre on a staged flu outbreak on Sept 5 that will 'hit' more than 140 companies, including banks, insurers and stockbrokers. Also participating are the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Exchange.
The exercise is being organised by the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) and aims to help ensure that the local financial sector is prepared should such a global catastrophe occur.
A flu pandemic is classified as one of the biggest risks that the world faces, especially after the recent emergence of the highly lethal bird flu.
Britain, for instance, considers a flu pandemic a bigger threat than terrorism. While the probability of a terrorist attack is higher, the scale of damage from a flu epidemic is far greater.
'It's many times worse than Sars,' said ABS director Ong-Ang Ai Boon.
The flu exercise will be the second industrywide crisis simulation in Singapore. The first, held two years ago, assessed financial institutions on their decision-making and communication procedures in the face of a major terrorist attack.
This time, the widespread nature of a flu pandemic means that coordination between companies and the Government will be put to the test as well, said Mrs Ong-Ang.
High levels of absenteeism - as high as 40 per cent - have been identified as a key challenge in this scenario as people die, are quarantined or stay home to look after their children, she added.
Much of the exercise will not be visible to the public as participating institutions will need only to come up with response plans as scenarios are presented to them, without actually carrying them out.
But on the morning of Sept 5, a practical drill simulating a red alert for widespread infection will be conducted at branches of banks and other customer centres, mostly around the Central Business District.
Temperature scanners and face masks are expected to be put up at participating outlets until 11am, when the drill ceases.
The exercise ends with a feedback session in which participants will share their experiences and look for ways to improve. The exercise will cost $1.5 million and is sponsored by the industry.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia: Young scouts add voices to curb bird flu in West Java
8/20/08 UNICEF--More than 5,000 Indonesian boy and girl scouts have pledged to fight the battle against avian influenza in their home province of West Java. The scouts recently gathered at a seaside town in Sukabumi district to learn about bird flu and how they can help protect their communities from the deadly virus.
The event was a small part of a massive nationwide campaign that was launched in 2006, when experts warned that if the virus mutated, it could lead to a global pandemic.
?Since we started the campaign, we have worked with teachers and students, community members and religious leaders to get these life-saving messages out to the public,? said UNICEF West Java Field Office Chief Steve Aswin. ?The scouts of Indonesia are a great way to build on that foundation. They understand the problem and are committed to helping.?
Dangers of raising poultry
Indonesia is the most bird flu-affected country in the world with 135 cases and 110 fatalities. Some 40 per cent of all victims are children.
UNICEF Image
© UNICEF video
Actors take part in a play to spread awareness of the dangers of avian influenza in Indonesia.
Many Indonesians raise poultry in their backyards, so children often find themselves in close contact with these birds.
Scout Adista Mawarni, 9, said her family doesn?t have any chickens ? but her neighbours do. ?Sometimes the chickens walk near our house. I didn?t know until now how dangerous bird flu was,? she said.
Scouts as ?agents of change?
UNICEF, with funding from Canada and Japan, has so far reached some 5 million children and 100,000 communities with educational materials on avian influenza. In addition, a mass media campaign has reached every province in the country through television, radio and print.
UNICEF has long been working with schools and community groups. The collaboration with scout groups is the latest venture.
"Children are agents of change and can bring information to their families, especially information on how to protect themselves and their families from deadly diseases such as bird flu,? said Mr. Aswin.
Communicating through the arts
Nina Rusmalina, 18, said she and her fellow scouts are going door to door to raise awareness about bird flu. ?I think if everyone understood the problem really well, then they would do something. We have to make sure they don?t forget,? she said.
Nina was part of a group of scouts who performed a short play for their fellow scouts to show what to do if bird flu hits their village. Communicating through the arts and education have been key to the UNICEF programme.
?We all have to do something,? said Nina. ?It is my responsibility to also fight this disease. I am thrilled to be part of the campaign that tries to save lives.?
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Africa: Avian Influenza, Deadlier Than HIV/Aids
8/19/08 This Day--The Gombe State Public enlightenment committee on Avian Influenza has described the disease as more dangerous and deadlier then HIV/AIDS.
This, according to the Desk Officer, communication on Avian Influenza in the state, Mr. Kassim Toro, is because it kills many people at once if it is allowed to transmit and infect human beings.
Toro, in an interview with THISDAY in Gombe, noted that because of the deadly nature of the disease, the committee is embarking on ward to ward, house to house sensitisation campaign on Avian Influenza across the State.
He noted that although there are no confirmed cases of Avian Influenza in the State, the committee will not rest on its responsibilities of enlightening people about the dangers of the disease.
According to him, over 26 states have confirmed cases of the disease including those States that are bordering Gombe State.
While pointing out that the sensitisation tour of the committee will take the members to all the 11 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the State, he vowed that the deadly disease would not be allowed to surface in Gombe State.
The Desk officer who commended the Local councils visited so far for taking the issue of Avian Influenza seriously, also expressed happiness with the existence of the Local Government Avian Influenza committees.
He however argued that the task of fighting against the spread of the disease across the country is a collective responsibility of all and sundry.
Quid Novi
Indonesia: Bird Die-Off Spreads to Tebing Tinggi City
8/20/08 ARGUS--A local source provided an update for a previously reported bird die-off in Deblod Sundoro sub-district (Padang Hilir district, Tebing Tinggi city, North Sumatra province). Reportedly, the total number of chickens that died was 3. .
Article URL(s)
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AI Research
Avian influenza vaccines: a practical review in relation to their application in the field with a focus on the Asian experience
8/20/08 Epidemiology and Infection Cambridge University Press SUMMARY--Vaccination can be a useful tool for the control of avian influenza (AI) outbreaks, but its use is prohibited in most of the countries worldwide because of its interference with AI surveillance tests and its negative impact on poultry trade. AI vaccines currently in use in the field increase host resistance to the disease but have a limited impact on the virus transmission. To control or eradicate the disease, a carefully conceived vaccination strategy must be accompanied by strict biosecurity measures. Some countries have authorized vaccination under special circumstances with contradictory results, from control and disease eradication (Italy) to endemicity and antigenic drift of the viral strain (Mexico). Extensive vaccination programmes are ongoing in South East Asia to control the H5N1 epidemic. This review provides practical information on the available AI vaccines and associated diagnostic tests, the vaccination strategies applied in Asia and their impact on the disease epidemiology.
AI Research
Bacteria Teamed Up With Flu Virus in Most 1918 Pandemic Deaths
8/19/08 Bloomberg--Bacterial infections, which often occur in people suffering from influenza, were a major cause of death in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed at least 50 million people, U.S. scientists said.
Tissue from American soldiers who died during 1918 and 1919 showed that in most the ``predominant disease'' was bacterial pneumonia, rather than flu, said Jeffrey Taubenberger, a pathologist with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland, who helped write the study.
Countries preparing for emergence of another pandemic flu strain, which health officials have said is inevitable, are stockpiling antiviral drugs. Governments also should be prepared with antibiotics to treat bacteria that gain easy entry to lungs weakened by the flu, the researchers said.
``Preparations for diagnosing, treating and preventing bacterial pneumonia should be among highest priorities in influenza pandemic planning,'' said the authors, who include NIAID director Anthony Fauci, in a statement.
Viruses and bacteria are vastly different infectious agents and respond to distinct classes of drugs. Antibiotics break down cell walls or disrupt vital processes in single-celled bacteria, which can feed on tissues and make poisons.
Flu and other viruses insert genes into human DNA that cause cells to make more viruses, rather than carry out normal functions. Antivirals such Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Relenza, interfere with those viral processes.
Spreading the Disease
The 1918 pandemic spread quickly through armed forces personnel and across the world as troops traveled to fight World War I, researchers have said. The study looked at preserved tissue from 58 soldiers who died at various military bases around the U.S.
At the time of their deaths, most of the patients were suffering from severe bacterial pneumonias, the authors said. The lethal infections were caused by normally mild bacteria that were allowed to multiply after flu weakened the body's defenses, they said.
``In essence, the virus landed the first blow while bacteria delivered the knockout punch,'' Fauci said in the statement. The study will be published in the Oct. 1 issue of the Journal of Infectious Disease
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Africa: More Diseases Surface As Bush Meat Eating Rises
8/20/08 All Africa--As high beef and fish prices push populations to rely on home reared chicken and bush meat, the likelihood of them contracting zoonotic diseases increases in a continent not adequately prepared for bird flu, ebola and other animal-spread diseases outbreaks.
Last year's outbreaks of the deadly Marburg and Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever viruses in southwestern Uganda and in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo's province of Kasai Occidental and the sporadic outbreaks of Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) across the continent once again bring to light the threat zoonotic diseases pose to sub-Saharan Africa in particular and the world generally.
According to recent analysis, more than 60 percent of the estimated 1,415 infectious diseases known to modern medicine are capable of infecting both animals and humans. Most of these diseases such as anthrax, Rift Valley fever and monkey pox are zoonotic, meaning they originated in animals but have crossed the species barrier to infect people.
It is estimated that about 75 per cent of the new diseases that have affected humans over the past 10 years have been caused by pathogens (infective agents) originating from animals or animal products. This was the case of the HIV-- the virus that causes Aids, which experts believe jumped the Darwinian divide from apes to humans.
Such diseases are of course not confined to the developing world. In 2003, there was an outbreak of human monkey-pox in the American states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Human monkey-pox is a rare zoonotic viral disease that occurs primarily in equatorial West and central Africa.
The outbreak in America occurred when a Wisconsin prairie-dog dealer allowed several of his animals to mix with rodents recently imported from Ghana that happened to be carrying the Monkey-pox virus. Luckily, no one died despite there being 71 reported cases of the disease in six mid-western states.
And it isn't only humans who are at risk of disease. Domestic animals, as the bird flu (H5N10) or Avian Influenza outbreaks in Asia, Europe and Africa have proven, are equally vulnerable to infectious ailments.
Livestock agriculture is the most important industry across sub-Saharan Africa, and disease is its biggest enemy. Overall, the industry represents 25 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the region, and, in certain countries, provides enough stock for export.
However, compared with other parts of the world, Sub-Saharan Africa has the heaviest burden of animal diseases. For example, 12 out of the 15 diseases that were considered by the Office Internationale des Epizooties as the most contagious are found in Africa.
According to experts, Africa is not threatened by a single malaise such as HIV and Aids or Avian Influenza but by a combination of various human, plant and animal diseases, which can have potentially devastating social, environmental and economic effects.
But why has there been a rise of new zoonotic diseases such as West Nile Fever, Rift Valley Fever, Marburg and the emergence of new virulent organisms when health care throughout the world is arguably the best it has ever been in the history of humanity?
The misuse of antibiotics by Sub-Saharan Africans is one key consideration. Patients in poor areas of the continent have poor prescriptions habits by not taking the full dosage of their prescribed medications.
Furthermore, even if the patient in question is taking the proper dosages, many Africans are unable to afford the necessary full course antibiotic prescriptions. There is also the lack of government regulation of pharmacies many of which sell drugs without a physician's prescription.
Rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa is also another important factor. Along with population increase comes the need for more arable and grazing land and the exploration of new forest, swamp and cave habitats. This raises the likelihood of exposure to 'new' infectious agents in those environments, and could result in the emergence of new disease pathogens.
Increased demand for food
As population grows, there is also an increase in the demand for food. In sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, people are more and more turning to wild animals for food. This high demand for bush meat in the countries of the Congo Basin is helping to fuel the increase in outbreaks of such illnesses as Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever.
Ebola, like the HIV virus that causes Aids, passed into the human population through contact with blood from infected primates such as gorillas and chimpanzees as well as other primates like monkeys who regularly from part of the bush meat trade.
However, the multi-billion dollar bush meat industry is a key contributor to local economies throughout the developing world. It is also among the most immediate threats to tropical wildlife.
The consumption of bush meat is particularly acute across west and central Africa where there are still large equatorial forests. In fact, the Congo River Basin is home to one of the biggest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world.
Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo have a combined forest area of 1,856,207 kilometres squared -- one of the largest in the world. Add to this the estimated combined forest and urban population of the Congo Basin of 5432,945,932 who consume an astonishing 1,196,395,911 kilogrammes (one million to five million tones) of bush meat annually. You now appreciate why wildlife conservationist call it the Bush meat crisis.
These vast forest areas harbour various monkey and antelope species. But it's Africa's highly endangered Great Apes: gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos whose very existence is being severely affected by the bush meat trade.
Recent scientific surveys of great ape populations in Gabon, which has one of the largest populations, indicates that the numbers of gorillas and chimpanzees declined by more than half between 1983 and 2000. But it is not only the bush meat trade that has decimated the ape population of West and Central Africa. Ebola has killed tens of thousands of gorillas and chimpanzees.
Decline in fish stocks
But the bush meat trade in sub-Saharan Africa has also been linked to the decline of fish stocks in West Africa. According to experts, people substitute wildlife for fish in ears of fish scarcity. In 2005, researchers found that declining fish stocks were fuelling a multibillion- dollar meat trade in West Africa.
A man poses with his hunt. Diseases such as HIV, anthrax, Rift Valley fever and monkey pox are zoonotic, meaning they originated in animals such as chimpanzees and monkeys but have crossed the species barrier to infect people. NET PHOTO
In Ghana, more than half of the country's 20 million people reside within 100 kilometres of the coast, where fish is the primary source of protein and income.
However, using 30-year data collected monthly by rangers in six nature reserves in Ghana, researchers have found a direct link between fish supply and the demand for bush meat in Ghanaian villages. Looking at data for the years 1970 to 1998, researchers found that in 14 local food markets, residents substituted bush meat as an alternative to fish and the number of poachers observed by rangers in parks increased when fish supply was limited or its price increased.
During the same period trawler surveys conducted in the Gulf of Guinea, off Ghana's coast, since 1970 along with other regional stock assessments, estimate that fish biomass in near-shore and off-shore waters has declined by at least 50 percent.
In the same period, there has been a threefold increase in human population in the region. The researchers suspect the decline in the availability of fish at local Ghanaian markets is linked to heavy over-fishing in the Gulf of Guinea.
The Gulf of Guinea is one of the most over fished areas of the world. Declines in fish stocks in waters off West Africa have coincided with more than ten-fold increases in regional fish harvests by foreign and domestic fleets since 1950.
Shipping fleets subsided by the European Union (EU) have consistently had the largest foreign presence off West Africa, with EU fish harvests there increasing 20 times from 1950 to 2001.
As the outbreaks of zoonotic diseases increase, indigenous Africans (and others communities in developing countries) might hold the key to disease prevention and containment.
Some pioneers in the field of modern medical anthropology agree that the global fight against emerging zoonotic diseases as well as re-emerging contagious and infectious ailments in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere has failed to incorporate traditional African medicine for disease control and prevention.
This negative attitude towards indigenous notions of contagious diseases stems largely from the assumption that African health beliefs are primarily based on witchcraft, sorcery or black magic.
Experts have indeed found this to be true in the realm of mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa (perhaps due to a superficial likeness between possession by spirits and symptoms of some mental illnesses) but curiously not so when it comes to infectious diseases.
"Western medical science has long dismissed African indigenous (and by extension, other indigenous) medical theories as superstitious gibberish, unworthy of serious consideration," writes anthropologist Edward C. Green, now a Senior Research Scientist at the Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies.
The attitudes of the Western medical fraternity as well as Western-trained African health care workers will only hamper current efforts to control and prevention of the spread of the latest zoonotic threat to the African continent, Avian Influenza. So far only 40 Africans are known to have been infected with the potentially fatal disease.
However, a recent report by Folorunso O. Fasina and colleagues in The Lancet Infectious Diseases says that Africa is incapable of fighting an Avian Influenza epidemic. According to the report the African strain of H5N1 has acquired "troubling" properties such as respiratory rather than faecal transmission in poultry and a mutation associated with increased spread of disease in mammals, including humans.
Furthermore, the possibility of human infection on the continent is increased by inefficient diagnosis, denial of outbreaks, inter-ethnic crisis, politicisation of the issue, poor reporting surveillance and communication risks.
Devastating epidemic
A large-scale epidemic of Avian Influenza could happen in Africa if the virus changes so that human to human transmission occurs, say experts. If it does millions of people could die as a result. In fact, some observers predict that such an epidemic could be just as devastating to the continent as the rinderpest epidemic was back in the 1890s and the HIV and Aids epidemic of today.
For starters, surveillance systems in Africa are notoriously weak and are unable to detect early H5N1 outbreaks in poultry or wild birds.
Control remains difficult because of the continent's ineffective border controls, overtaxed health-care systems and inadequate bio-security. Furthermore, the crowding of poultry farms and the blossoming of live poultry markets promote the rapid spread of the disease, as do high-risk conditions and practices like the slaughter of sick birds in homes.
The result of such an epidemic would have devastating socio-economic consequences. For example, African women might be particularly at risk. Epidemiological studies have shown that there is a higher likelihood of the transmission of Avian Influenza from poultry to humans through contact with infected poultry. As poultry in Africa is predominately managed by women, they may have a higher incidence of contracting H5N1 with the possibility of them passing it on to their children were the virus ever to make the big leap form bird to human transmission to human-to-human transmission.
An epidemic outbreak of H5N1 could also lead to widespread micronutrient deficiencies, say experts. Even small reductions in meat and egg consumption can lead to large reductions of micronutrient intake. Therefore, there may be negative impacts on nutrition of people at risk such as children, women and people living with HIV and Aids.
Against such a background, the International Food and Policy Research Institute in cooperation with the International Livestock Research Institute is assisting developing regions to protect their economic livelihood in case of an H5N1 epidemic outbreak.
In May a $7.8m project was launched to assist poor farmers in developing countries to protect their livelihoods in the event of an avian flu outbreak. Research is being conducted in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, and Nigeria, where experts will identify strategies, such as farmer compensation schemes, that can both control the disease and protect poor households from losing critical sources of income.
The consequences for failed infectious disease control and eradication programmes in Africa and elsewhere are alarming. Mark E.J. Woolhouse and Sonya Gowtage-Sequeria of the Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh cite the failure of public health programs as one of the 10 drivers associated with the emergence and re-emergence of human pathogens.
