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Avian Influenza Daily Digest
September 10, 2008 12:10 GMT
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Article Summaries ...
Quid Novi
Togo: Bird Flu reported in West Africa
Indonesia: Chicken die-off reported in West Java Province
Indonesia: Multiple bird die-offs reported in Bangkalan, Madura Island
Vietnam: AI reported in 300 birds
Indonesia Reports First Avian Flu Cases Since June
Laos reports bird flu outbreak
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Poultry vendors educated about bird flu, sanitation
9/8/08 Phnom Pen--The sixth market forum to educate poultry vendors about bird flu prevention and to encourage good sanitation practices was held on Friday at Phnom Penh's O'Russey market by the government and 14 NGOs.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia confirms 2 H5N1 cases reported earlier
9/8/08 CIDRAP--Indonesia's health ministry reported today that two men have died of H5N1 avian influenza over the past 3 months, marking the government's first official announcement of human cases since early June, when it said it would provide periodic updates instead of case-by-case notifications.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Supari accuses rich nations of creating viruses for profit
9/8/08 CIDRAP--Indonesian health minister Siti Fadilah Supari, who is at the center of an international controversy over sharing of H5N1 avian influenza virus samples, recently claimed that developed countries are creating new viruses as a means of building new markets for vaccines, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Full Text of Articles follow ...
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Poultry vendors educated about bird flu, sanitation
9/8/08 Phnom Pen--The sixth market forum to educate poultry vendors about bird flu prevention and to encourage good sanitation practices was held on Friday at Phnom Penh's O'Russey market by the government and 14 NGOs.
Mok Chanthol, an official at the National Veterinary Research Institute (NAVRI), said that the number of cases of bird flu in Cambodia could increase in the future if poultry vendors, particularly those selling live chickens and ducks, did not follow good sanitation practices.
"Our purpose is to urge business people, rural doctors and farmers to have more understanding of bird flu and good sanitation," he said.
"Sanitation is a necessary factor [in bird flu prevention]," said Mok Chanthol.
He added that the campaign was held at O'Russey Market because it is a popular place to buy and sell live chickens and ducks.
Sok Touch, director of the Communicable Disease Control Department at the Ministry of Health, said that after distributing information about bird flu in a number of provinces, his department is planning to implement an educational program to help prevent human-to-human infection.
"We are planning programs to prevent human-to-human infection because we currently only have measures to prevent transmutation from birds to people," he said.
Sixteen educational forums on bird flu have now been held in provinces across the Kingdom, according to a report of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The report says that 40 percent of Cambodians have a good understanding of sanitation, but the remainder still need to be educated about clean practices and bird flu.
According to NAVRI's research, seven people have already died from bird flu in Cambodia. Four people died in 2005, two people died in 2006 and one in 2007.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia confirms 2 H5N1 cases reported earlier
9/8/08 CIDRAP--Indonesia's health ministry reported today that two men have died of H5N1 avian influenza over the past 3 months, marking the government's first official announcement of human cases since early June, when it said it would provide periodic updates instead of case-by-case notifications.
The update?in Bahasa, the language of Indonesia?appeared on the health ministry's Web site, Bloomberg News reported. So far, the government has not posted an English version of the update on the main ministry site or that of the country's avian flu committee.
As recounted by Bloomberg, Indonesia's description of the two cases generally agreed with earlier media accounts. The health ministry said one of the two men was a 20-year-old who died on July 31, according to Bloomberg. A media report in early August had described him as a 19-year-old from Tangerang, a suburb of Jakarta, who died in late July.
The health ministry said the other man was a 38-year-old truck driver from Banten province who got sick on Jul 4 and was hospitalized in Tangerang 5 days later. The ministry said he died on Jul 10, Bloomberg reported. Media reports in July had described him as a 38-year-old from Belendung, west of Jakarta, who died on Jul 10.
Tests on samples from poultry in the man's neighborhood were pending, the ministry statement said.
The health ministry also said that laboratory tests by its research center and the Eijkman Institute on samples from five provinces showed no evidence of human-to-human transmission of avian flu, Bloomberg reported.
On Jun 5, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said the government would announce human H5N1 cases at longer intervals, perhaps as long as 6 months, instead of as they are confirmed. Some health officials have said Indonesia's delay in reporting cases could hamper global efforts to monitor the risk of a flu pandemic.
Indonesia's announcement of the two recent deaths, combined with the previous media accounts, puts the country's H5N1 count at 137 cases and 112 deaths. However, the World Health Organization's global case count does not yet reflect the two deaths and stands at 135 cases and 110 deaths.
Quid Novi
Togo: Bird Flu reported in West Africa
9/8/08 AP--Togo's Health Ministry says an outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed in the West African nation for the first time since last year.
The Health Ministry said in a statement read over state television Tuesday the virus had been detected at a poultry farm in the village of Agbata outside the capital, Lome.
The farm has more than 4,500 birds. It is unclear how many have died but the statement said more than 80 per cent of those infected by the flu had died.
Quid Novi
Pakistan: Rumors of Bird Flu
9/7/08 Asia Pulise--Panic gripped the citizens of Shahdadpur and its adjoining areas after the news of presence of bird flu in Sanghar. People have halted buying chicken and poultry products in Shahdadpur and adjoining areas. Meanwhile, poultry farm owners have claimed that there was no bird flu in Shahdadpur and its adjoining areas.
Quid Novi
Indonesia: Chicken die-off reported in West Java Province
9/8/08 ARGUS--A local source reported that 100 chickens died suddenly in two villages (Sidangsari and Paneureusan) in Tarogong Kaler district, Garut regency, West Java province between 28 August and 7 September. Test results [for cause of death] are currently pending. Reportedly, some residents did not report incidents of bird die-offs to local authorities and many carcasses are dumped to sewers.
Article URL(s)
http://www.pikiran-rakyat.com/index.php?mib=news.detail&id=32175
Quid Novi
Indonesia: Multiple bird die-offs reported in Bangkalan, Madura Island
9/8/08 ARGUS--A local source reported that rapid testing confirmed avian influenza (AI) in all 365 chickens affected during 16 incidences of bird die-offs that occurred between March and August 2008 in Bangkalan regency, Madura Island. According to the local livestock agency, the virus has spread from five districts in previous years to seven districts this year [2008], which included Bangkalan, Burneh, Kamal, Socah, Tanah Merah, Arosbaya, and Geger district. Reportedly, starting this year, the central livestock agency has determined not to cull the rest of the chickens in areas affected by AI. Instead of culling, local authorities are encouraged to disinfect, vaccinate, and cage chickens following AI outbreaks.
Article URL(s)
http://www.surabayapost.info/detail.php?cat=4&id=83375
Quid Novi
Vietnam: AI reported in 300 birds
8/9/08 ARGUS--An international source reported that according to the FAO in Vietnam, the Department of Animal Health reported highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected among one duck flock in An Loi village, Binh Tay commune, Ba Tri district. The source mentioned that out of 300 birds, 6 have died and 294 were found sick as of 6 September. Health officials culled the entire flock and have enacted unspecified preventive measures.
Article URL(s)
http://www.promedmail.org
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Supari accuses rich nations of creating viruses for profit
9/8/08 CIDRAP--Indonesian health minister Siti Fadilah Supari, who is at the center of an international controversy over sharing of H5N1 avian influenza virus samples, recently claimed that developed countries are creating new viruses as a means of building new markets for vaccines, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report.
In February, Supari published a 182-page book titled Time for the World to Change: God is Behind the Avian Influenza Virus, which alleges that the United States intended to produce a biological weapon with the H5N1 virus and the World Health Organization (WHO) was conspiring to profit from H5N1 vaccines.
At a recent book discussion, Supari told the crowd that wealthy nations are creating "new viruses" that are meant to infect people in poorer nations in order to help drug companies sell more vaccines, according to a Sep 7 AFP report.
"The conspiracy between superpower nations and global organizations isn't a theory, isn't rhetoric, but it's something I've experienced myself," Supari told the crowd, according to AFP.
In early 2007 Indonesia announced that it had stopped sharing H5N1 virus samples with the WHO. The country based its action on what it saw as a lack of access to pandemic vaccines that are produced by pharmaceutical companies in developed nations from the shared samples.
A WHO working group formed to address the concerns of Indonesia and other developing countries has met several times to work out a virus-sharing agreement between global health officials and developing countries, but has made little progress.
In early June Supari said the government would no longer report human H5N1 cases and deaths promptly to the WHO. Media outlets reported that she planned to report cases after they were reported in the news media or only at 6-month intervals.
Meanwhile, Amin Subandrio, a scientist who heads Indonesia's avian flu committee, said the government is also withholding the H5N1 virus from the country's own research community, according to the AFP report. "The minister of health is keeping the virus in the laboratories but they are giving no access to Indonesian scientists at the moment," he said.
Subandrio told AFP that though he supports Indonesia's concern about developing nations' lack of access to vaccine supplies and believes changes to the international virus-sharing system are needed, Supari's stances are risky.
He said there is no evidence to back up Supari's claim that wealthy nations are conspiring against developing nations to boost profits for pharmaceutical companies. "I really can't explain it 100 percent, but probably she received the wrong information from the wrong person," Subandrio told AFP.
Likewise, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appears to support Supari's demands regarding the H5N1 virus-sharing issue, but not her conspiracy allegations, according to the AFP report. Dino Patti Djalal, presidential spokesman, told the news service, "In Indonesia, we recognize that there are issues to be resolved in the world health system, but certainly we don't believe in conspiracy theories."
In other developments, Supari told Antara, Indonesia's national news agency, that she hopes that negotiations on a material transfer agreement on the sharing of H5N1 samples can be settled at the WHO's next working group meeting in November, according to a Sep 5 report from Xinhua, China's state news agency.
She said the agreement should recognize the country's property rights to the virus, detail who will use the virus and what will be done with it, and spell out the financial and other benefits of the H5N1 research, Xinhua reported.
The WHO's H5N1 count for Indonesia is 135 cases and 110 deaths, but media reports have placed the numbers at 137 cases and 112 deaths.
Quid Novi
Indonesia Reports First Avian Flu Cases Since June
9/9/08 Bloomberg--Bird flu killed two men on Indonesia's Java island in July, the health ministry said, in its first reports of cases in almost three months.
Both fatalities occurred in Tangerang city in Banten province, according to the Ministry of Health. No cases of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza were reported in August, the ministry in Jakarta said in a statement on its Web site today.
Prior to these, Indonesia's most recent avian flu cases were reported by the World Health Organization on June 19, when the Geneva-based agency recorded 135 infections, including 110 fatalities. Indonesia accounts for more than a third of the global cases of H5N1, the strain world health officials say may mutate into a contagious form capable of touching off a pandemic.
Indonesia's Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said on June 6 that the government would delay reporting new avian flu- deaths by six months. She didn't give a reason for the decision.
Calls and a text message to a spokeswoman at the Indonesian health ministry seeking comment weren't immediately returned.
The H5N1 flu strain is known to have infected 385 people in 15 countries since 2003, according to the WHO. Almost two of every three cases were fatal. Most infections were caused by contact with infected poultry, such as children playing with them or adults butchering them or plucking feathers, according to the WHO.
Latest Cases
Indonesia's most recent avian flu case occurred in a 20- year-old man who died on July 31, according to today's statement.
The health ministry said in a statement yesterday that a 38-year-old truck driver from Banten province became ill on July 4, was hospitalized in Tangerang five days later and died the next day. Tests confirmed on July 11 he had the H5N1 strain of avian influenza. Test results from samples taken from poultry in the man's neighborhood are pending, the ministry said.
Laboratory tests conducted by the Indonesian health ministry's research center and the Eijkman Institute have found no evidence of human-to-human transmission in samples from five provinces, the ministry said in yesterday's statement.
Twelve Indonesian provinces have recorded human H5N1 infections, though cases haven't been reported in at least 10 months in seven of them, the ministry said.
Quid Novi
Laos reports bird flu outbreak
9/9/08 Xinhua--
Samples from dead ducks in Laos' northern Luang Prabang province have been tested positive to bird flu virus, prompting local authorities to cull thousands of poultry to curb the disease's spread, Lao newspaper Vientiane Times reported Tuesday.
The authorities, already culling 3,000 fowls, plan to cull over7,000 others in the province's Nambak district. Ducks started to die on Aug. 27. They have been banned from transport, trade and consumption in the district.
No human cases have been recorded, and Lao authorities are advising locals to take preventative measures.
Laos used to rely on bird flu laboratory tests from Thailand and Vietnam. The construction of a testing facility in Laos last year enables local officials to independently confirm bird flu outbreaks, the newspaper said. A new international standard laboratory, funded by the Japanese government, is currently under construction in Laos' Vientiane capital city.
Earlier this year, a bird flu outbreak occurred in northern Luang Namtha province, and local authorities culled thousands of fowls to halt the spread of the disease, said the newspaper.
Several bird flu outbreaks have occurred in Laos since 2004. The most serious outbreak happened in 2007 when two human fatalities were confirmed in the capital city and northern Vientiane province, the newspaper said.
