UNCLASSIFIED
Avian Influenza Daily Digest
September 25, 2008 14:00 GMT
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Article Summaries ...
Quid Novi
France: Dead wild duck found in Joyeux
Nigeria: Bird Flu Desk Office Disinfects Markets, Slaughter Houses
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
OIE: Pakistan follow up report #1 (Final Report)
Highly pathogenic avian influenza, Pakistan Information received on 25/09/2008 from Dr R. H. Usmani, Animal Husbandry Commissioner/CVO Government of Pakistan, Livestock Wing , Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Islamabad , Pakistan Summary Report type Follow-up report No. 1 (Final...
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Australia: Torres Strait poses bird 'flu threat
9/24/08 Torres News--The Torres Strait holds the key to any possible disease, such as bid flu, coming into Australia, according to a leading environmental scientist. The findings are contained in a new Deakin University research project into how birds might bring avian influenza and other diseases into Australia.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Vietnam: Foreign birds get the worm
9/25/08 Than Nien News--Chicken-rice restaurateur Nguyen Quang Chien now buys imported chickens from supermarkets rather than the domestic poultry he used to buy at local slaughterhouses.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia reports H5N1 decline in poultry flocks
9/24/08 CIDRAP--An agriculture ministry official in Indonesia who spoke yesterday at a pandemic planning conference for businesses said the number of poultry outbreaks caused by the H5N1 avian influenza virus is declining.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Iraq: LPAI bird flu reported in Duhok
9/25/08 Kurdish Globe--After the discovery of a harmless strain of the bird flu in the province's poultry, procedures are being developed to prevent its spread. "More than 50,000 chicks were destroyed at two poultries in Semel town because of the H9 strain of bird flu," said Luqman Tayeb Omer, general director of the Duhok veterinary office. He gave assurances that this type of bird flu is not dangerous to humans, but he also stressed that strict procedures must be taken to contain it.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia halts U.S. naval lab's activities
9/25/08 Reuters--Indonesia has halted the activities of a U.S. naval medical lab in Jakarta following a dispute over the terms of a contract, the health minister said on Thursday. The U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 has been key to efforts to track bird flu in Indonesia, the country with the most human deaths from the H5N1 virus.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Hong Kong: Thai poultry imports resume
9/25/08 HK Govt News--Hong Kong has resumed importing poultry meat and products from Thailand as the country has taken control measures and no more avian flu cases have been reported, the Centre for Food Safety said today. It suspended import applications in view of the country's highly pathogenic avian influenza situation in January 2004. The country regained its highly pathogenic avian influenza free status with the World Organisation for Animal Health in April.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Science and Technology
Flu vaccine delivered into lungs gives better results
9/25/08 Reuters--Delivering flu vaccines straight into the lungs instead of through routine injections could trigger a far stronger immune response, a study has found. The world is expected to be extremely short of vaccines in the event of a flu pandemic, so the search for the best way to deliver vaccines is important because it would economize on the quantity of each dose.
Vaccines
Pandemic Preparedness
How telcos and ISPs are prepping for a pandemic
9/25/08 Network World--Network operators and IT professionals already worried about how hurricanes and financial meltdowns will impact their work lives can add another potential catastrophe to their list of concerns: a global pandemic.
Pandemic Preparedness
CDC Awards $24 Million for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Projects
9/24/08 CDC Press Office--The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $24 million to fund 55 projects in 29 state and local public health departments that could serve as innovative approaches for influenza pandemic preparedness.
Pandemic Preparedness
Full Text of Articles follow ...
Pandemic Preparedness
How telcos and ISPs are prepping for a pandemic
9/25/08 Network World--Network operators and IT professionals already worried about how hurricanes and financial meltdowns will impact their work lives can add another potential catastrophe to their list of concerns: a global pandemic.
During a panel sponsored by the FCC in Washington, D.C., Thursday, representatives from telecom carriers and ISPs discussed what steps they?ve been taking to prepare for the mass outbreak of a disease such as influenza, and also described the needs and challenges they would have to meet to keep communications up and running during a major global crisis. The most important tool at ISPs? disposal during a serious pandemic, panelists agreed, was that of network management.
Read the latest WhitePaper - Frontline LAN Troubleshooting Guide
Christopher Guttman-McCabe, the vice president for regulatory affairs for the CTIA wireless association, predicted that during a severe pandemic, many workers would either work exclusively from home or from more remote locations that would limit their potential exposure to disease.
?Network management and network grooming will absolutely come into play if we have a significant number of people living in shelters or staying at home to work,? he said. ?A pandemic is rather similar to the aftermath of what happens during a natural disaster such as a hurricane. Carriers need to determine where public safety needs the most help, and also where key 911 facilities and key hospitals are located. From there they can boost key cellular signals depending on the circumstances.?
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
OIE: Pakistan follow up report #1 (Final Report)
Highly pathogenic avian influenza,
Pakistan
Information received on 25/09/2008 from Dr R. H. Usmani, Animal Husbandry Commissioner/CVO Government of Pakistan, Livestock Wing , Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Islamabad , Pakistan
Summary
Report type Follow-up report No. 1 (Final report)
Start date 17/06/2008
Date of first confirmation of the event 19/06/2008
Report date 25/09/2008
Date submitted to OIE 25/09/2008
Date event resolved 19/06/2008
Reason for notification Reoccurrence of a listed disease
Date of previous occurrence 03/2008
Causal agent Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus
Serotype H5N1
Nature of diagnosis Laboratory (advanced), Necropsy
This event pertains to the whole country
Related reports
* Immediate notification (26/06/2008)
* Follow-up report No. 1 (25/09/2008)
Outbreaks There are no new outbreaks in this report
Epidemiology
Source of the outbreak(s) or origin of infection
* Contact with wild species
Epidemiological comments The last index case was culled on 19 June 2008 and disinfection operations were completed on 22 June 2008. All serosurveillance results obtained within a 10-km-radius zone around the outbreak area were negative. Monitoring and serosurveillance will continue.
Since there have been no further outbreaks in the country since 19 June 2008, Pakistan declares itself free of highly pathogenic notifiable avian influenza with effect from 22 September 2008.
Control measures
Measures applied
* Stamping out
* Quarantine
* Screening
* Vaccination in response to the outbreak (s)
* Disinfection of infected premises/establishment(s)
* No treatment of affected animals
Measures to be applied
* Zoning
Future Reporting
The event is resolved. No more reports will be submitted.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Australia: Torres Strait poses bird 'flu threat
9/24/08 Torres News--The Torres Strait holds the key to any possible disease, such as bid flu, coming into Australia, according to a leading environmental scientist. The findings are contained in a new Deakin University research project into how birds might bring avian influenza and other diseases into Australia.
Deakin University environmental science expert * Dr Rohan Clarke has been involved in a major study of migratory birds moving from South-East Asia and Papua New Guinea to northern Australia, with the aim of tracking how disease spreads.
Dr Clarke has made several field trips to the Torres Strait to take samples from birds and study their migration patterns.
He said this is the obvious pathway of any disease, like bird flu, moving into the country as Australian islands are situated just 3km from the Papua New Guinea coastline.
"Clearly this border is the major bio-security threat for Australia and, if anything is likely to come into country, this is the path the disease is likely to come through,?? he said.
Dr Clarke?s research project is looking at rates and spread of avian malaria amongst birds in the region, with the aim of using this information to predict the way other diseases might travel throughout birds in Australia.
"Avian malaria is a common bird affliction. Although it is similar to human malaria it doesn?t affect people,?? he said.
During several trips to the Torres Strait the research team has gathered 900 samples from different bird species, which will now be subject to molecular screening.
However Dr Clarke said that blood-smears done on location show a high prevalence of malaria infection ? about 30 per cent ? making it an ideal study in disease transmission.
Dr Clarke said the Torres Strait is a major migration pathway for bush birds in Australia ? those smaller birds which live in foliage.
"We are talking hundreds and thousands of birds moving back and forward across the Strait each year.
"We can use this information to see how bird diseases might move around different areas and it has
implications for our understanding of how bird flu might spread.
"If we are to get any major disease incursions into Australia, it is likely to come through this pathway,?? Dr Clarke said.
* Dr Rohan Clarke is a research fellow in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at Deakin University.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Vietnam: Foreign birds get the worm
9/25/08 Than Nien News--Chicken-rice restaurateur Nguyen Quang Chien now buys imported chickens from supermarkets rather than the domestic poultry he used to buy at local slaughterhouses.
?They?re cheaper,? he says.
More restaurants, hotels and household consumers are opting for imported frozen chickens because of their comparatively low prices, according to several supermarket managers.
At major supermarket chains including Big C, Metro and Coop-Mart, foreign frozen chickens cost just two thirds what local poultry costs.
A 522-gram box of Vietnamese chicken legs sells for VND44,370 (US$2.60), almost the price of a 900-gram box from Brazil.
Big C?s public relations manager Duong Thi Quynh Trang told a local newspaper that Ho Chi Minh City?s four Big C outlets are now selling a total four tons of imported chicken wings every month, a 30 percent increase year-on-year.
Metro?s three outlets in HCMC saw a 30 to 40 percent increase in foreign frozen chicken sales over the first four months of this year.
A Metro supermarket manager who wished to remain anonymous said household shoppers now accounted for an equal share of foreign frozen chicken sales at his outlet as restaurants and hotels.
He said restaurants and hotels used to be his major buyers.
Mai Thanh Ha, who runs meat-importer Mai Thanh Holding Company in HCMC, said foreign-bred chickens are cheaper than domestic ones because of lower breeding costs at industrial farms.
But here, epidemic diseases such as bird flu have pushed up the breeding costs of chickens as well.
?With such high costs, we simply can?t sell cheap,? chicken farmer Nguyen Van Tuan said.
The prices of imported chicken began dropping in July 2007 when Vietnam reduced the tariff on imported meat from 20 percent to 12 percent in an effort to curb inflation.
In the first eighth months of this year, the country imported a total 21,000 tons of chickens, a 150 percent year-on-year increase.
A large portion of these imports, mostly from the US, were wings and legs.
Deputy Head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)?s Animal Husbandry Department Nguyen Thanh Son said in major chicken exporting countries like the US, Brazil, Mexico and the Republic of Korea, consumers prefer chicken breasts to legs and wings.
That also explains why foreign chicken legs and wings are so cheap, Son said.
Ha said another reason is that many local importers have imported large amounts of chicken in anticipation of rising demand since the government lowered chicken import tariffs last summer.
This has resulted in oversupply of foreign chickens, according to MARD. Deputy Chief of HCMC Customs Office Tran Ba Thong said the city?s ports are currently inundated with 200 containers of frozen chicken.
?Importers have been slow to retrieve them and we have no idea when they?ll be cleared,? he said.
Ha said some importers are dumping prices to speed up sales and avoid high storage costs.
Pandemic Preparedness
CDC Awards $24 Million for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Projects
9/24/08 CDC Press Office--The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $24 million to fund 55 projects in 29 state and local public health departments that could serve as innovative approaches for influenza pandemic preparedness.
?What is learned from these projects can benefit everyone because it could improve national, regional and local public health detection and response to a pandemic involving influenza,? said Richard Besser, MD, Director of CDC?s Coordinating Center for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response. CDC intends for the recipients to implement promising practices or to develop effective approaches and models that can be replicated nationally, Dr. Besser said.
A total of 184 funding applications were submitted by state and local health departments in a competitive application process. Eligible applicants for the awards were limited to the 62 state, local and territorial public health departments that currently receive federal funding through CDC?s Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Cooperative Agreement.
The 29 award recipients have one year to complete the projects, which begin on September 30, 2008. The projects focus on seven key areas and include:
1. Use of public engagement as part of the public health decision-making process
2. Electronic laboratory data exchange to support influenza pandemic monitoring
3. Integration of state-based immunization information systems to track distribution of influenza pandemic countermeasures.
4. Development of statewide electronic death reporting systems compliant with Public Health Information Network (PHIN) requirements
5. Collaborative planning among healthcare providers to ensure the delivery of essential services during an influenza pandemic
6. Development of interventions that promote preparedness for pandemic disease among identified vulnerable populations
7. Distribution and dispensing of antiviral drugs to self-isolated or self-quarantined persons in an influenza pandemic event
A list of the 29 award recipients and their projects can be found at http://emergency.cdc.gov/cotper/coopagreement/07/funding-schedule-pan-flu.asp.
The $24 million for the new projects are part of $600 million in PHEP supplemental funding appropriated by Congress to accelerate state and local influenza pandemic planning efforts. The focus of the funding, which was distributed in three phases beginning in 2006, was on practical, community-based procedures that could prevent or delay the spread of an influenza pandemic.
####
Quid Novi
France: Dead wild duck found in Joyeux
9/25/08 New Zealand Herald, contributed by HealthMap--France appears to be the latest European country affected by the the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus. A wild duck, which was found dead last week near the central-eastern town of Joyeux, yesterday proved positive for the H5 strain and "bore strong similarities to the H5N1 Asian influenza", the French agriculture ministry said.
Samples from the dead bird have been sent to the EU's Reference Laboratory for avian influenza in Weybridge, England for further tests, but officials expect the worst. The Netherlands has joined France in putting forward plans to vaccinate poultry, with officials considering proposals to inoculate up to six million birds. However, scientists are divided over the effectiveness of vaccination and officials worry that other countries might use inoculation as a pretext to ban European poultry imports.
The H5N1 virus has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa, infecting 169 people and killing at least 91. So far, there is no evidence of the disease being transmitted from human to human, but scientists fear a pandemic will result if that happens. The immediate concern, however, is to stop the virus spreading from wild birds to poultry. In 2003 a different strain of bird flu led to 30 million animals being culled in the Netherlands. France has installed a high-security zone of 3km around the place where the infected duck was discovered. The H5N1 virus has already been found in Greece, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Germany.
Earlier this week, France extended its ban on keeping poultry outside to the whole of the country. The Government intends to have 14 million human vaccination kits ready by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation confirmed that an Iraqi who died in January was the country's second human bird flu victim. Officials said it had infected chickens in Egypt for the first time, while Azerbaijan and Slovenia reported more cases.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia reports H5N1 decline in poultry flocks
9/24/08 CIDRAP--An agriculture ministry official in Indonesia who spoke yesterday at a pandemic planning conference for businesses said the number of poultry outbreaks caused by the H5N1 avian influenza virus is declining.
Muhammad Azhar, the agriculture ministry's avian influenza control coordinator, said only 2 of Indonesia's 31 provinces have not been hit by the virus, but pointed out that 9 provinces have gone 6 months without reporting any new outbreaks, the Jakarta Post reported today.
"Areas still at risk are those on Java Island, because it is the main producer of both pedigree and nonpedigree chickens," he said, according to the report.
In March, a representative from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that H5N1 virus levels in Indonesia's poultry are so high that conditions might be ripe for viral mutation that could start an influenza pandemic, according to previous reports. The FAO has said the disease is endemic in Java, Sumatra, and southern Sulawesi islands.
The FAO has said the country needs more resources and better coordination to improve surveillance and control of the virus, and that by June that organization hoped to train more than 2,000 response teams to work in more than 300 of Indonesia's 448 districts.
A health minister who spoke at the conference said the number of human H5N1 cases has also declined this year, the Post reported. Erna Tresnaningsih, the health ministry's director for animal-vector diseases, said Indonesia has recorded 20 H5N1 cases and 17 fatalities from the disease so far this year. She said the number appears to trail the numbers seen in 2006 (55 cases and 45 deaths) and 2007 (42 cases and 37 deaths).
"Praise be to God, with good partnership, we've been able to push the figures," Tresnaningsih told the group, according to the Post report.
In other developments, US officials in Kyrgyzstan on Sep 15 launched a new avian influenza prevention program called STOP AI for the central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, according to a press release from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
William Frej, USAID's regional mission director for central Asia, said at the opening ceremony in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, "This project will help central Asia's governments and poultry producers protect their citizens and economies from the serious consequences that can result from even a limited outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza."
Countries in central Asia import large quantities of poultry from countries that have reported outbreaks, including China, Iran, Russia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, the USAID statement said. In March 2006 Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan reported H5N1 outbreaks.
USAID's STOP AI program provides export assistance and resources for planning, surveillance, control, and disease prevention, the statement said. It also focuses on economic recovery after an outbreak and safety measures for animal health workers and other response personnel.
The project included a 5-day training session for 25 veterinary and health workers from five central Asian countries, according to the USAID statement. Topics included procedures for avian influenza diagnosis and decontamination and the collection, storage, and transportation of virus samples. USAID said its goal is to enable the participants to train their colleagues upon return to their home countries.
Elsewhere, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently cohosted an avian influenza workshop in Gambia for veterinarians in African countries including Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Senegal, AllAfrica News reported yesterday.
Kekoi Kuyateh, a Gambian agriculture secretary, said the USDA has helped Gambia and other countries build avian influenza prevention capacity by providing personal protective equipment, sampling supplies, and diagnostic kids, the AllAfrica report said.
Ten African countries have reported H5N1 outbreaks, including Togo, which reported outbreaks in early September.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Iraq: LPAI bird flu reported in Duhok
9/25/08 Kurdish Globe--After the discovery of a harmless strain of the bird flu in the province's poultry, procedures are being developed to prevent its spread. "More than 50,000 chicks were destroyed at two poultries in Semel town because of the H9 strain of bird flu," said Luqman Tayeb Omer, general director of the Duhok veterinary office. He gave assurances that this type of bird flu is not dangerous to humans, but he also stressed that strict procedures must be taken to contain it.
The veterinary office is developing a plan with related sides, especially the health and agriculture directories in the province. Omer showed optimism and stressed that the owners of the two infected poultries have already shown cooperation in fighting the disease.
Mosul is suspected to be the source.
"According to our information, this disease is found in Al-Hamdaniya, Talkef, and Shalalat districts near Mosul. It came from there. Thus, the government should take measures to prevent chicks from being brought here from those areas," said Omer.
The hatcheries in Duhok are clean from the infection, Omer stated. "There are two hatcheries in the province: one in Semel and the other in Miruna district. In every period of 21 days, the two hatcheries produce 24,000 to 26,000 chicks." They are now being supervised.
Regarding the danger of the H9 strain, Omer gave further assurances that "this type of disease is found in several world countries and does not affect humans if necessary procedures are taken."
Bassim Ali Askar, a student of veterinary medicine at Duhok University, said: "There must be protections and health procedures, but eating these chickens is not dangerous." He warned that this disease can spread through touch, but if the meat is boiled well it can be safely consumed.
The danger of H9 is to poultries and their production, said Askar, and the disease has to be controlled to avoid economic damages.
The dangerous bird flu, known as H5, spread throughout parts of Kurdistan Region in February 2006, killing two people. Thousands of chickens were destroyed as a result.
Vaccines
Flu vaccine delivered into lungs gives better results
9/25/08 Reuters--Delivering flu vaccines straight into the lungs instead of through routine injections could trigger a far stronger immune response, a study has found.
The world is expected to be extremely short of vaccines in the event of a flu pandemic, so the search for the best way to deliver vaccines is important because it would economize on the quantity of each dose.
The Australian study, published in Mucosal Immunology, showed that lower doses of a seasonal flu vaccine delivered into the lungs of sheep gave better protection against flu than a higher standard dose that was injected into another group of sheep.
"Our results suggest that delivery by the lung may allow a much lower ... dose to be used in the influenza vaccine, while inducing equivalent or perhaps even improved protection. This would mean more people would quickly be able to receive the vaccine," associate professor Philip Sutton of the Center for Animal Biotechnology at the University of Melbourne wrote in an email to Reuters.
The scientists delivered three different doses of flu vaccines (15, 5 and 1 micrograms) into the lungs of three groups of sheep using a bronchoscope, or tube. A fourth group of sheep was injected with standard 15-microgram flu vaccines.
"Lung delivery produced superior levels of antibodies in the lung (approximately 1,000 times more), where the influenza virus infects, than the injected vaccine. The antibodies produced in the blood and lung were able to block the ability of the virus to stick to the receptor it uses to infect cells, demonstrating they would be effective against infection," Sutton said.
The generation of such huge amounts of antibodies in the lungs was especially important in the case of influenza, because flu is spread from person to person mainly through sneezing and coughing.
"The generation of functional antibodies in the lung could potentially help reduce the spread of the infection by neutralizing the virus before it can be breathed out by an infected person," Sutton said.
He noted, however, that they would need to find better ways to deliver vaccine directly into the lungs.
(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by David Fogarty)
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia halts U.S. naval lab's activities
9/25/08 Reuters--Indonesia has halted the activities of a U.S. naval medical lab in Jakarta following a dispute over the terms of a contract, the health minister said on Thursday.
The U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 has been key to efforts to track bird flu in Indonesia, the country with the most human deaths from the H5N1 virus.
But a memorandum of understanding allowing the lab to operate in Jakarta expired two years ago and was not renewed as a dispute arose over Indonesia's sharing of samples of H5N1 with the rest of the world.
"They are not allowed to do any activities anymore," Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari told Reuters by phone. "The term is suspension, but there are no activities at all now."
Earlier in April, she said the lab was not very beneficial to Indonesia because it refused to share all its findings with the host country.
Retno Marsudi, Indonesian directorate general for America and Europe relations, said the contract with Washington to operate the lab had not been terminated.
A U.S. embassy spokesman in Jakarta declined to comment.
Indonesia ordered hospitals and labs in the country to stop supplying bird flu samples to the American lab early this year and now only reports bird flu cases in humans to public every six months, a move some scientists say could lead to delays in containing outbreaks of the disease.
Jakarta has also refused to share bird flu samples, saying it wants guarantees from richer nations and drugmakers that poor countries would get access to affordable vaccines developed from their samples.
International health experts say it is vital to have access to samples of the constantly mutating H5N1 virus, which they fear could change into a form easily transmissible among humans and sweep the world in months, killing millions of people.
Indonesia has suffered 112 casualties from the virus.
Quid Novi
Nigeria: Bird Flu Desk Office Disinfects Markets, Slaughter Houses
9/25/08 Daily Trust--The Yobe State avian influenza control desk has embarked on a special disinfection of birds, the Desk Officer, Dr Yusuf liyasu, said yesterday. Iliyasu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu that the measure was aimed at ensuring the safety of birds to be consumed during the forthcoming Sallah celebration. Iliyasu said:
"We are conscious of the massive chicken consumption this yuletide period and that is why we have continuously repeated disinfection of poultry farms and markets in the state.
"At the moment, the 14 major poultry farms, slaughter houses and vehicles used in transporting all kinds of birds are being disinfected." He further said that local government desk officers had been directed "to visit all poultry markets in their respective local government areas and closely monitor the movement of birds and report suspicious occurrences".
Iliyasu commended poultry farmers and sellers in the state for their cooperation in ensuring that all poultry farms and markets were disinfected. "Our determination was massively supported by their cooperation in ensuring that no farm or market is left unattended to under the exercise.
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"We have community-based surveillance team comprising of poultry sellers and farmers who assist us in monitoring the birds and report same to the office for necessary action," the desk officer said. According to him, members of the surveillance team are also trained by the office on the procedure of disinfecting markets and slaughter houses.
"We have received a lot of disinfection kits and motorcycles from the head office to facilitate the movement of our officers into the remote areas," Iliyasu said.
He expressed commitment of the office toward ensuring that birds and bird consumers in Yobe were not exposed to avian influenza infection. (NAN)
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Hong Kong: Thai poultry imports resume
9/25/08 HK Govt News--Hong Kong has resumed importing poultry meat and products from Thailand as the country has taken control measures and no more avian flu cases have been reported, the Centre for Food Safety said today.
It suspended import applications in view of the country's highly pathogenic avian influenza situation in January 2004. The country regained its highly pathogenic avian influenza free status with the World Organisation for Animal Health in April.
