UNCLASSIFIED
Avian Influenza Daily Digest
October 1, 2008 18:00 GMT
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Article Summaries ...
Quid Novi
Thailand: Suspected bird flu victim dies
OIE: Vietnam Update follow up #21
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
TOGO: 17,000 poultry killed in latest flu outbreak
9/30/08 IRIN--Some 17,000 birds died or have been culled since the outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu virus on 9 September on three poultry farms in Agbata, located 10km east of Lome, according to the country?s livestock director, Komla Batawui.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Full Text of Articles follow ...
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
TOGO: 17,000 poultry killed in latest flu outbreak
9/30/08 IRIN--Some 17,000 birds died or have been culled since the outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu virus on 9 September on three poultry farms in Agbata, located 10km east of Lome, according to the country?s livestock director, Komla Batawui.
Zero tolerance
The UN Food and Agricultural Organization adviser to the government, Jacques Conforti, says the risk has been contained. ?We focused on free-range poultry, and did not cull poultry in coops in the areas surrounding Agbata. This [the culling] should reduce the risk of the virus spreading to zero.?
Conforti says the disinfection has moved along quickly in the past three weeks, ?We do not want to lose any time. We try to disinfect a zone in less than 24 hours before moving to the next at-risk area.? He says officials meet with farmers who point out any sick birds, cull the birds, and pay the farmers for the value of the bird, eggs or bird feed that is destroyed.
Officials have paid close to US$9,000 so far to farmers to compensate them for their losses since the latest outbreak.
Togo?s Minister of Agriculture, Kossi Messan Ewovor, told IRIN this money helps the farmers step forward with their suspicions about sick birds that may carry the deadly H5N1 virus. ?This is to assure the poultry farmers they have nothing to lose, and everything to gain in culling sick birds because they help keep their regions and the entire country safe.?
Alphonse Tognizoun, a poultry farmer in Agbata, told IRIN he lost more than 1,000 birds as well as some poultry feed. ?I got US$4 per bird and half the value of the food for my birds that was also destroyed, or about 33 US cents per kilo. I didn?t lose eggs, but others who did were paid 6 US cents per egg.?
Following the country?s first outbreak of the virus in August 2007, the World Bank had pushed for farmer payments to encourage quick and accurate reporting, but had also cautioned officials about the difficulty of creating a fair and transparent payment programme to prevent fraudulent poultry claims.
Olga Jonas, the World Bank adviser who coordinates donor avian flu funding, had said payment schemes can be difficult to carry out because it can be hard to prove ownership for small producers in remote areas who live in the bush, far from their chicken coops.
But Togo?s livestock director, Batawui, said there was no room for bird fraud, ?If we are not the ones who cull and incinerate the birds ourselves, the farmers must bring us their dead poultry. We register it and give them a receipt with their payment. No cheaters this way.?
Following the last avian flu outbreak, Togolese officials requested international donor assistance; the US$500,000 requested has just now arrived from European Union, African Union, African Development Bank, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and World Bank. Half of this money will go toward interventions at the farm-level, such as disinfecting farms, culling, and incinerating birds, while the other half is to be spent on training and equipment to help officials respond to and contain the spread.
The World Health Organization estimates the H5N1 virus has killed or led to the destruction of 150 million birds and the deaths of about 200 people worldwide since 2003.
Quid Novi
Thailand: Suspected bird flu victim dies
10/1/08 Bangkok Post--A worker on a free-range duck farm died from bird flu-like symptoms in Pho Prathap Chang district yesterday, and health authorities put his 12-year-old son under close observation for signs of infection with the virus. Manee Mankhetkit, 48, was taken to the provincial hospital on Monday after he developed a high fever, suffered from a cough, sore throat, chest pains and breathing difficulties.
The man was treated in an isolated intensive care ward because he had come into contact with fowls. He was a hired hand at a duck farm which has more than 1,600 birds. Doctors pronounced him dead due to kidney and heart failure.
His 12-year-old son Sakda, who worked alongside his father, was taken to Phichit hospital yesterday. He too was put in an isolation ward for observation, and no visitors were allowed to see him.
Livestock officials have collected samples from the free-range ducks, which have being dying in big numbers over the past week, for testing for the bird flu virus.
Public health permanent-secretary Prat Boonyawongwirot said lab tests were being made on samples collected from the dead man's body to see whether he was infected with the deadly H5N1 virus as believed.
The results were expected to be released today.
Dr Prat said leptospirosis could also not be ruled out as a possible cause of death as the area was affected by floods.
There were reports of poultry, particularly free-range ducks, dying en masse in the district during the past week.
Although an avian flu outbreak has never occurred in the district, Phichit was listed as an avian influenza epidemic zone, he said.
Kamnuan Ungchusak, director of the epidemiology bureau, said a team of epidemiologists had been dispatched to the district for bird flu surveillance.
Disinfectant would be sprayed at all poultry farms, slaughterhouses and at-risk areas.
Thailand faced its fifth bird flu outbreak in early February when the disease re-emerged in Nakhon Sawan and Phichit.
The first outbreak struck the country in January 2004 when more than 60 million fowls were culled. A total of 25 people have been infected by the virus since then, with 17 of them dying of the disease.
Quid Novi
OIE: Vietnam Update follow up #21
[map]
Summary
Report type Follow-up report No. 21
Start date 07/12/2006
Date of first confirmation of the event 19/12/2006
Report date 30/09/2008
Date submitted to OIE 30/09/2008
Reason for notification Reoccurrence of a listed disease
Date of previous occurrence 10/08/2006
Causal agent Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus
Serotype H5N1
Nature of diagnosis Clinical, Laboratory (basic), Laboratory (advanced)
This event pertains to a defined zone within the country
Related reports Immediate notification (19/12/2006)
Follow-up report No. 1 (04/01/2007)
Follow-up report No. 2 (17/01/2007)
Follow-up report No. 3 (27/02/2007)
Follow-up report No. 4 (23/03/2007)
Follow-up report No. 5 (02/04/2007)
Follow-up report No. 6 (17/05/2007)
Follow-up report No. 7 (24/05/2007)
Follow-up report No. 8 (07/06/2007)
Follow-up report No. 9 (05/07/2007)
Follow-up report No. 10 (14/09/2007)
Follow-up report No. 11 (11/10/2007)
Follow-up report No. 12 (31/10/2007)
Follow-up report No. 13 (12/11/2007)
Follow-up report No. 14 (07/01/2008)
Follow-up report No. 15 (01/02/2008)
Follow-up report No. 16 (23/02/2008)
Follow-up report No. 17 (12/03/2008)
Follow-up report No. 18 (01/04/2008)
Follow-up report No. 19 (23/04/2008)
Follow-up report No. 20 (14/07/2008)
Follow-up report No. 21 (30/09/2008)
New outbreaksOutbreak 1 Tan Hoa, Tan Nhuan Dong, Chau Thanh, DONG THAP
Date of start of the outbreak 14/07/2008
Outbreak status Resolved (06/08/2008)
Epidemiological unit Farm
Affected animals Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 500 350 350 150 0
Affected population unvaccinated village chickens.
Outbreak 2 Village No. 9, Nghi Phuong, Nghi Loc, NGHE AN
Date of start of the outbreak 18/07/2008
Outbreak status Resolved (10/08/2008)
Epidemiological unit Village
Affected animals Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 750 230 190 560 0
Affected population unvaccinated village chickens and ducks.
Outbreak 3 An Thuan, My An Hung B, Lap Vo, DONG THAP
Date of start of the outbreak 27/07/2008
Outbreak status Resolved (21/08/2008)
Epidemiological unit Village
Affected animals Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 1000 200 110 890 0
Affected population unvaccinated village chickens and ducks.
Outbreak 4 Thoi Quan, Thoi Quan, Go Quao, KIEN GIANG
Date of start of the outbreak 29/07/2008
Outbreak status Resolved (20/08/2008)
Epidemiological unit Farm
Affected animals Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 612 380 300 312 0
Affected population unvaccinated village chickens.
Outbreak 5 An Loi, An Binh Tay, Ba Tri, BEN TRE
Date of start of the outbreak 05/08/2008
Outbreak status Resolved (30/08/2008)
Epidemiological unit Village
Affected animals Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 2865 1960 905 1960 0
Affected population unvaccinated village chickens and ducks.
Outbreak 6 Phu Ngai, Phu Ngai, Ba Tri, BEN TRE
Date of start of the outbreak 18/08/2008
Outbreak status Resolved (10/09/2008)
Epidemiological unit Village
Affected animals Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 1000 350 287 713 0
Affected population unvaccinated village ducks.
Outbreak 7 An Loi, An Binh Tay, Ba Tri, BEN TRE
Date of start of the outbreak 06/09/2008
Outbreak status Resolved (27/09/2008)
Epidemiological unit Farm
Affected animals Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 300 294 6 294 0
Affected population unvaccinated village ducks.
Outbreak 8 Binh An Noi, Binh Chanh, Binh Son, QUANG NGAI
Date of start of the outbreak 26/07/2008
Outbreak status Resolved (18/08/2008)
Epidemiological unit Village
Affected animals Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 220 150 70 150 0
Affected population unvaccinated ducks.
Outbreak 9 Khanh Hai, Khanh Hai, Tran Van Thoi, CA MAU
Date of start of the outbreak 18/09/2008
Outbreak status Continuing (or date resolved not provided)
Epidemiological unit Farm
Affected animals Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 500 120 57 443 0
Affected population unvaccinated 45-day-old ducks.
Summary of outbreaks Total outbreaks: 9
Total animals affected Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 7747 4034 2275 5472 0
Outbreak statistics Species Apparent morbidity rate Apparent mortality rate Apparent case fatality rate Proportion susceptible animals lost*
Birds 52.07% 29.37% 56.40% 100.00%
* Removed from the susceptible population through death, destruction and/or slaughter
EpidemiologySource of the outbreak(s) or origin of infection Introduction of new live animals
Illegal movement of animals
Fomites (humans, vehicles, feed, etc.)
Control measuresMeasures applied Quarantine
Movement control inside the country
Disinfection of infected premises/establishment(s)
Modified stamping out
No vaccination
No treatment of affected animals
Measures to be applied Screening
Zoning
Vaccination in response to the outbreak (s)
Future ReportingThe event is continuing. Weekly follow-up reports will be submitted.
