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Avian Influenza Daily Digest
December 10, 2008 01:30 GMT
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60-Day HPAI H5N1 Outbreak Map
2008 WHO Confirmed Human Cases HPAI H5N1
AI Daily Digest Archive
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Dear AI Digest Subscribers, I am traveling out of the country this week. The AI Digest will be off schedule, but will still be sent out daily. Please send your regional contributions to the AI Digest to my email at claudinne.r.roe@ugov.gov Kind regards, Claudinne
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Quid Novi
Hong Kong: chicken die off at Yuen Long Farm
Hong Kong: cull chickens on bird flu outbreak
Indonesia reports new cases of bird flu
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia: Jawa Tengah
12/09/08 ARGUS--41-year-old Resident of Klipang Suspected with AI Infection and Died Under Treatment; Contact with Poultry Has Not Been Confirmed. A local source reported that a 41-year-old [gender was unspecified] resident of Klipang, Semarang city, Jawa Tengah [Central Java] province was suspected with avian influenza (AI). The patient died on 5 December just shortly after being transferred to RSUP Kariadi [an AI-designated hospital] under critical condition. He or she exhibited symptoms of severe pneumonia and breathing difficulty and was initially treated in RS Panti Wilasa hospital. The hospital had taken blood samples of the suspected AI victim but did not specify whether these will be forwarded to a laboratory for testing. They also have not been able to confirm whether the patient had direct contact with poultry. There was no information on poultry die-offs.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Bosnia and Herzegovina: World Bank Presents Project to Control Spread of Avian Influenza
12/9/08 ARGUS--An international source reported that a project sponsored by the World Bank was presented this week [24-30 November] with the aim of controlling the spread of avian influenza (AI) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project costs US$7,000,000 and implementation...
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
India: Karump
12/9/08 ARGUS--A national source reports that ?stray? cases of H5 avian influenza have been reported in Kamrup district in Assam and West Bengal states ?recently?. The source adds that AI cases have also been reported in several districts in the neighboring country of Bangladesh, which lies on the border of West Garo Hills districts in Meghalaya state.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Science and Technology
Researchers develop method of detecting new flu virus in 3-5 min.
12/9/08 Kyoto News, contributed by email--A research team has developed a method of detecting a highly infectious new influenza virus in three to five minutes, down sharply from the 20 minutes the conventional method requires, team officials said Tuesday.
AI Research
Pandemic Influenza - Are Maternity Services Prepared?
12/9/08 Medical News Today--A joint Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and Department of Health conference examines the causes and consequences of a possible flu pandemic in the UK.
AI Research
Full Text of Articles follow ...
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia: Jawa Tengah
12/09/08 ARGUS--41-year-old Resident of Klipang Suspected with AI Infection and Died Under Treatment; Contact with Poultry Has Not Been Confirmed. A local source reported that a 41-year-old [gender was unspecified] resident of Klipang, Semarang city, Jawa Tengah [Central Java] province was suspected with avian influenza (AI). The patient died on 5 December just shortly after being transferred to RSUP Kariadi [an AI-designated hospital] under critical condition. He or she exhibited symptoms of severe pneumonia and breathing difficulty and was initially treated in RS Panti Wilasa hospital. The hospital had taken blood samples of the suspected AI victim but did not specify whether these will be forwarded to a laboratory for testing. They also have not been able to confirm whether the patient had direct contact with poultry. There was no information on poultry die-offs.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Bosnia and Herzegovina: World Bank Presents Project to Control Spread of Avian Influenza
12/9/08 ARGUS--An international source reported that a project sponsored by the World Bank was presented this week [24-30 November] with the aim of controlling the spread of avian influenza (AI) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project costs US$7,000,000 and implementation was supposed to begin [between 24-30 November] with a seminar in Sarajevo. According to the source, the project's goal is to minimize the threat to people, domestic animals, and poultry from AI and other diseases, to prepare for it, to respond quickly, and to monitor this other potential pandemics. The source says the first case of AI in Bosnia and Herzegovina was detected in February 2006, and was followed by a 2nd case on the border with Serbia in March 2006.
Article URL(s)
http://www.meatinfo.ru/news/read?nid=163275
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
India: Karump
12/9/08 ARGUS--A national source reports that ?stray? cases of H5 avian influenza have been reported in Kamrup district in Assam and West Bengal states ?recently?. The source adds that AI cases have also been reported in several districts in the neighboring country of Bangladesh, which lies on the border of West Garo Hills districts in Meghalaya state.
Announcement
AI Digest Update
Dear AI Digest Subscribers,
I am traveling out of the country this week. The AI Digest will be off schedule, but will still be sent out daily. Please send your regional contributions to the AI Digest to my email at claudinne.r.roe@ugov.gov
Kind regards,
Claudinne
Quid Novi
Hong Kong: chicken die off at Yuen Long Farm
12/9/08 ARGUS--A Chinese source reported that in response to the three dead chickens found at a Yuen Long farm, health authorities in Hong Kong have also banned the sale of live poultry in local markets until December 30. A government spokesman was quoted as saying that all poultry staff in the vicinity of the avian influenza (AI) outbreak are in good health. Local hospitals were reportedly on high alert and required to report suspected human AI cases. The Aviary Pagoda, a bird-watching site in Yuen Long, has been closed, the report added. A government source reported that H5 low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) killed 60 chickens at a farm in Yuen Long on December 8. The Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department confirmed the incident, and food safety authorities raised the avian influenza alert status to ?serious,? the source said. They will reportedly cull roughly 80,000 chickens within a 3 kilometer radius of the outbreak, and more than 10,000 chickens from the area will be killed in Cheung Sha Wan district. All chicken exports from Hong Kong farms are banned until December 30, the source explained; an international source reported that Hong Kong authorities have not ruled out the possibility that, after further testing, the virus might prove to be the H5N1 strain.
http://www.news.gov.hk/en/category/healthandcommunity/081209/html/081209en05002.htm
http://in.reuters.com/article/health/idINTRE4B81X120081209
AI Research
Researchers develop method of detecting new flu virus in 3-5 min.
12/9/08 Kyoto News, contributed by email--A research team has developed a method of detecting a highly infectious new influenza virus in three to five minutes, down sharply from the 20 minutes the conventional method requires, team officials said Tuesday.
The team, consisting of researchers from the Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology, Toyobo Co. and Techno Science Inc., hopes the new method will be used at quarantine offices of international airports in Japan, which need to quickly screen large numbers of people visiting or returning to the country.
The officials said the team has already begun to study the commercial use of the method in partnership with bio-equipment manufacturer Lifetech Co.
The conventional method involves a stick coated with a reagent being applied to mucus from the throat. It takes about 20 minutes for the reagent to change color to see whether there is a viral infection.
The new method uses as a marker a molecular-like substance that can attach to flu-virus antibodies. Laser beams are applied to a solution containing the markers and throat mucus. If the sample contains the virus, it will glow.
The results, including the severity of the viral infection, can be obtained in three to five minutes using this method.
It is hoped that the technology will ease inspection operations at busy airports, such as Tokyo's Narita airport, which is used by 100,000 people a day with flights from about 100 cities around the world.
Narita airport serves about 60 percent of all air travelers to Japan but has only 51 quarantine officers.
It is easy to detect the virus as long as the antibodies exist in the sample, said the Nagahama Institute's Makoto Hasegawa.
''The most important thing in tests for the new flu is speed, ease and accuracy,'' said Koichiro Kudo, who heads the Disease Control and Prevention Center at the International Medical Center of Japan.
AI Research
Pandemic Influenza - Are Maternity Services Prepared?
12/9/08 Medical News Today--A joint Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and Department of Health conference examines the causes and consequences of a possible flu pandemic in the UK.
Historical studies of a previous influenza pandemic have noted that those living in metropolitan areas and those in certain age groups were more susceptible to the flu virus. Mortality among pregnant women was particularly high.
Public health scares such as SARS and the bird flu in Asia in recent years, have turned the medical profession's attention to a possible outbreak of the flu and many countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United States have published advice on flu prevention during the flu season.
The UK Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation have recommended that pregnant women are a priority group for receiving the flu vaccine regardless of whether a pandemic is in progress. There is also a growing body of evidence demonstrating the benefits of the flu vaccine to mother and baby. Healthcare professionals are now waiting for the vaccination programme roll-out to occur.
The Department of Health produced the draft consultation document Pandemic influenza: guidance on preparing maternity services in England in August this year to help maternity units in the event of an influenza pandemic and this meeting seeks to examine the NHS's state of preparedness.
Areas to be discussed at the conference include:
- How influenza affects pregnancy
- Pandemic Influenza and neonatal care
- The impact on maternity services
Speaker Boon Lim, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS trust, carried out a survey of all heads of midwifery services in the UK and found that although most NHS trusts have a flu plan, not all have one specifically for maternity services. Also, maternity services were looking for more guidance on the use of antivirals and a vaccination programme for pregnant women.
Mr Boon Lim said, "Maternity services are currently under pressure with a rising birth rate and shortage of staff, especially midwives. It is important that careful planning is put in place to ensure that pregnant mothers continue to receive the care that they should receive and to have their babies safely in the event of the pandemic.
"A survey of heads of midwifery in England showed that although only around 1/3 of maternity services currently have a specific plan to cope with the pandemic, the other units have their plan incorporated in their trust's flu plan which are at different stages of preparedness.
"It is important that maternity and indeed all clinical services keep a register of recently retired staff who could be asked to help out when the pandemic happens. Maternity units are looking for guidance from Department of Health and the RCOG for planning and the use of antivirals and vaccines."
Professor Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, RCOG President said, "It is important for pregnant women to receive appropriate support at all times but during the flu season, extra care is needed.
"Today's conference will scope the main issues and examine the current state of flu preparedness in the NHS. We are delighted to have the Department of Health on board and hope that we are able to derive robust guidelines for the care of pregnant women from our discussions today."
The RCOG has produced a complementary podcast to follow the meeting. A panel of four experts: Mr Boon Lim (Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS trust), Mr Patrick O'Brien (Institute for Women's Health, University College London), Ms Susan Tuck (Royal Free Hospital, London) and Dr Chloe Sellwood (NHS London) offer their views on flu planning in maternity services. To listen to 'Planning for the pandemic influenza', please click here.
The conference will be held at the RCOG. To view the conference programme, please click here.
To view the Department of Health's document Pandemic influenza: guidance on preparing maternity services in England - draft for comment please click here.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Quid Novi
Hong Kong: cull chickens on bird flu outbreak
12/9/08 Business Times--More than 80,000 chickens will be slaughtered in Hong Kong after bird flu was found at a poultry farm, the first farm outbreak here in nearly six years. 'We have discovered up to 60 dead chickens in that farm. After a series of tests, we have confirmed this morning that the chickens did die from the H5 virus,' Health Secretary York Chow told reporters yesterday.
A health department spokesman said that further tests were needed to determine if it was the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, which has killed about 250 people worldwide since late 2003. Mr Chow said that the outbreak was discovered after a dead chicken had been reported on Monday at the farm in the New Territories area of Hong Kong, near the border with China. All chickens within a three-kilometre radius of the farm would be slaughtered, he said.
Mr Chow said that it was the first outbreak at a farm in Hong Kong since early 2003, and that he had raised the avian flu alert level in the city to 'serious'. Local farms would be barred from selling chickens and eggs for 21 days and imports of chickens would be banned for the same period, he said. All live chickens at one of the city's major wholesale markets, Cheung Sha Wan, would also be slaughtered.
The owner of the affected farm, surnamed Wong, told local broadcaster Cable TV that the chicken deaths had not been sudden.'The chickens did not die in large numbers. They died one by one,' he said.
Hong Kong was the scene of the world's first reported major bird flu outbreak among humans in 1997, when six people died. Earlier this year, Hong Kong announced plans to phase out the sale of live chickens, a popular practice in the southern Chinese city, after the H5N1 virus was identified in samples taken from four street markets in the city. But the move faced strong opposition from chicken traders and farmers, who said that customers preferred freshly killed birds compared to imported frozen chickens. -- AFP
Quid Novi
Indonesia reports new cases of bird flu
12/9/08 Radio Australia--Indonesia has confirmed two new cases of human bird flu, the first officially reported since September.
The World Health Organisation says a girl aged two from East Jakarta died late last month after developing symptoms following a visit to a live bird market.
It says a nine-year old girl developed symptoms about the same time, she was hospitalised and discharged after recovering.
The two latest cases took Indonesia's known number of bird flu infections to 139, including 113 deaths.
