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Avian influenza
Avian influenza is a viral infection found in domestic poultry and a wide range of other birds. Wild waterfowl and shorebirds are often subclinically affected carriers of the virus. In poultry, low-pathogenicity strains can cause subclinical infections; however, some strains typically cause respiratory signs or decreased egg production. Highly pathogenic strains may cause widespread organ failure and sudden death, often with high mortality rates. Diagnosis is based on detection of the viral genome or specific antibodies or on virus isolation. Antimicrobials may help control secondary bacterial infection in flocks affected by low-pathogenicity strains. Antiviral drugs are not approved or recommended. Prevention is best accomplished by biosecurity measures. Vaccines matched for antigenic type can greatly increase resistance to infection, prevent clinical signs, and decrease viral shedding in infected flocks.
The first case of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza has been confirmed in Pakistan. Laboratory tests conducted by the WHO H5 Reference Laboratory in Cairo, Egypt and WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza, in London, United Kingdom have confirmed the presence of avian influenza virus strain A (H5N1) in samples collected from one case in an affected family. The H5N1 positive case was a 25 year old male from the Peshawar area who developed febrile...
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When Bali was hit for the first time by an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, the local economy was still reeling from the impact of bombings in the island’s Kuta nightclub and restaurant precinct. It was late 2003 and another crushing blow for local tourism, Bali’s main industry. Officially, there have been no human deaths in Bali caused by bird flu—also known as avian influenza (AI). But the threat is enough to create panic whenever and wherever the disease appears....
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Following further test results from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) the Acting Chief Veterinary Officer has confirmed that the strain of Avian Influenza present at the Infected Premises near Diss is the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain. Further characterisation of the virus is in progress, which may give an indication of the origin of the strain. Local authorities and Animal Health are enforcing a 3km Protection Zone, a 10km Surveillance Zone and a wider Restricted Zone covering...
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Avian influenza A (AI) H5N1, also known as Asian bird flu, is at the forefront of nearly every daily news report around the world. The reason for this intense interest in AI H5N1 is due to the growing fear that a global pandemic might occur if exchange of genetic material between H5N1 and a human influenza virus results in a virus that can be transmitted from person to person. Avian influenza A viruses pose the threat of initiating new pandemics in humans because the human population...
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The control of epizootics of avian influenza should not rely absolutely on the enforcement and application of phytosanitary regulations (such as culling of infected or suspected birds), with improved biosecurity measures alone, as this may not ensure full proof control of the disease, especially in developing countries with poorer financial resources. The enforcement policy of “stamping out“ for AI was drafted by OIE in 1980, but enacted in...
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An Auburn University veterinary professor in collaboration with researchers at Vaxin Inc. of Birmingham has developed the first "in ovo," or egg-injected, vaccine to protect chickens against avian influenza, a virus threatening human health and global poultry populations.
Haroldo Toro, whose research has been published in the scientific journal Vaccine, says it would provide 100 percent protection once an outbreak's strain is determined.
"We have proven the principle, which is the major...
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The European Union Wednesday lifted a two-year ban on South African ostrich meat imposed after bird flu fears which led to the culling of tens of thousands of birds, the agriculture ministry said.
“The European Union informed South Africa that it accepts the country’s status as free from highly pathogenic notifiable avian influenza,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The export of fresh ostrich meat can therefore resume as from 1 November 2006,” under a new protocol which stipulates...
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A new strain of the killer H5N1 avian flu virus had emerged and become the dominant strain in southern China and southeast Asia by early this year, displacing previous ones, according to a study published on Tuesday.
The strain appeared to be resistant to the current chicken vaccination program and might even be aided by it. It might have begun the third wave of transmission of H5N1 avian flu and could potentially spread throughout Eurasia, the scientists warned in the latest edition of the...
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Bird flu may return to Europe in the coming weeks, spread by wild ducks, swans and geese carrying the lethal virus south from their Arctic mating grounds. Twenty-six European nations reported initial infections of the H5N1 avian influenza strain in poultry or wild birds in late 2005 and early 2006 after a severe winter in Russia and the Caucasus area pushed migratory birds south and westward. The Food and Agriculture Organization said a resurgence of H5N1 in China and Russia indicates...
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Authorities in Zanzibar have incinerated another consignment of chicken eggs smuggled from mainland Tanzania, in the hope of keeping their islands free of avian flu.
"We seized the egg consignment of about 11 boxes imported from the Tanzanian mainland commercial capital of Dar es Salaam," said Kassim Gharib, the head of a task force formed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Natural Resources and Environment.
The task force was establised to ensure that bird flu does not spread...
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Mycotoxin Testing in the Feed Chain: A Risk Prevention Strategy for Raw Material Suppliers, Grain Storage Facilities and Processors, and Feed Manufacturers
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Around 700,000 birds have been culled in Nigeria since the outbreak of Avian flu in February this year, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) official.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Chijioke Osakwe, as giving the figure in a paper he presented at a public function in southeastern city of Enugu.
Osakwe said the birds were culled at a cost of 560 million naira (4.3 million dollars/ 3.4 million euros).
He said the country's poultry industry had 140 million birds,...
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This week the European Commission decided to support 17 projects on avian influenza under the EU’s Sixth Research Framework Program.
One of the selected projects will be executed by Intervet together with its research partners, Friedrich Loeffler Institute Riems and Bommeli AG. They will receive a total funding of € 1.37 million for the duration of three years.
The primary aim of this project is to develop avian influenza vaccines based on live vector vaccines which can be mass applied...
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Around three million domestic fowls in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have been inoculated following an outbreak of bird flu, according to local authorities.
Nearly 1,000 chickens and ducks were reported to have died suddenly on a poultry farm in the Xincheng Village of Jiuyuan District in Baotou City on September 27. The national avian influenza laboratory later confirmed that the H5N1 virus was found in samples of the dead poultry and the remaining 1,046 fowls were...
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Biosecurity New Zealand has completed its first survey of commercial broiler and layer farms throughout the country and found no highly pathogenic avian influenza.
The study was the first phase of an ongoing surveillance programme. MAF will continue to conduct further surveillance to meet its originally stated objectives of confirming the absence of highly pathogenic influenza virus in New Zealand and meeting New Zealand’s international reporting obligations.
New Zealand is part of a...
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The government of Mauritania, considered a high-risk country for avian flu, has submitted a national prevention plan against the disease to international peers at a conference in Nouakchott.
The prevention plan would require global financing estimated at 4.63 million US dollars (3,65 million euros).
Millions of birds migrate to Mauritania each year from Europe, via the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean and tropical paths through Africa.
This migratory pattern and the existence of...
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Embrex, Inc., The In Ovo Company has delivered to Shenzhen Neptunus Interlong Bio-technique Co. Ltd., Shenzhen, P.R. China, an Egg Remover® system and an Inovoject ® system. These have been installed in SNI's new state-of –the – art human influenza vaccine manufacturing facility at High-Tech Industrial Park Guangming, Shenzhen. Embrex will also provide regular service of the equipment.
The manufacturing facility, which has recently completed construction, is believed to be the...
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Intervet, the world’s largest animal vaccine producer and a business unit of Akzo Nobel, has been granted an EU licence for its Nobilis Influenza H5N2 vaccine. As a result Europe now has a licensed vaccine to protect birds against the current H5N1 field strain particularly in autumn/winter, the period of greatest epidemiological risk for European bird populations. If embedded in national control programs, vaccination contributes substantially to controlling bird flu, preventing mortality and...
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A new wave of bird flu outbreaks may occur in Romania next month, when wild birds start migrating from Siberia, but the Black Sea state will be better prepared to deal with it, Romania's chief veterinarian said.
Romania was the first country to detect the deadly H5N1 virus in birds in Europe in September last year, but earlier this year it had contained the last wave of the disease.
After Romania, which is crossed by major migratory paths for wild birds, the virus spread across Europe,...
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Viet Nam is expected to use a domestically-produced bird flu vaccine for poultry by early next year, according to director of the National Animal Health Institute Truong Van Dung.
Currently, Viet Nam imports its stocks of bird flu vaccine from China.
In a meeting held by the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Prevention and Control on Tuesday, Dung said that after successful testing of the locally-produced vaccine on geese and chickens, the institute had begun defining the permitted...
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According to trade sources, egg exports have been restarted in India after declaring itself ‘Bird flu-free’. India dispatched its first egg shipment to Muscat.
Due to the bird flu outbreak in Maharashtra last February, all the countries around the world had stopped importing eggs from India. But the epidemic was brought under control successfully by the several steps taken by the Union government, including culling of lakhs of birds.
Consequently, the Indian government declared the...
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