Mutant Bird Flu Studies Should Be Revealed in Full, Experts Say

The results of two studies that created more transmissible forms of the H5N1 bird flu virus will be published in full — at some point, flu scientists and public health officials meeting today (Feb. 17) at the World Health Organization have agreed.

A moratorium on research on lab-created viruses and H5N1 transmission in mammals, as well as on the publication of the two studies, will continue, most likely lasting "a matter of months," said Keiji Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general for health security and the environment, in a news conference with reporters today at the conclusion of the two-day meeting.

The delay is needed to explain the importance of the research and address anxieties the research has raised, Fukuda said. The delay would also allow officials time to re-assess the biosafety and biosecurity conditions necessary for this kind of work. He pointed out, there was no hint of problems at the two facilities in question.  

The group of 22 officials reached a "quite strong agreement that full disclosure of the information contained in these studies was really important from both the public health and scientific perspectives," Fukuda said.

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/18536-mutant-flu-h5n1-experiments-publication.html

Bird flu hits Thimphu

hangedaphu (Kalabazar) A bird flu outbreak in Thimphu was confirmed yesterday afternoon after the deaths of 38 chickens in the past week at the camp in Changedaphu (Kalabazar).

Another 11 were found sick. These birds are from five houses that had 49 birds in all. The National Centre for Animal Health in Serbithang confirmed the outbreak.

By last evening, a team of officials from the Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA), the livestock department, health, police and city officials had dug a two-feet deep pit to dispose the culled birds.

An emergency meeting of the National Incident Command Centre (NICC) for bird flu was held yesterday following the deaths.

The culling began last night after the team reached Thimphu from Tshimasham. “Since the place is within the city it could pose a high risk for human health although this is the first case in the city,” officials said.

Livestock officials said the birds had started dying since January 8, but were informed by the residents only on January 12, after the death of two birds, which tested positive for bird flu.

Dairy division chief with the livestock department and the spokesperson for bird flu, Dr Tashi Dorji, said the residents had already buried nine dead birds.

The disease, according to Dr Tashi Dorji, is similar to a disaster, with no treatment besides culling. “The H5N1 virus infects humans as well, and people should avoid eating eggs and chicken from the flu-affected areas,” he said.

While the investigation to find the source of infection is on, officials suspect the flu could have spread from Tshimasham, where the flu outbreak was first reported. “Tshimasham could be a possible source, and it could also be wild birds, such as pigeons,” Dr Tashi Dorji said.

The team will start spraying disinfectant today at the junction of Kuenselphodrang and Kalabazar.  Areas around Thimphu such as Samarzingkha, Police camp, RICB, Hospital area, Upper Changzamtog are considered high risk areas.

There are 17,144 birds alone under Thimphu Dzongkhag excluding those in the city area as per the poultry population report, 2011.

Meanwhile, just three days after the six-month ban on the import of poultry and poultry products from India was lifted, the ban is re-imposed following an outbreak of bird flu at Orissa, India. All BAFRA permits related to poultry and poultry products that have been granted to date will be considered cancelled.

By Tashi Yangzom

http://www.kuenselonline.com/2011/?p=25054

Bird flu - Hong Kong alert

Hong Kong orders chicken cull as bird flu alert raised

Hong Kong is culling 17,000 chickens after three birds were confirmed to have died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in the past week.


The government has banned imports and the sale of live chickens for three weeks after an infected chicken carcass was found at a wholesale market on Tuesday.

It has also raised the city's flu alert system to "serious".

Two wild birds were also found to have died of the the virus.

The government said it was tracing the source of the chicken carcass, but it was not clear whether the chicken came from a local farm or was imported.

"I understand that it will cause inconvenience to the public, and the poultry trade will also encounter losses," said Hong Kong's secretary for food and health, York Chow.

"However, to safeguard public health, we need to adopt decisive and effective measures to prevent and control the spread of the virus."

On Tuesday, a dead Oriental magpie found at a secondary school tested positive for bird flu.

Another secondary school closed for a day for disinfection last Friday after a dead black-headed gull was found with the virus.

Hong Kong is quick to take action against infectious diseases after an outbreak of the deadly respiratory disease SARS in 2003 killed 300 people in the city and a further 500 worldwide.

In 2009, 300 people were placed under quarantine at a Hong Kong hotel after a guest contracted swine flu.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16280698

Lab-made bird flu details not to be revealed

Details of lab-made bird flu won't be revealed
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government paid scientists to figure out how the deadly bird flu virus might mutate to become a bigger threat to people — and two labs succeeded in creating new strains that are easier to spread.

On Tuesday, federal officials took the unprecedented step of asking those scientists not to publicize all the details of how they did it.

The worry: That this research with lots of potential to help the public might also be hijacked by would-be bioterrorists. The labs found that it appears easier than scientists had thought for the so-called H5N1 bird flu to evolve in a way that lets it spread easily between at least some mammals.

"It wasn't an easy decision," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the original research.

The scary-sounding viruses are locked in high-security labs as researchers at the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin-Madison prepare to publish their findings in leading scientific journals. That's the way scientists share their work so that their colleagues can build on it, perhaps creating better ways to monitor bird flu in the wild, for example.

But biosecurity advisers to the government recommended that the journals Science and Nature publish only the general discoveries, not the full blueprint for these man-made strains. Tuesday, the government announced that it agreed and made the request.

Read more here ...

Bird flu deaths in Asia prompt call for scrutiny

(Reuters) - Virologists warned on Tuesday that there was no vaccine against a mutant strain of H5N1 bird flu now spreading in China and Vietnam and called for closer monitoring of the disease in poultry and wild birds to stop it spreading to people.

The call came after the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Monday of a possible resurgence of bird flu and said a mutant strain of the H5N1 was spreading in Asia and beyond.

While scientists are uncertain if this new strain -- called H5N1-2.3.2.1 -- is more virulent in people, they said it was different enough from its predecessor to escape a human H5N1 vaccine that can tackle the parent strain.

"There is a human H5N1 vaccine candidate that is a (WHO)recommended vaccine ... But it doesn't confer full protection against the (new variant)," said leading virologist Malik Peiris at the University of Hong Kong.

"But that is not unusual. H5 viruses keep changing and we have to change the vaccine strain."

The World Health Organization meets twice a year, in February and September, when experts discuss and decide on the makeup of candidate influenza vaccines.

H5N1 kills up to 60 percent of the people it infects. It has resurfaced in recent months, most notably in Cambodia where it has infected eight people this year, killing all of them.

"H5N1 cases in Cambodia always have high mortality because they are detected late," Peiris told Reuters in an interview.

"It doesn't necessarily indicate that this particular virus strain is more virulent to humans. But it is a threat because it has become more widespread globally."

(Reporting by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Nick Macfie)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/30/us-birdflu-asia-mutant-idUSTRE77T1VM20110830

Lethal bird flu confirmed in S.Korea wild duck

SEOUL — One of five wild ducks found dead in South Korea this week was confirmed Saturday to have been infected with a lethal strain of the bird flu virus as the country battles its first outbreak in over two years.


Tests showed one of the five dead birds found in Sacheon City on December 26 had been stricken with the H5N1 virus, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

The same strain -- which poses a risk to humans -- has also been detected in wild birds and their faeces at four other locations across the country since December 7, it said.

South Korea on Friday confirmed the outbreak of bird flu and more than 100,000 birds have been slaughtered as authorities seek to contain its spread.

Two poultry farms, one in the central city of Cheonan and the other in the southwestern city of Iksan, were confirmed to have been contaminated, the ministry said.

Health authorities placed a quarantine zone over a 10 kilometre (6.25 mile) radius, restricting movements of vehicles and people and carrying out emergency disinfection.

They have also stepped up inspections of wild birds and urged poultry businesses to take extra precautions such as erecting nets around their farms to keep wild birds out.

The avian influenza outbreak is likely to further strain the country's health system, which has already been struggling to contain swine flu and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) cases across the country.

South Korea has been hit by bird flu three times, with the last outbreak in April 2008.

In 2008, South Korea had to cull more than eight million birds to curb the virus, resulting in damages estimated at 200 billion won (194 million dollars at the time).

Four people were confirmed to have been infected with the bird flu virus in late 2003 in South Korea but they showed few symptoms, health authorities said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j6RZqSGB3laVpjiY3BD9kWTH4oHA?docId=CNG.2ed0801c7a83ed76b6d4fc3f23c9c7a5.831

Lethal bird flu confirmed in S.Korea wild duck

SEOUL — One of five wild ducks found dead in South Korea this week was confirmed Saturday to have been infected with a lethal strain of the bird flu virus as the country battles its first outbreak in over two years.


Tests showed one of the five dead birds found in Sacheon City on December 26 had been stricken with the H5N1 virus, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

The same strain -- which poses a risk to humans -- has also been detected in wild birds and their faeces at four other locations across the country since December 7, it said.

South Korea on Friday confirmed the outbreak of bird flu and more than 100,000 birds have been slaughtered as authorities seek to contain its spread.

Two poultry farms, one in the central city of Cheonan and the other in the southwestern city of Iksan, were confirmed to have been contaminated, the ministry said.

Health authorities placed a quarantine zone over a 10 kilometre (6.25 mile) radius, restricting movements of vehicles and people and carrying out emergency disinfection.

They have also stepped up inspections of wild birds and urged poultry businesses to take extra precautions such as erecting nets around their farms to keep wild birds out.

The avian influenza outbreak is likely to further strain the country's health system, which has already been struggling to contain swine flu and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) cases across the country.

South Korea has been hit by bird flu three times, with the last outbreak in April 2008.

In 2008, South Korea had to cull more than eight million birds to curb the virus, resulting in damages estimated at 200 billion won (194 million dollars at the time).

Four people were confirmed to have been infected with the bird flu virus in late 2003 in South Korea but they showed few symptoms, health authorities said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j6RZqSGB3laVpjiY3BD9kWTH4oHA?docId=CNG.2ed0801c7a83ed76b6d4fc3f23c9c7a5.831