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Published Date: 2005-08-19 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza - Asia (06): Mongolia, migratory birds, H5N1
Archive Number: 20050819.2443

AVIAN INFLUENZA - ASIA (06): MONGOLIA, MIGRATORY BIRDS, H5N1
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[1]
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source:Wildlife Conservation Society Release, 18 Aug 2005, via Mongabay com
[edited]
<http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0818-wcs_flu.html>http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0818-wcs_flu.html

Avian flu, H5N1, identified in wild Mongolian birds
----------------------------------------------
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has positively
identified the pathogenic form of avian flu -- H5N1 -- in samples taken
from birds last week in Mongolia by field veterinarians from the Wildlife
Conservation Society (WCS). It is the 1st instance of this viral strain
occurring in wild migratory birds with no apparent contact to domestic
poultry or waterfowl.
Present in Mongolia for a health survey of wild bird populations in the
south and north of the country, WCS field vets Drs. William Karesh and
Martin Gilbert responded to initial reports of the most recent avian
influenza outbreak in Kovsgol Province near the Russian border from the
Mongolian Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which conducted preliminary
testing of birds that died at Erkhel Lake. Their finding coincided with
confirmations of cases of avian influenza in Russia and Kazakhstan. Karesh
and Gilbert immediately traveled to the site with a team of Mongolian
virologists, veterinarians, and public health officials. Approximately 100
dead birds were found at the site.
The team -- including personnel from WCS, the Mongolian National Academy of
Sciences, the Mongolian Institute of Veterinary Medicine, the State Central
Veterinary Laboratory, Ministry of Food and Agriculture Veterinary
Department, and the Ministry of Health Mongolian Center of Communicable
Diseases with Natural Foci -- collected samples from hundreds of wild
birds, both live and dead including, ruddy shelduck, herring gull,
black-headed gull, bar-headed goose, whooper swan, and Eurasian wigeon that
are all at risk for contracting the virus.
Recent reports of influenza outbreaks in wild birds in China and Russia
have failed to put die-offs in perspective with the numbers of unaffected
birds, thus there was no way to assess the impact. The WCS team at Erkhel
Lake in Mongolia collected this information for the 1st time. Overall, over
6500 apparently healthy birds of 55 species were observed on the lake. The
percentage of sick or dead birds was miniscule according to Gilbert
following the survey, suggesting that either the virus had little effect on
the birds or that very few were actually infected by the bug. Early results
suggest that it may be the latter.
Supported by the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (F.A.O.), the
team has sent the samples (774 in total) to the USDA's Poultry Research
Laboratory in Athens, Georgia, for further testing to determine whether
this virus is the H5N1 strain that has killed over 50 people in Southeast
Asia and more than 5000 wild birds in western China. As of today,
preliminary tests from one dead whooper swan collected in Mongolia have
shown the presence of the H5N1 strain of Avian Influenza using RT-PCR,
while results from 30 live whooper swans living at the same site and also a
nearby lake were negative for the virus. Samples collected from other live
birds at the 2 sites, including 60 ruddy shelducks, 24 bar-headed geese,
and 25 black-headed gulls, were found to be negative for the virus.
Whereas prior outbreaks in wild birds have happened either in close
proximity to infected domestic poultry and waterfowl, or in regions where
such contact could not be excluded, Mongolia's paucity of domestic poultry
suggests a new vector of avian flu. Finding the H5N1 strain during this
expedition suggests that while the highly pathogenic avian influenza can be
carried across long distances, the waterfowl species typically identified
in recent outbreaks appear to be victims rather than effective carriers of
the disease.
The multidisciplinary, collaborative response to this latest outbreak
reflects the WCS One World-One Health approach to making informed,
multidisciplinary decisions on global health crises that intersect human,
wildlife, and livestock health. WCS experts are warning that to contain
this potential epidemic, prevention activities must include better
management practices in farms, especially those that are small and
open-air, where domestic poultry and waterfowl are allowed to intermingle
with wild birds. Officials would also need to monitor wildlife markets,
where wild and domesticated species are kept in close proximity, and risk
exposure to a wide range of pathogens.
Wildlife and health experts, including the F.A.O., maintain that
indiscriminate culling of wild migratory bird populations would be
ineffective in preventing the spread of avian flu. "Focusing our limited
resources on the hubs and activities where humans, livestock, and wildlife
come into close contact," says Dr. William Karesh, Director of WCS's Field
Veterinary Program, who lead the WCS team in Mongolia, is "the best hope
for successfully preventing the spread of avian flu and protecting both
people and animals."
******
[2]
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005
From: ProMED-mail
Source: OIE Disease Information Disease Information 19 Aug 2005 Vol. 18 -
No. 33 [edited]
<http://www.oie.int/eng/info/hebdo/AIS_57.HTM#Sec6 >

Avian influenza in Mongolia in migratory birds (follow-up report No. 1) See
also: 12 Aug 2005
Information received on 18 Aug 2005 from Dr Ravdan Sanjaatogtokh, Director,
State Veterinary Services, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ulaanbaatar:
End of previous report period: 10 Aug 2005 (see Disease Information, 18
[32], 253, dated 12 Aug 2005).
End of this report period: 18 Aug 2005.
Suspicious samples were sent on 15 Aug 2005 to the OIE Reference Laboratory
for avian influenza at Hokkaido University, Japan. The following test
results were received on 17 Aug 2005:
Sample reference / Bird species / Location / Influenza A virus subtype
No. 1 / bar-headed goose (_Anser indicus_) / Erhel lake, Huvsgel province/ H5
[There is no sample No. 2]
No. 3 / whooper swan (_Cygnus cygnus_) / Erhel lake, Huvsgel province / H5
No. 4 / whooper swan (_Cygnus cygnus_) / Erhel lake, Huvsgel province / H5
Analysis of samples is still in progress.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Mongolia's emergency notification to the OIE on the observations in
migratory birds (see 20050813.2367) reported that the causal agent was
"avian influenza virus type A" and that subtyping was in progress. In
today's (19 Aug 2005) Mongolia's follow-up report to the OIE, the temporary
results of the virological investigation in 3 samples,from migratory birds
found dead at Erhel lake are reportedly H5. The report states that
"Analysis of samples is still in progress". The said results were received
on 17 Aug 2005 from the OIE Reference Laboratory for avian influenza at
Hokkaido University, Japan, to which they had been sent on 15 Aug 2005. See
the follow-up report at <http://www.oie.int/eng/info/hebdo/AIS_57.HTM#Sec6>.
The final results from the OIE reference laboratory in Japan, as well as
the genotyping of the identified virus strains from both investigating
laboratories, are anticipated with interest. - Mod. AS].
[Given the reports above, there is a high probability this virus will turn
out to be H5N1. This only underscores the fact that H5N1 is circulating in
both wild birds and domestic poultry over large areas of Central
Asia. Moreover, the typing of the Russian H5N1 virus indicates that the
virus has a relatively close genetic relationship to the strain circulating
in Southeast Asia. One potential interpretation of the mounting evidence
on the distribution of H5N1 in space and over species is that it has
expanded its geographic range by developing a heretofore unrecognized level
of intensity in its relationship with migratory birds, which unfortunately
includes host mortality.
Cooperation of all parties involved, as seen in Mongolia, is critical in
understanding the implications of the new geographic range of the
disease. Results of genetic typing of all isolates in all species is
critical and will hopefully aid in the interpretation of the molecular
epidemiology of this newly emerged disease. - Mod.PC]

See Also