Published Date: 2005-11-18 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza - Eurasia (68): wild birds
Archive Number: 20051118.3359
AVIAN INFLUENZA - EURASIA (68): WILD BIRDS
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In this update:
[1] Global bird migration data system
[2] Taiwan: local and exported wild birds
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[1] Global bird migration data system
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Reuters via WireService, 18 Nov 2005 [edited]
<http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1118777&tw=wn_wire_story>
The United Nations is to set up a bird flu early warning system to alert
countries of incoming migratory birds which could be carrying the deadly
virus, a UN official said on Friday [18 Nov 2005]. The system, which will
take 1-2 years to become operational, will provide precise details of the
types of wild birds, arrival times and destinations -- giving countries
enough time to prepare.
"Migrations don't all occur on the same day or even at the same time as
they are sometimes affected by either local or seasonal variations in
climate," said Robert Hepworth, a UN official who heads the Convention on
Migratory Species (CMS). "So we would need to have a system whereby there
was sufficient warning."
World leaders are trying to control a growing outbreak of the HSN1 avian
influenza, which has spread to poultry in several Asian and European
countries, killing 67 people since late 2003. In a Reuters interview,
Hepworth said scientists, governments and experts across the world had
information about migratory birds, but it was inaccessible and not shared.
He said all the information would be collected and centralized in a global
computerized system which would constantly update and monitor bird
migration patterns, warning countries of any potential threat.
"I think what you'll get is a system whereby there are several stages of
alert and warning where we'll be able to provide generic information about
particular species which will be arriving at this particular time and may
be carrying the virus," Hepworth said. "We would like to be able to give
countries as much warning as possible -- it could be weeks, it could be
months."
The system is being set up by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and CMS,
a treaty concluded under the aegis of UNEP. The project will gather a team
of experts to collect information, maps and charts from national
governments, conservation and wildlife bodies.
Hepworth said the main beneficiaries of the system would be developing
countries, many of which do not have enough resources to take countrywide
preventative action. "The problem we have in Africa and other developing
countries is that the kind of measures that may be appropriate in Europe
such as locking up poultry and separating them from wild birds are not
practical in these countries," he said. "The early warning system will
actually pinpoint where the higher risk areas might be, so developing
country officials can target those specific areas," he said, adding this
would be more cost-effective a more general countrywide approach.
The cost of setting up the bird flu early warning system is expected range
between USD 200 000-300 000, which UNEP and CMS officials say is a small
amount compared to the budgets being spent on containing the virus. They
add that the challenge is not in the financial resources required but in
the commitment from stakeholders to devote the time and energy in providing
the required information.
[byline: Nita Bhalla]
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[A highly commendable, timely initiative indeed. - Mod.AS]
******
[2] Taiwan: local and exported wild birds
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: The China Post, Taiwan, 18 Nov 2005 [edited]
<http://www.chinapost.com.tw/p_detail.asp?id=72132&GRP=A&onNews=>
Animal health officials yesterday [17 Nov 2005] ruled out infection by the
deadly bird flu virus after testing migratory bird droppings in the wetland
areas of Tainan. They also said an avian flu virus strain was found in the
212 dead birds abandoned by their owner at a park in Taichung City.
Officials said the tests showed a strain of avian flu, H7N3, discovered in
migratory bird droppings at 4 patches of wetland in southern Tainan County
this week was a low-pathogenic form of the virus. The animal health
inspection division of the Council of Agriculture (COA) said in a statement
the strain was unlikely to cause illness in birds or humans.
But the COA and the local county government has erected warning signs in
the marsh where the droppings were discovered, advising people to stay away.
Officials said there are no poultry farms nearby. But they have also
alerted the chicken and duck raisers to carry out thorough anti-flu
measures like quarantine and disinfection for precaution.
Like the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu, which has killed more than 60
people around Asia, the H7N3 strain can infect humans. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO), H5 and H7 viruses are the only avian
influenza subtypes implicated in outbreaks of the highly pathogenic diseases.
It was the 2nd time the H7N3 strain had been detected in Taiwan. The 1st
case was discovered in the outskirts of Taipei in April [2005], health
officials said.
COA experts also ruled out infection by lethal bird flu after examining the
more than 200 dead birds at the Metropolitan Park in Taichung City, central
Taiwan. They rushed to the park after receiving reports about the more than
300 pet birds forsaken by their unknown owners.
A total of 212 birds already died, probably from the sudden drop in
temperature and hunger. Officials have sent the 114 live ones to a zoo
nearby for shelter. Further tests will be conducted, the officials said.
Separately, the government already assigned veterinary epidemiologists to
Britain to sort out government skepticism of a report by British
authorities that the virulent H5N1 bird flu strain was found in
Taiwan-exported silver-eared mesias, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official
said. [This is the 1st mention on the exact identity of the "mesias"
involved in the UK quarantine affaire. Silver-eared mesias, _Leiothrix
argentauris_, are known to be distributed from the eastern Himalayas to
western China, ranging south, down through Indo-China to Malaysia and
Sumatra. They also reside in the north and north east of the Indian
subcontinent, south west China, and south east Tibet. They live in bushes
on the edge of broadleaved forest, secondary growth, jungle and scrub at
elevations of 500-2000 m. See
<http://www.honoluluzoo.org/silver-eared_mesia.htm>. - Mod.AS]
Liao Tung-chou, deputy director-general of the foreign ministry's
Department of International Organizations, said it is necessary for both
sides to discuss the case face-to-face in light of the doubts that Taiwan
has over the report. The proposal has been accepted by Britain, Liao said,
adding that the foreign ministry will cooperate with and provide assistance
to the COA on the matter.
He said the Taipei Representative Office in the United Kingdom spoke with
British officials on the case immediately after the report was released and
that Taiwan, through other channels, has also urged the British government
to handle the case carefully.
According to the report released Tuesday [15 Nov 2005] by the British
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 53 of a shipment of 101
mesias imported from Taiwan had died. But it was not clear how many of them
died of the avian flu virus. Tests showed that the H5N1 strain was present
only within a group of mesias imported from Taiwan, the report said.
Officials at the COA's Bureau of Plant and Animal Health Inspection and
Quarantine challenged the credibility of the report, claiming that no bird
in Taiwan has so far tested positive for H5N1.
Taiwan has not experienced a major outbreak of H5N1. In October 2005, the
island found only its 2nd case of the deadly strain since 2003 in birds
smuggled in a container ship from China. Out of 1037 birds smuggled from
China to Taiwan aboard a Panama-registered ship in mid-October 2005, random
testing found 8 of the 276 dead birds to be infected with the H5N1 avian
flu virus. COA officials told consumers not to worry about eating chicken
and duck (or their eggs) raised on the island.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Several pending points related to the UK quarantine-station event have
been discussed in posting 20051115.3343. - Mod.AS]
See Also
Avian influenza - Eurasia (67): wild birds 20051118.3355Avian influenza - Eurasia (65): UK, Viet Nam, China 20051115.3343
Avian influenza - Eurasia (61): wild ducks, Italy,... 20051112.3318
Avian influenza - Eurasia (60): wild birds, Kuwait... 20051112.3304
Avian influenza - Eurasia (58): wild birds, Italy,... 20051110.3286
Avian influenza - Eurasia (52): Romania, migratory... 20051106.3247
Avian influenza - Eurasia (49): wild birds 20051103.3211
Avian influenza - Eurasia (47): swan, Croatia, susp 20051102.3196
Avian influenza - Eurasia (45): Finland, avian spp. 20051101.3191
Avian influenza - Eurasia (44): Europe 20051031.3181
Avian influenza - Eurasia (41): WHO H5N1 timeline 20051029.3160
Avian influenza - Eurasia (33) : Indonesia, UK, EU 20051026.3122
Avian influenza - Eurasia (23): Croatia, H5N1, swan 20051021.3076
Avian influenza - Asia (30): Indonesia, zoo birds 20050922.2800
Avian influenza - Asia (25): migratory birds 20050909.2675
Avian influenza - Asia (22): Thailand, H5N1, RFI 20050907.2648
Avian influenza - Asia (17): Mongolia, migratory b... 20050902.2597
Avian influenza, human - East Asia (122): migrator... 20050902.2595
Avian influenza, migratory birds - Mongolia: OIE (03) 20050813.2367
Avian influenza, migratory birds - Mongolia (02) 20050812.2362
Avian influenza, migrating birds - Asia 20050812.2354
Avian influenza, migratory birds - Mongolia: OIE 20050808.2317
Avian influenza, wild waterfowl - China (09) 20050714.2006
Avian influenza, wild waterfowl - China (08) 20050707.1922
Avian influenza, wild waterfowl - China (07) 20050702.1872
Avian influenza - Eastern Asia (58): waterfowl 20050625.1786
Avian influenza, wild waterfowl - China 20050527.1462
..............arn/pg/sh
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