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Published Date: 2006-04-05 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza - worldwide (78): Germany, P.A., India
Archive Number: 20060405.1018

AVIAN INFLUENZA - WORLDWIDE (78): GERMANY, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, INDIA
***********************************************
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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In this update
[1] Germany (Saxony): poultry, H5N1
[2] Germany, wild birds: update
[3] Palestinian authority (Gaza strip), poultry
[4] India (Maharshastra): poultry
******
[1] Germany (Saxony): poultry, H5N1
Date: Wed 5 Apr 2006
From: Mary Marshall <tropical.forestry@btinternet.com>
Source: Reuters Alertnet, 5 Apr 2006 [edited]
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L05622724.htm>

Germany confirms 1st case of H5N1 in domestic fowl
-----------------------------------------------
Authorities in the eastern German state of Saxony said on Wed 5 Apr 2006
that tests have confirmed for the 1st time the presence of the deadly H5N1
bird flu virus in domestic fowl.
This is the 2nd confirmed case of H5N1 in domestic fowl in the European
Union after a case in France in late February 2006.
"This is the 1st case of H5N1 in domestic fowl (in Germany), and this makes
it somewhat explosive," Saxony's Minister of Social Affairs, Helma Orosz,
told a news conference. "Tonight we will start to kill all the birds."
Several EU countries, including Germany, have reported cases of avian flu
in wild birds, but most have so far managed to keep it out of domestic flocks.
Orosz said the farm had been exempt from a poultry lock-up, which had been
in force across Germany since 17 Feb 2006 to prevent avian flu spreading
from wild birds to domestic fowl.
The 1st birds had died on Sunday [2 Apr 2006] on the farm, which houses
more than 16 000 turkeys, geese and chickens, officials said.
A restricted quarantine zone with a radius of 3 km (2 miles) was
established, along with a larger observation area inside a 13-km radius
from the location of the H5N1-infected birds.
The European Commission in Brussels said the situation will be discussed by
the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health this afternoon
in the light of the information received from the German authorities.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[According to the website of the German Broadcasting Service, Deutche
Welle-World, the Ministry for Social Affairs in Dresden said tests had
confirmed that some 20 dead turkeys on a poultry farm in the district
Muldentalkreis near Leipzig had tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird
flu. The German daily Die Welt reports that the affected farm includes 8000
turkeys, 5000 geese and 3000 chickens.
The measures taken in Europe to lock-up domestic fowl seem to have been
fully justified; it will be interesting to be informed on the background
that led the authorities to exempt the affected farm from this measure. It
is also worthwhile mentioning that no cases of avian influenza in wild
birds have been reported from Saxony (see next passage).
According to the currently available information, the outbreak is in the
village Raum Mutzschen/Wermsdorf
[see
],
in the district Muldentalkreis, Saxony, East Germany. Wermsdorf can be
found on the Saxony map, about 20 km southeast of Wurzen (east of Leipzig) at
<http://www.supertravelnet.com/maps/index.php?action=showmap&country=164_9002_5&language=1>;
there is a detailed map at
<http://www.fallingrain.com/world/GM/13/Wermsdorf.html>.
A hotline, and the exact details (in German) of the quarantine zone and the
observation area, are available at
<http://www.lra-mtl.de/>
- Mod.AS]
******
[2] Germany, wild birds, update
Date: Wed 5 Apr 2006
From: Franz Conraths <franz.conraths@fli.bund.de>

Present (4 Apr 2006) situation regarding Avian Influenza in Germany
-----------------------------------------------
A detailed report (in German) with maps is available at
<http://bfav.hnm.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Dokumente/News/av_Influ/LB_Influenza.pdf>.
Please note that 9 cases were added after the report had been put on the
website today [4 Apr 2006]. Therefore, the following numbers differ
slightly from those in the report on our website.
1st detection in 4 swans discovered dead on the island of Rugen in the
Baltic Sea on 8 Feb 2006. Present situation (4 Apr, 2006, 16.00, CEST)
a. Germany (total):
273 wild birds
3 cats
1 stone marten
b. Spatial distribution (by Federal States)
Baden-Wurttemberg: 17 wild birds; 5 counties affected, focus at the Bodensee
Bavaria: 47 wild birds; 18 counties affected
Berlin: 1 wild bird;
Brandenburg: 15 wild birds ; 5 counties affected
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: 186 wild birds; 7 counties and towns
affected, focus on the Island of Rugen:
3 domestic cats; Island of Rugen
1 stone marten; Island of Rugen
Lower Saxony: 2 wild birds; 2 counties affected
Schleswig-Holstein: 12 wild birds; 4 counties affected
c. Host range (wild birds):
_Anserinae_ (swans and geese)
_Anatinae_ (ducks)
_Falconiformes_ (birds of prey)
_Larii_ (gulls, terns)
_Pelecaniformes_
_Passeriformes_, _Corvidae_
_Gruiformes_, _Rallidae_
_Podicipediformes_
_Ciconiiformes_
--
Franz J. Conraths, PD Dr. med. vet., DipEVPC,
Direktor and Professor
Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut,
Federal Research Institute for Animal Health
Institute of Epidemiology
Seestr. 55
16868 Wusterhausen
Germany
<franz.conraths@fli.bund.de>
[We are very grateful to Prof. Conraths for the above complementary
information. The German website, mentioned above, includes comprehensive,
updated information and maps on avian influenza in Germany, as well as
important data -- and maps -- from other European and extra-European
countries. - Mod.AS]
******
[3] Palestinian authority (Gaza strip), poultry
Date: Wed 5 Apr 2006
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Jerusalem Post, 5 Apr 2006 [edited]
<http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498803652&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter>

Culling causing protein shortage in Gaza
-----------------------------------------------
Poultry supplies, the primary source of protein in the Gaza Strip, were
being severely affected by measures implemented to contain the spread of
the H5N1 avian flu virus. According to Ambrogio Manenti, regional head of
office for the United Nations World Health Organization, the recent
closures of the Karni border crossing with Israel have limited the import
of alternative protein sources, further increasing concern over a nutrition
gap in the Palestinian food supply.
At a press conference in Jerusalem on Thursday [it seems that this should
read Wednesday, 5 Apr 2006], UN officials commended Israeli-Palestinian
cooperation on the avian flu threat and called for increased aid in
fighting the spread of bird flu in the Palestinian territories. Some 250
000 birds have been culled by UN officials and PA agencies so far. The
figure represents 10 percent of the total estimated number of fowl in the
Gaza Strip. More than 30 000 farmers lost their chickens to the culling and
were left unable to provide for their estimated 200 000 family members.
An additional 250 000 birds were slated for culling, according to UN
officials, who said they believed the process would be carried out within a
few days. The culling is conducted by UN and Palestinian health officials
through the poisoning of the chickens' water supply. This is only done once
the farmers give their permission, after which the corpses are gathered and
buried between layers of plastic sheeting in deep ditches outside the farms.
The farmers were promised compensation by the UN and the PA. However,
according to Luigi Damiani, project manager for the UN's Food and
Agricultural Organization, compensation involves more than just paying for
the chickens. It must compensate for the downtime in which the farmers have
nothing to sell and for restocking once the bird flu threat has passed. The
process of culling, vaccinating and restocking, Damiani cautioned, would
take many months. The lack of animal protein in the Palestinians' food
supplies during this time was particularly problematic for children.
Although Israel was being "proactive" in dealing with the bird flu threat
both inside Israel and with regards to the PA, UN Special Coordinator for
the Middle East Peace Process Alvero de Soto said that the "irregular
opening of the Karni crossing" represented a significant problem. While
this problem was long-standing, the UN envoy said, the bird flu situation
has made it more pronounced.
When asked whether any measures were being taken to replace protein
supplies in the Palestinian territories, Damiani said that there were
discussions in the World Food Program regarding the addition of fish to
food supplies already being sent to the Palestinian territories. In
addition, Damiani suggested, if Israel would allow fishing off the Gaza
coast, it could add sardines to the Palestinian market. "Sardines are a
cheap fish," he noted, "so the average person will be able to afford it."
Israel provided several dozen doses of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu on loan
to the PA, Manenti told reporters, adding that countries needed to purchase
enough doses of Tamiflu to treat 25-30 percent of their population. But, he
said, "even Israel can't afford that." The PA needed doses for at least 3
percent of its population just to deal with the direct threat of infection,
at a cost of some USD 2 million. Meanwhile, Manenti said, the UN needed
several hundred doses immediately for those officials and farmers who were
exposed to the infected birds.
A WHO mission to the Gaza Strip will release its findings later on Thursday
[6 Apr 2006] regarding the spread of bird flu in Israel and the Palestinian
Authority and will issue specific recommendations for responding to the threat.
In mid-March 2006, bird flu was confirmed in Israel in 2 agricultural
communities outside the Gaza Strip. By 23 Mar 2006, the PA had confirmed
bird flu cases in 2 commercial chicken farms in Gaza. No human cases have
been reported in either Israel or the Palestinian territories.
[Byline: Haviv rettig]
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
******
[4] India (Maharshastra): poultry
Date: Wed 5 Apr 2006
From: Mary Marshall <tropical.forestry@btinternet.com>
Source: Reuters Alertnet, 5 Apr 2006 [edited]
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP238093.htm>

Bird flu spreads to more villages in western India
-----------------------------------------------
More poultry samples have tested positive for H5 avian influenza in India's
western state of Maharashtra, which has been struggling to contain bird flu
since February, officials said on Wednesday, 5 Apr 2006.
The latest outbreak has hit 14 new villages in the Jalgaon district of
Maharashtra, near the site of 2 earlier outbreaks, Maharashtra's health
director T.P. Doke told Reuters.
Officials said they suspected that further tests would confirm the virus
was the H5N1 strain which had already struck the area.
"Laboratory tests have shown it is H5, which is bird flu. We suspect it
will also turn out to be H5N1, because the new outbreak is in the same
area," said Uttam Khobragade, Maharashtra's top animal husbandry official.
Besides Maharashtra, the virus has struck poultry in Burhanpur district of
the central state of Madhya Pradesh, close to Jalgaon.
Indian authorities have sought to play down subsequent outbreaks, since the
1st one in mid-February 2006, saying they should not be treated as fresh
cases because the new infections were being reported from an area earlier
identified as a bird flu zone.
"Dozens of samples from poultry had been collected after the 1st outbreak,"
said Bijay Kumar, Maharashtra's animal husbandry commissioner. "The results
of those are coming out in phases."
In Jalgaon, veterinary and civic workers were identifying a 10-km (6-mile)
radius around the newly affected villages where all poultry would be culled.
Health officials will also simultaneously begin a now-familiar exercise of
monitoring people for flu-like symptoms.
India has culled over 500 000 birds and monitored hundreds of thousands of
people to contain the spread of bird flu, but the virus has continued to
strike poultry.
The country has not reported the infection in humans.
--
ProMED-mail
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[India's last update report to the OIE was sent on 8 Mar 2006. For the
recent spread into Jalgaon and Madhya Pradesh, and maps, see passage [5] in
postings 20060314.0796 and 20060330.0959. - Mod.AS]

See Also