Published Date: 2006-08-06 00:00:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza (174) - Viet Nam, Germany, wild birds
Archive Number: 20060806.2197
AVIAN INFLUENZA (174) - VIET NAM, GERMANY, WILD BIRDS
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[1]
Date: Sun 6 Aug 2006
From: Mary Marshall <tropical.forestry@btinternet.com>
Source: Reuters Alertnet, 5 Aug 2006 [edited]
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAN118654.htm>
Viet Nam kills wild storks to prevent bird flu spread
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Viet Nam's animal health workers have killed 53 wild storks at a theme park
in Ho Chi Minh City, after random tests showed 2 of the birds carried an
avian influenza virus strain, officials said on Saturday [5 Aug 2006].
An official at the park said the findings of the H5 component, part of the
H5N1 poultry virus, led to the slaughter of the birds even though they all
appeared healthy.
Wild birds are natural hosts of bird flu viruses and often don't show
symptoms but can pass the viruses to poultry. H5N1 can kill chickens within
24 hours of infection.
H5N1 is an influenza type-A virus that has killed 42 people in Viet Nam
since late 2003, but there have been no human infections detected in the
South East Asian country this year [2006]. The latest outbreaks in Laos and
Thailand, where bird flu killed a teenager in late July 2006, fanned fears
that the virus, known to have killed 134 people worldwide, was flaring up
again in Asia.
Vietnamese officials say a failure to control waterfowl, which can be
silent carriers of bird flu, made the country vulnerable to new outbreaks
and that wild birds believed to carry H5N1 would soon migrate from the
north, raising the risk of infection.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The species to which "wild storks" refer is not clear; an ornithological
clarification would help.
Two stork species have, so far, been found infected with H5N1: the Asian
open billed stork, _Anastomus oscitans_, in Thailand (see 20041214.3303)
and the White stork, _Ciconia ciconia_, in Germany (Brandenburg; see
20060427.1226).
According to the accumulated information, the other species, belonging to
the _Ciconiiformes_ order, so far found infected with H5N1 in various
countries are the Grey heron _Ardea cinerea_, the Great blue heron _Ardea
herodias_, the Chinese pond heron _Ardeola bacchus_ and the Little egret
_Egretta garzetta_. - Mod.AS]
******
[2]
Date: Sun 6 Aug 2006
From: Mary Marshall <tropical.forestry@btinternet.com>
Source: AFP via Physorg.com, 3 Aug 2006 [edited]
<http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/templates/birdflu/window.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.physorg.com%2Fnews73845225.html>
Bird flu reappears in Germany - swan in Dresden zoo
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A swan found dead in Dresden zoo in eastern Germany was infected with the
deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, the 1st such case in the country in nearly 3
months, local authorities said Thursday [3 Aug 2006]. [Map at
<http://www.supertravelnet.com/maps/index.php?action=showmap&country=164_9002_5&language=1>].
The Saxon state health ministry said that all birds at the zoo had been
confined as a precaution following confirmation of the virus in the swan
and that a ban had been put on dogs and cats being allowed to stray in a 10
km (6 mile) radius.
Last February [2005], Germany suffered an outbreak of H5N1, which can be
fatal to humans, among wild birds, and in April 2006, the virus was
detected among domestic fowl. It also spread to mammals, infecting 3 cats
and a stone marten -- a member of the weasel family -- on the Baltic Sea
island of Ruegen. But the last case reported in a migratory bird before the
latest infection was on 12 May 2006 in Bavaria, in the south of the country.
Last month [July 2006], the German parliament extended to next February
2007 a lock-up order in force for domestic poultry in areas with a high
risk of bird flu.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[It is hard to read this event with only a single numerator (one dead swan
in Dresden zoo) without any information on whether other swans were
blood-tested, much less other "water birds" at the zoo. As it is
mid-summer, when bird migration is quiet, one can only speculate that
somehow the infection was transferred from other wild birds in the area or
from a recent acquisition. As swans tend to be decorative city park fowl,
one might wonder whether it flew in knowing it would be fed by the public
and died where it caught the eye of the zoo veterinarians; other birds
elsewhere seldom get this luxury. - Mod.MHJ
The measures applied by the Vietnamese authorities, culling 52 "wild
storks" following the detection of antibodies in 2 of them (how many
tested?), seem to be in need of justification. International organizations
have, so far, regarded culling of wild birds as an excessive, unjustified
measure. - Mod.AS]
See Also
Avian influenza (150) - Near East & Asia: FAO Update 20060706.1859Avian influenza (149) Europe: FAO Update 20060705.1852
Avian influenza - worldwide (99): UK H7, Germany 20060427.1226
2004
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Avian influenza - Eastern Asia (145): Thailand, birds 20041214.3303
.....................arn/mhj/msp/sh
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