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Published Date: 2007-03-07 00:00:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza (47): China (Tibet), Kuwait, Viet Nam
Archive Number: 20070307.0805

AVIAN INFLUENZA (47): CHINA (TIBET), KUWAIT, VIET NAM
*****************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
[1] & [2] China (Tibet)
[3] Kuwait
[4] Viet Nam
[5] Genetic and geographic analysis of global H5N1 epizootic
******
[1] China (Tibet)
Date: Tue 6 Mar 2007
From: Dan Silver <dgsilver@yahoo.com>
Source: Reuters Alertnet [edited]
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK354999.htm>

China reports bird flu deaths in Tibet poultry
-----------------------------------------------
China has suffered an outbreak of H5N1 avian flu among poultry in
remote Tibet, while the virus also struck down thousands of wild
birds in the region, state media and animal health monitors reported
late on Tuesday [6 Mar 2007].
In a report submitted to the World Organisation for Animal Health
(OIE) [see comment further], China's chief veterinary officer, Jia
Youling, said the poultry died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which
can be deadly to humans who have close contact with infected birds.
Jia reported that 680 fowl died in the outbreak in Chengguan Village
near Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and nearly 7000 other birds there
were culled, according to the OIE web-site [See comment following
item 2].
The poultry died on 1 Mar 2007, the official Xinhua news agency
reported. It did not specify what kind of birds were infected. The
government has closed the market and is also monitoring the health of
wild birds, it added.
"Specialists believe the virus was introduced by wild birds migrating
from east Africa to west Asia, as no outbreaks of the disease had
been reported in the source areas of the poultry," Xinhua said.
Jia also reported 3 separate outbreaks of H5N1 among wild birds in
Tibet, including one that killed 28 migratory birds near Lhasa and 2
others that killed 2579 and 57 wild birds elsewhere in the region.
The wild species infected included bar-headed geese, crows and hawks,
according to the OIE.
There were also 2 outbreaks that killed 984 wild birds in Qinghai
province, which neighbors Tibet, as well as 2 deaths among wild birds
in northeast China's Liaoning province, Jia reported. His report gave
no dates for the wild bird deaths.
Some scientists believe many outbreaks of bird flu in China's vast
poultry sector have gone unreported until human infections in
effected places have alerted health officials to the presence of the
virus.
A woman farmer in China's southeastern province of Fujian has been
infected with the H5N1 form of bird flu, China confirmed last week,
the 1st human case in the country in about 7 weeks. World Health
Organization officials have gone to the site of that case to
investigate.
The Ministry of Agriculture said an investigation team it sent down
to the woman's village found no trace of the H5N1 virus in poultry
samples.
China has now reported a total of 23 human cases of bird flu,
including 14 deaths, since 2003, and, with the largest poultry
population and millions of backyard birds roaming free, it is seen as
central to the fight against the virus.
China will vaccinate billions of domestic poultry over the next few
months to guard against an outbreak of bird flu this spring, when the
virus is at its most contagious, state media reported on Monday [5
Mar 2007].
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
******
[2] China (Tibet)
Date: Wed 7 Mar 2007
From: Nati Elkin <nati@poultrymed.com>
Source: ShanghaiDaily.com [edited]
<http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200703/20070307/article_308198.htm>

Tibet reports bird flu outbreak
-------------------------------
Bird flu has struck a poultry market in the Tibetan capital city of
Lhasa, prompting the culling of nearly 7000 birds, the government
said today [7 Mar 2007].
The outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus, which began 1 Mar 2007 in
Lhasa's Chengguan village, killed 680 chickens and prompted the
culling of 6990 birds, The Associated Press said today [7 Mar 2007],
citing Xinhua news agency.
The Beijing Youth Daily reported yesterday [6 Mar 2007] that the
market has since been shut down and authorities were trying to
determine the source of the infection. It was possible that the
chickens were infected through contact with migrating wild birds, it
said.
The government report, submitted by China's Ministry of Agriculture,
also gave details of 5 H5N1 bird flu outbreaks among migratory birds
in Tibet and neighboring Qinghai in April and May of last year
[2006]. The 5 outbreaks killed 3648 birds, including bar-headed
geese, brown-headed gulls, crows, hawks and other wild birds, it said
[see commentary].
Xinhua reported on the earlier outbreaks last year [2006] but did not
give specific details.
Qinghai is a known transit point for migratory birds, and the virus
killed thousands of bar-headed geese at a nature reserve in the
province in mid-2005, raising fears that the virus was on the move,
jumping among hosts in the wild.
--
Nati Elkin
<nati@poultrymed.com>
[The above information was derived from China's follow-up report No 5
on HPAI H5N1, submitted to the OIE on 6 Mar 2007. Its summary,
including map, is available at
<http://www.oie.int/wahid-prod/public.php?page=single_report&pop=1&reportid=4997>.
The current disease event seems to be indicative of the reemergence
of the disease in China, though virus circulation might have been
masked by the mass vaccinations, preventing its clinical
manifestation. The previous follow-up report, No. 4, was submitted on
26 Jun 2006.
Regarding the reported involvement of bar-headed geese, may we refer
subscribers to archive 20060518.1394, which included information
derived from the News section of Nature 441, 18 May 2006, p. 263.
According to Detlan Butler's article, the Chinese government "has
been breeding bar-headed geese near Qinghai Lake." The breeding farms
were said to be part of an experimental program, since 2003, intended
to domesticate the birds and to release some of them to repopulate
wild stocks. The article cited a veteran avian-flu researcher in
China who argued that such a program "does not sufficiently take into
account the threat of H5N1."
ProMED-mail's commentary in the said posting included the hope that
more details become available. No additional information on the
breeding or domestication of bar-headed or other wild geese in China
has been forthcoming since then. In view of the current events in
Tibet, we repeat our request for any available firsthand information
on the issue. - Mod.AS]
******
[3] Kuwait
Date: Wed 7 Mar 2007
From: Mary Marshall <tropical.forestry@btinternet.com>
Source: Arab Times, Kuwait [edited]
<http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/kuwait/Viewdet.asp?ID=9890&cat=a>

Experts fly in; More cases of bird flu found
-----------------------------------------------
The number of bird flu cases continued to rise as Kuwait on Tuesday
[6 Mar 2007] detected 2 new cases involving a falcon and a chicken
found in Jahra and Farwaniya respectively, says Dr. Ahmad Al-Shatti,
spokesman for the Ministry of Health. With this, the total number of
H5N1 cases discovered in the country now stands at 52.
Since the outbreak of the disease, 25 000 birds have been
slaughtered, and fumigation campaign is being conducted in poultry
farms across the country. Dr. Al-Shatti observed that blood samples
of 50 bird handlers on Tuesday [6 Mar 2007] were tested negative for
the H5N1 strain and that 65 teams are actively involved in containing
the outbreak.
The Ministry of Health has launched an awareness campaign about the
disease, and regular information is being disseminated through the
print and electronic media.
Soon after the discovery of the avian flu virus, Kuwait slapped a ban
on the import of all poultry products, and the ban will continue
until the disease is eradicated.
The Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources
(PAAAFR) together with the health ministry has taken various measures
including formation of a joint task force to combat the outbreak.
Meanwhile, a team of experts from the World Organisation for Animal
Health (OIE) arrived in Kuwait. The official reiterated that no case
of bird flu in humans has been found so far after testing 268 samples
for people who had been in contact with the infected birds. The OIE
team arrived late Monday [5 Mar 2007] and is expected to spend
several days in Kuwait to help authorities combat the outbreak.
Shatti said that Kuwait has stocked some 10 million capsules of the
Tamiflu, which are sufficient to treat about 40 percent of the
population of 3 million. Kuwaiti officials were unable to say whether
the bird flu cases have affected poultry consumption or sales prices,
but residents said they have not stopped consuming poultry. "My
family has not stopped eating chicken. We buy frozen chicken from the
shopping malls," office worker Mai Maamoun told Reuters. "I think the
only people at risk are those who come into contact with infected
live birds, but there is no danger if chicken is prepared and cooked
well."
[Byline: F.A. Clifford Cardozo]
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
******
[4] Viet Nam
Date: Wed 7 Mar 2007
From: Mary Marshall <tropical.forestry@btinternet.com>
Source: Reuters Alertnet [edited]
<http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAN241111.htm>

Viet Nam says bird flu hits chickens near capital - H5N1 confirmed
-----------------------------------------------
Bird flu has killed more than 1000 chickens at 2 farms on the
outskirts of Hanoi, the country's animal health authority said on
Wednesday [7 Mar 2007].
Health workers slaughtered scores of chickens at the farms in Dong
Anh district after tests confirmed that the H5N1 virus had killed a
total of 1150 birds, the Animal Health Department said in its daily
report.
"The Hanoi animal health department has coordinated with the local
authority to destroy the remaining poultry, disinfect the outbreak
area and closely monitor poultry and humans," the report said.
Viet Nam has had no human cases of bird flu since November 2005, but
the virus, which 1st arrived in late 2003, returned to poultry in the
south late last year [2006].
More infections were detected in ducks in the southern province of
Vinh Long and in chickens in the northern provinces of Hai Duong and
Ha Tay in the past 3 weeks.
On 27 Feb 2007, all 550 chickens were slaughtered on a farm in Ha Tay
province, the largest poultry supplier to Hanoi, officials said.
In late February, 10 500 infected chickens were killed in Hai Duong
province, east of Hanoi.
Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat said last week the H5N1 virus
existed throughout Viet Nam, even though poultry vaccination had
helped prevent its spread.
Viet Nam is expected to start its next phase of vaccinating poultry
in the 2nd half of March 2007 and will allow the resumption of
raising and hatching waterfowl from 15 Mar 2007.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[An interactive administrative map of Viet Nam is available at
<http://www.angelfire.com/co/hongnam/vnmap.html>.
Viet Nam's last follow-up report to the OIE on its H5N1 situation was
submitted on 27 Feb 2007; it includes a map and is available at
<http://www.oie.int/wahid-prod/public.php?page=single_report&pop=1&reportid=4936>.
- Mod.AS]
******
[5] Genetic and geographic analysis of global H5N1 epizootic
Date: Mon 5 Mar 2007
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Press release, University of California, Irvine [edited]
<http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1581>

UCI scientists reconstruct migration of avian flu virus
-----------------------------------------------
UC Irvine researchers have combined genetic and geographic data of
the H5N1 avian flu virus to reconstruct its history over the past
decade. They found that multiple strains of the virus originated in
the Chinese province of Guangdong, and they identified many of the
migration routes through which the strains spread regionally and
internationally.
By knowing where H5N1 strains develop and migrate, health officials
can better limit the spread of the virus by strategically
intervening. Local vaccinations can be better administered by using
strains from regions that have repeatedly contributed to outbreaks.
"If you can control the virus at its source, you can control it more
efficiently," said Walter Fitch, professor of ecology and
evolutionary biology in the School of Biological Sciences at UCI and
co-author of the study. "With a road map of where the strain has
migrated, you're more likely to isolate the strain that you should be
using to make the vaccine."
The study appears this week in the online early edition of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [See comment].
This research offers the 1st statistical analysis detailing the
geographic distribution of influenza A H5N1, the bird flu strain.
While previous work informally identified H5N1 strains by location,
the UCI analysis is the 1st to systematically track the migration of
H5N1 through its evolutionary history, adding new details that
identify the relative importance of the geographic and evolutionary
advances the virus makes.
From 192 samples obtained across Eurasia, the UCI team reconstructed
the virus's geographic reach and evolution. The analysis shows that
Guangdong -- home to a large poultry industry -- is the source of
many H5N1 strains that have spread to other provinces and countries.
To the south in nearby Indochina, the strains appear largely limited
to dispersal among local areas.
Genetic sequences the scientists analyzed suggest that parallel
evolution of different H5N1 strains lets the virus infect and cycle
through different host species in a region, regardless of the host or
vector species it infects 1st. This way, the virus can find the right
host to spread the infection to the next location. This parallel
evolution -- the independent evolution of similar traits -- enables
H5N1 to spread quickly, the scientists believe.
"The ability to develop the right mutation allows the virus to hop
from one host type to the next," said Robert Wallace, UCI
postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study. "By spreading
across a large area, the virus in essence can run multiple
experiments in multiple locations, increasing the likelihood that it
will mutate into a form that can be transmitted from human to human."
Avian flu has been isolated almost exclusively among bird
populations. The H5N1 virus has only sporadically been passed on from
a bird host to humans; there is little evidence that the virus can
efficiently be passed on from human to human. Although fewer than 300
human cases of this flu have been recorded worldwide, its high
mortality rate raises concerns that if the virus mutates to a point
that humans can pass it on, a flu pandemic may occur.
Hoang-Minh Ho-Dac and Richard Lathrop in the Donald Bren School of
Information and Computer Sciences at UCI also worked on the study,
which was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The described study, which has aroused worldwide interest, is not
yet available on the PNAS web-site (accessed 7 Mar 2007). When
accessible, ProMED-mail will provide the available data and
commentary. - Mod.AS]

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