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Published Date: 2007-03-08 19:00:02
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza (50): Indonesia (cats), Afghanistan, Iran, S. Korea
Archive Number: 20070308.0826

AVIAN INFLUENZA (50): INDONESIA (CATS), AFGHANISTAN, IRAN, SOUTH KOREA
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[1] Indonesia, cats
[2] Afghanistan
[3] Iran (Teheran), ecological park
[4] South Korea
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[1] Indonesia, cats
Date: Thu 8 Mar 2007
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Bloomberg.com [edited]
<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aPZdWp9ru3ps>

Canary Gets Last Laugh: Study Probes Bird Flu in Cats
-----------------------------------------------
Cats should think twice before they swallow the canary, say
researchers studying whether felines roaming the streets of Asia may
increase the global threat of bird flu.
Domestic and stray cats that prey on birds in Southeast Asia may play
a critical role in transforming avian influenza into a global
pandemic, virus-tracking scientists say.
To investigate, researchers next month [April 2007] will begin the
world's largest examination of bird flu in stray cats in Indonesia,
where a survey found one in 5 felines carry the lethal H5N1 virus in
some areas. Cats, because of their close interactions with humans,
may provide a conduit for the transmission of the flu between birds and people.
"Cats eat birds and therefore can become infected by this virus and
help it to mutate and adapt to mammals," said Andrew Jeremijenko, who
headed an influenza surveillance project for the Naval American
Medical Research Unit in Indonesia until last March [2006]. "Maybe
there is a role that cats are playing, and we don't understand it yet."
Avian-flu experts have long viewed pigs as the mammals in which a
pandemic virus may emerge because the farm animals can catch versions
of flu that infect birds and humans. As a host for both types of the
flu, pigs are one of several species in which the viruses combine and
mutate, acquiring properties that make each year's seasonal flu
different from the year before.
For the cat study, scientists led by the United Nations' Food and
Agriculture Organization will examine feline habits and collect blood
samples to test for exposure to the H5N1 virus. Disease trackers aim
to collect data during the next 3 months, with preliminary results
collated soon after, said John Weaver, a senior adviser with the
agency in Jakarta.
Erasmus University may assist in helping determine how cats become
infected, what damage the virus causes to their organs, whether it
spreads among the felines and whether it has undergone any genetic
changes, said Ron Fouchier, a virologist at Rotterdam,
Netherlands-based Erasmus.
"We have yet to understand the epidemiology of the virus, how it
crosses from different species," says Weaver. "If we miss the key
component that these cats perhaps disseminate the disease, then we're
not catching up with the game."
The H5N1 virus shares many characteristics with the Spanish flu that
killed as many as 50 million people worldwide in 1918 and 1919.
Researchers say the virus started in birds, until genetic changes
allowed it to spread quickly in people. Cats may be a concern not
just because they prey on birds but because in some parts of the
world, they share food and beds with people.
"One thing we do not want is for this virus to become endemic in
cats," Fouchier said on 27 Feb 2007 in a telephone interview. "As
long as these are dead-end infections -- a cat eats a chicken and
then dies -- it's not so much of a problem."
Fresh outbreaks in agricultural poultry and wild birds -- and not
actually in canaries -- have been reported in the U.K., Japan and a
dozen other countries in the past 4 months. Laos and Nigeria recorded
initial human infections this year [2006], taking the global tally of
reported cases to 278 since 2003. Of those, 168 were fatal, the World
Health Organization estimates.
Indonesia has the highest death toll, with 63 lethal cases. The virus
has been found in birds in 30 of the country's 33 provinces. The U.S.
embassy in Jakarta last month [February 2007] warned citizens to
avoid contact with wild and stray cats and to ensure that
domesticated ones don't interact with sick or dying poultry.
"The prevalence of the virus is quite high" judging from preliminary
tests on swabs of the cats' upper airways, C.A. Nidom, a scientist at
Airlangga University in Surabaya, said in a telephone interview on 28
Feb 2007. Nidom found H5N1 in 98 of 500 cats living near poultry
markets in high-risk areas on the island of Java and in Lampung
province on southern Sumatra island.
Cats are a much-loved animal among Indonesia's roughly 200 million
followers of Islam. The religion considers mistreating animals a sin.
A story told in the Hadith, a collection of sayings of the prophet
Muhammad, says he cut off his sleeve rather than wake a cat that fell
asleep on his robes.
Stray cats freely roam the streets of Indonesian cities, congregating
around food markets, where they help keep down rodent populations.
Only higher-income earners can afford to keep them as household pets
because of the cost.
"People throw food to cats at the market so they don't starve to
death," said Amah, who has sold rice in central Jakarta for more than
40 years. "There are probably 50 of them living here," she said,
watching 3 cats chew on food on the ground next to her stall at the
Blora market.
Most of the cats infected with the virus don't show any symptoms,
according to Tri Satya Putri Naipospos, deputy executive of
Indonesia's national committee on avian flu control and pandemic
preparedness. It's unclear whether a sick cat can infect a human.
Nidom says he plans more research to determine whether felines can
pass the illness to other species.
Domestic cats and other felines are at risk of infection from H5N1 if
they prey on birds, studies published in March 2006 by researchers at
2 Thai universities and a government research center showed. A 2005
study showed the virus was probably transmitted between tigers in
Thailand. Cat infections were also reported in Germany, Iraq, Russia
and Turkey.
"It appears that this is a more significant problem than a one-time
event," Fouchier of Erasmus said.
China this week said it had found the disease in chickens, geese,
crows, hawks, owls, ducks, egrets, cormorants, cranes and gulls in
the past year [2006].
At the moment, there is no evidence that cats are of any special
significance in the maintenance and transmission of avian flu,
according to Peter Roeder, an animal health officer with the FAO who
helped Indonesia set up its bird surveillance.
"There may be some limited transmission, but it's a matter of whether
that is significant in establishing virus transmission networks,"
Roeder said in a 28 Feb 2007 interview from Rome. "If we find some
cause for concern -- which I doubt that we will -- then we would need
to extend the study to other countries."
[Byline: Jason Gale and Karima Anjani]
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ProMED-mail
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[2] Afghanistan
Date: Thu 8 Mar 2007
From: Mary Marshall <tropical.forestry@btinternet.com>
Source: USAtoday.com [edited]
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-08-bird-flu-afghanistan_N.htm>

Bird flu found in 6 more areas of Afghanistan
-----------------------------------------------
The virulent H5N1 bird flu virus has been confirmed in 6 additional
areas in eastern Afghanistan and the country's capital, the United
Nations said Thursday [8 Mar 2007].
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said samples collected
from home-raised poultry tested positive in an FAO-supported laboratory.
It confirmed H5N1 outbreaks on Wednesday [7 Mar 2007] in the
Khogiani, Rodat and Bati Kot districts of Nangarhar province, Khas
Kunar and Kuz Kunar in Kunar province, and in the Shah Shahid area of
Kabul. [Administrative map at
<http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/afghanis-reg.pdf>. - Mod.AS]
The government immediately began disinfecting and quarantining
affected areas and slaughtering nearby poultry, FAO said in a
statement, without providing further details.
FAO had confirmed outbreaks of H5N1 in the eastern city of Jalalabad
on 20 Feb 2007 and in the Sawki district of Kunar on 24 Feb 2007.
Afghanistan reported its 1st cases of H5N1 in March and April last
year [2006] in Kabul and in the provinces of Kapisa, Logar and
Nangarhar. There have been no reported infections of humans.
--
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[3] Iran (Teheran), ecological park
Date: Thu 8 Mar 2007
From: Mary Marshall <tropical.forestry@btinternet.com>
Source: ISNA via Iran Daily [edited]
<http://www.iran-daily.com/1385/2800/html/panorama.htm#s214359>

Suspicious Bird Flu Deaths in Pardisan Park
-----------------------------------------------
Suspicious poultry deaths have been reported in Tehran's Pardisan
Park, purportedly attributed to an outbreak of avian flu, ISNA reported.
Reacting to the yet unconfirmed report, chairman of the environmental
NGO Avay-e Sabz (Green Song) Society called on citizens, especially
children, to avoid visiting the park located along Hemmat Highway.
Vahid Norouzi urged citizens to stay away from the park until the
results of laboratory examinations on carcasses of 24 saker falcons,
one kestrel and a number of owls are revealed.
Insisting that it is not yet confirmed whether the birds died of
avian flu virus, the expert observed, "We wouldn't be witness to the
death of these birds had efficient precautionary measures been in
place. The park does not even have a full-time veterinarian."
The Veterinary Organization took samples from the dead poultry during
[the period] 23 Feb to 1 Mar 2007. One of the dead birds has so far
tested positive for avian flu.
It was decided that the whole bird population in the park would be
culled on 6 Mar 2007, but the measure was postponed until the final
results are announced.
The Department of Environment officials were not immediately
available for comment.
--
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[Iran notified H5N1 cases in wild swans in February 2006; see
<http://www.oie.int/eng/info/hebdo/AIS_31.HTM#Sec13>. So far, no case
in domestic avians has been reported from this country. - Mod.AS]
******
[4] South Korea
Date: Thu 8 Mar 2007
From: Joseph Dudley <fnjpd@uaf.edu>
Source: Yonhap News via The Hankyoreh [edited]
<http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/195068.html>

Fresh bird flu case confirmed in S. Korea
---------------------------------------------
A fresh case of highly-virulent bird flu was discovered at a poultry
farm south of Seoul Thursday [8 Mar 2007] for the 1st time in just a
month, government officials said.
The latest outbreak was reported on 10 Feb 2007 in Anseong, about 15
km north of Cheonan, where a similar bird flu case was detected in
January 2007.
It is the 7th bird flu case since 25 Nov 2007, when the 1st outbreak
[in 3 years] was reported on a poultry farm in Iksan, about 230 km
south of Seoul.
Authorities started an investigation into the fresh case Tuesday [6
Mar 2007], when a farmer reported that about 30 ducks at the farm
died of an unknown cause, a ministry official said, adding that the
remaining 13 000 on the farm will be slaughtered.
The official said the quarantine authorities were to cordon off an
area within a 3-km radius of the duck farm and destroy 55 000
chickens and ducks there.
In 2003 and 2004, South Korea destroyed more than 5 million poultry
to curb the spread of the disease.
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[A WHO map showing areas reporting confirmed occurrence of H5N1 avian
influenza in poultry and wild birds since 1 Jan 2007, status as of 6
Mar 2007 (latest available update), is accessible at
<http://gamapserver.who.int/mapLibrary/Files/Maps/Global_SubNat_H5N1inAnimalConfirmed_2007_20070306.png>.
- Mod.AS]

See Also