ProMED-mail |

Published Date: 2008-03-17 19:00:18
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza (48): China, Bangladesh, India, Viet Nam
Archive Number: 20080317.1042

AVIAN INFLUENZA (48): CHINA, BANGLADESH, INDIA, VIET NAM
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A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

In this update:
[1] China (Guangdong)
[2] Viet Nam (Quang Nam)
[3] Bangladesh, India (West Bengal)

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[1] China (Guangdong)
Date: Sun 16 Mar 2008
Source: ChinaView, Xinhua News Agency report [edited]
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/16/content_7801795.htm>

China's Guangdong reports poultry bird flu outbreak
---------------------------------------------------
An outbreak of bird flu in poultry has been reported in south China's
Guangdong Province, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said on Sunday [16
Mar 2008].

The National Bird Flu Reference Laboratory confirmed the case, which
occurred at a market in Liwan District of Guangzhou City on Thu [13 Mar
2008]. [According to media reports, the suspicions that the mortality in
birds was caused by H5N1, were initially denied by the local authorities. -
Mod.AS] It was caused by the highly pathogenic H5N1 subtype of the avian
influenza virus, the MOA said.

The disease, which killed 114 domestic fowl and led to the culling of
another 518, was brought under effective control after the MOA and
provincial government took timely emergency measures.

It was China's 5th bird flu outbreak in poultry this year [2008]. Others
included one in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 2 in the
south western Tibet Autonomous Region, and one in the south western Guizhou
Province.

On 25 Feb 2008, a 44 year old woman surnamed Zhang in Haifeng County, also
in Guangdong, was killed by the H5N1 strain of bird flu virus. This raised
the human bird flu cases recorded in China to 29, of which 19 were fatal,
according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Li Jinxiang, director of the MOA's veterinary department, on 10 Mar 2008
blamed the unprecedented snowstorm and cold snap that hit the country
earlier this year [2008] for the outbreaks of bird flu. The bird flu virus
was active in the cold weather, Li said on the sidelines of the annual
session of China's top legislature.

The official added the blizzards also made the virus easier to spread after
damaging the living conditions of livestock and affecting their regular
[vaccination] work, which is often conducted in February and March.

--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail rapporteur Dan Silver

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[2] Viet Nam (Quang Nam)
Date: Mon 17 Mar 2008
Source: thanhniennews.com [edited]
<http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=36793>

Bird flu breaks out in Quang Nam
--------------------------------
About 300 ducks have died of bird flu in the central province of Quang Nam,
the province's People's Committee announced Sunday.Tests on the dead birds
from a Thang Binh District farm were positive for the H5N1 virus. Local
authorities incinerated all the infected ducks and destroyed chickens from
nearby farms.

The Zone Four Agency of Animal Health also confirmed bird flu in Quang Nam.

Bird flu cases have previously been reported in the provinces of Quang
Ninh, Hai Duong, Nam Dinh, Tuyen Quang, Ninh Binh, Vinh Long, Phu Tho, Ha
Nam and Hanoi.

Under local government regulations, a province is considered clear of bird
flu if no new cases are reported during a 21 day period.

[byline: Ho Trong]

--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail rapporteur Joseph P Dudley

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[3] Bangladesh, India (West Bengal)
Date: Mon 17 Mar 2008
Source: The Daily Star [edited]
<http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=28005>

Outbreaks of bird flu (avian influenza H5N1) in Bangladesh and West Bengal
(India) are continuing. Most families living in rural Bengal own chickens,
which roam freely around their backyards and courtyards. It is no secret
that backyard chickens are particularly vulnerable to the bird flu virus.

The bird flu virus kills infected chickens very quickly. But wild birds and
ducks can carry the virus without becoming sick at all; this enables them
to spread it over a wide area. Wild birds and ducks form a "reservoir" of
bird flu virus; even after all the infected chickens in Bangladesh die or
are culled by DLS (the government's livestock service), new outbreaks of
bird flu will occur whenever chickens are infected through contact with
wild birds or ducks.

Which chickens are likely to be infected? The answer is obvious. Farm
chickens are enclosed in sheds, and are somewhat isolated from contact with
wild birds and domestic ducks. Free-ranging backyard chickens, on the other
hand, are not enclosed in sheds and are continuously in contact with wild
birds and ducks.

For many years NGOs and the Livestock Service have encouraged rural
households to raise backyard chickens in order to supplement their income
and their access to protein. This encouragement is now dangerous. Backyard
chickens live in very close proximity to their owners. When these chickens
become infected with bird flu, their owners are in serious danger of infection.

It is time for NGOs and the Livestock Service to recognise the risk
inherent in backyard chicken rearing. Rural families should no longer be
advised to raise free-ranging backyard chickens. They should be advised to
keep their chickens enclosed in a shed to protect them from contact with
wild birds and ducks. Families should also be advised to raise either
chickens or ducks but not both, as even healthy ducks may carry the bird
flu virus and spread it to chickens.

Chickens enclosed in a shed require feed (as they cannot forage to feed
themselves). Proponents of backyard chicken rearing point out that the
popularity of backyard chicken rearing rests on the fact that it requires
no expenditure on feed. They say that the rural poor who rear backyard
chickens cannot afford feed.

There is some logic in this argument. But it is also true that constant
contact between backyard chickens and wild birds means that it is only a
matter of time before all the backyard chickens in Bangladesh become
infected with avian influenza. Most of them will die soon after infection;
some will survive infection but may infect their owners in turn.

Backyard chicken rearing will either be ended by enclosing the chickens in
sheds (to protect them from bird flu) or it will end when bird flu has
killed most of the backyard chickens. Backyard poultry rearers who have the
capacity to enclose their chickens in a shed should be encouraged to do so.
This will protect both the investment (in chickens) and their family's health.

[byline: Zahin Hasan]

--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail rapporteur Mary Marshall

[The author of article [3] above is the owner of a poultry-breeding farm.
His arguments are valid; situations similar to the one observed in
Bangladesh have been described in other Asian and African countries; the
socioeconomic implications of avian influenza in one of them, Egypt, have
recently been reviewed in detail (see item 2 in ProMED-mail posting
20080311.0982).

Viet Nam, a country with a rather similar rural farming structure (though
with a distinctive domestic water birds component), has invested
considerable effort in trying to control HPAI (highly pathogenic avian
influenza) H5N1 by the application of a mass vaccination program.
Unfortunately, there is now recurrence of the disease, probably due to
vaccine's deficiency or delayed/incomplete revaccinations.

Entering its 6th year, the H5N1 panzootic continues its alarming activity
in the eastern hemisphere, demonstrating a seasonal pattern. While the
initial fears of its evolvement into a pandemic seem to have somewhat
waned, there is no room for complacency.

WHO's world map, showing the areas reporting confirmed occurrence of H5N1
avian influenza in poultry and wild birds since 2003, status as of 3 Mar
2008 (latest available update), is available at
<http://gamapserver.who.int/mapLibrary/Files/Maps/Global_SubNat_H5N1inAnimalConfirmedCUMULATIVE_20080303.png>.
- Mod.AS

Together with Bangladesh, which lies on its eastern border, the eastern
Indian state of West Bengal forms the ethnolinguistic region of Bengal. It
can be seen on the map at
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Location-Bangla01.png>. - CopyEd.MJ]

See Also