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Avian
Influenza Latest news from Warmwell http://www.warmwell.com/h5n1.html |
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Stakeholder Meetings with DEFRA
Stakeholder meeting with Defra 6th July 2007 http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/disease/ai/pdf/stakeholdermtg230806.pdf August 23 2006 Presentations at the August meeting are
available as links on | |
March 22/23 Richard
Sanders at Verona: "Well, I think we are winning the argument...
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22 March FAO
Newsroom: Verona Conference 2007 Vaccinating poultry, combined with several other control instruments, is an important tool in the worldwide battle against the H5N1 virus, according to an international scientific conference that ended in Verona today. . . . Research was recommended not such fields as: Impact of mass culling programmes on valuable poultry genetic material. http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000527/index.html | |
| 21 Feb Two More Bird Flu Outbreaks outside Moscow Three more outbreaks of avian flu were recorded in Moscow Region on Tuesday, raising the total number of problem areas to eight. http://www.kommersant.com/p744531/Bird_Flu_Moscow_Outbreak/ | |
19 Feb 1 million birds
to be vaccinated from bird flu near Moscow
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| Vaccination - a tool for the control of avian influenza - read about the conference at Verona 19th March The cull policy has not proven to be sufficient .Bernard Vallat - Director General OIE http://www.avianfluvaccine2007.org/introduction.htm | |
| Bird flu investigators have failed to perform tests to see if gulls and other wild birds are spreading the deadly H5N1 virus from the stricken Bernard Matthews farm in Suffolk, although they accept that it is a threat. Officials admitted late last week that they have not tested a live wild bird in Britain since the outbreak began three weeks ago. This appears to contradict repeated assurances from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) that "wild bird surveillance" in the area has been "enhanced" http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2281400.ece | |
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8th Feb Avian influenza outbreak update See the very full report in the Guardian/Observer exclusive: UK poultry contamination blamed on carcasses from Matthews' Hungarian factory. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2008935,00.html The Government is developing its investigation into what might have caused the outbreak of avian influenza in the Suffolk poultry farm, following preliminary scientific tests showing the viruses in Suffolk and recent outbreaks in Hungary may well be identical. Along with a number of other hypotheses Defra, the Food Standards Agency and the Health Protection Agency are investigating the possibility of a link between the Hungarian outbreaks, poultry meat from Hungary and the introduction of disease in the farm in Suffolk.The investigation will include arrangements at the company’s adjacent plant for food processing.Scientific advice remains that the risk to human health is negligible, and Food Standards Agency advice remains the same, that properly cooked poultry is safe to eat.Deputy Chief Vet, Fred Landeg said:“Our investigations have shown that one possible route of infection is poultry product imported from Hungary. It is important that this is investigated thoroughly, along with all the other possible routes. We are working in partnership with the Food Standards Agency and the Health Protection Agency to carry out a thorough investigation. We are also working in close contact with the Hungarian authorities and the European Commission.“The company involved have voluntarily agreed to temporarily suspend the movement of poultry products between their outlets in the UK and Hungary until the investigation is complete." http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2007/070208b.htm | |
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3 Feb H5N1 avian influenza (Asian strain) in poultry, Suffolk. Tests from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) have confirmed that the sample from the poultry found dead on a farm near Lowestoft in Suffolk contained the H5N1 avian flu virus, and that it is the highly pathogenic Asian strain. It is similar to the virus that was found in Hungary in January.
The State Veterinary Service are enforcing a Protection Zone of three kilometres radius and a Surveillance Zone of 10
km around the premises where movement restrictions will be imposed and poultry must be isolated from wild birds A wider Restricted Zone has also (in consultation with ornithologists) been imposed, covering east Suffolk and South East Norfolk bounded to the west and the north by the A140 and A47 respectively, an area of approximately 2090sqkm. It requires the isolation of poultry from wild birds, and requires movements to be licensed. As further information becomes available and in consultation with ornithological experts the restrictions in place may be adjusted. http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/latest/2007/animal-0203.htm As from Saturday 3rd February 2007, all bird gatherings including fairs, markets, shows, exhibitions and pigeon races are banned under Regulation 6 of the Preventive Measures (England) Regulations 2006, because of the avian influenza situation. Those gatherings already in progress on Saturday can continue under strict biosecurity. All others must be cancelled. We will keep this ban under review as the disease situation develops. http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/disease/ai/keptbirds/index.htm#birdfair | |
| 24 Jan Hungary says a new outbreak of bird flu has been detected on a farm in the south of the country. Tests were carried out after an abnormally high mortality rate was reported in a flock of 3,000 geese. BBC News | |
| 24 Jan Vietnam had been hailed a success story for beating back H5N1. A nationwide mass poultry vaccination program and a strong political will, brought the virus under control in 2006. The government last week banned the movement of all ducks after the H5N1 virus resurfaced last month following a yearlong lull. full story | |
| 24 Jan Japan An outbreak of bird flu is suspected at another poultry farm in Miyazaki Prefecture, just 60 km from the farm in Kiyotake that was decimated by the high virulent H5N1 strain two weeks ago Japan Times | |
| 19 Jan The latest outbreak of bird flu has authorities on the alert in the Mekong River Delta. Since the recurrence of bird flu virus in early December in the Mekong Delta, the virus has now hit seven provinces. Provincial authorities have been ordered to tackle the outbreak urgently, by stepping up vaccinations, culling infected animals and disinfecting poultry farms in high-risk areas. Korea herald | |
| 18 Jan All backyard poultry in the Indonesian capital Jakarta are to be banned in a bid to stem the deadly bird flu virus. The governor of Jakarta said the ban, which is voluntary at the moment, would become compulsory in two weeks time. The ban will cover all domestic birds in the city, including chickens, ducks and pigeons. BBC News | |
| 5 Jan Vietnam's latest outbreak of bird flu poses a huge threat to public health, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the country says. Dr Hans Troedsson said the cooler weather and forthcoming Tet festival heightened the risk of the disease spreading to the human population. http://article.wn.com/view/2007/01/05/Vietnam_warned_on_bird_flu_threat/ | |
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Jan 5 Hong Kong said
it's stepping up inspections after a bird was found with H5 avian
flu in the district of Causeway Bay. One wild bird, a Scaly Breasted Munia,
tested positive for the H5 subtype of avian influenza and five others were
negative. http://article.wn.com/view/2007/01/05/Hong_Kong_steps_up_checks_after_bird_flu_infection/ | |
| Dec 29 2006 Third Vietnam Province hit by bird flu. Bird flu killed more than 400 ducks in Vietnam this week as the virus jumped to a third southern province. This month's new bird flu outbreak has spread to 10 communes in six districts of southern Vietnamese provinces. The latest outbreaks hit two flocks - around 1,100 unvaccinated ducks. The farmers had brought ducklings from another province. | |
| Dec 22 South Korea starts killing poultry after new outbreak of bird flu. South Korea has started killing tens of thousands of poultry after a fourth bird flu case broke out in less than a month. The Agriculture Ministry confirmed the outbreak at a duck farm about 92 kilometers south of Seoul. South Korea has had three outbreaks of the H5N1 virus since November, resulting in the slaughter of more than 1 million poultry. Quarantine officials have started slaughtering 23,000 poultry within three kilometers (1.8 miles) of the outbreak site. Quarantine officials also were preparing to destroy 630,000 eggs at a farm in a neighboring province as the eggs came from the outbreak site. South Korea put to death 5.3 million birds during the last known outbreak of bird flu in 2003. | |
| Dec 22 Bird flu hits Indonesia's tsunami-battered Aceh province. Avian Influenza has infected tens of thousands of fowls in Aceh province, which was devastated by tsunami in December 2000. After infecting scores of chickens in one district in North Aceh regency at the end of December last year, the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus now has contracted tens of thousands of chickens in seven districts of the regency. An official of the health department of North Aceh said all preventive measures had been taken to prevent the virus from spreading. The Indonesian health ministry has ordered to slaughter all poultry in radius of one kilometer and to vaccinate all of them in radius of three kilometers | |
| Dec 20 Over 250 million birds are now registered on the Great Britain Poultry Register as part of Defra's programme of measures to help reduce the impact of an outbreak of avian influenza. http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2006/061220a.htm | |
| Dec 20 Vietnam has detected H5N1 bird flu virus in chickens and ducklings in two Mekong Delta provinces, the first infections since August. The virus was found in dead chickens and ducklings hatched more than a month ago but not vaccinated against bird flu. Reuters | |
| Dec 20 Fresh outbreak of Bird Flu alarms Nigerian Officials. Experts say a fresh outbreak of avian influenza in Nigeria is more widespread than thought. The Nigerian Veterinary Association says the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu remains a major problem in Nigeria and warns that the country risks triggering an even bigger round of infection. “What we considered a resurgence is becoming alarming. From an initial three, then 10 states, almost all the states have been having a recurrence,” he said. “That is a very serious challenge and it also calls for a review of the entire process that we adopted. In the last month, we’ve heard about Delta State, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River and a lot of cases in Lagos.” Read more | |
| Dec 12 Korea A new outbreak of a deadly bird flu strain has been detected in Gimje, North Jeolla Province. The new case affects a poultry farm along a national highway just like the previous two farms in Iksan, giving rise to concerns that it is due to a quarantine failure. The Ministry of Agriculture andThe quail farm is 18 km south of the first infected poultry farm in Iksan, suggesting the highly pathogenic strain of the H5N1 virus has spread outside the 10 km radius alert area of Iksan and could spread further. But the director of the ministry's livestock bureau Lee Sang-kil said, "Our epidemiological tests so far suggest that the new case at the quail farm in Gimje is not related with the first and second cases that broke out in Iksan.” The quail farm is 16 km and 13 km south of the two poultry farms in Iksan. All three are near National Highway no. 23. http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200612/200612120009.html | |
| Dec 11 Bird flu cases in Asia likely to rise. Asia will likely see an increase in the number of bird flu cases in the coming winter, a leading expert said Monday, while South Korean officials said another outbreak had killed thousands of quails. "In Asia, there tends to be a peak in the cooler months of the H5 strain," said Robert Webster of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.. "We're seeing an upsurge in Korea; the chances are good that ... there could be an upsurge in China and across Asia." http://article.wn.com/view/2006/12/11/Bird_flu_cases_in_Asia_likely_to_rise_in_coming_winter_exper/ | |
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| Nov 29 Bird flu virus should be targeted in Africa. Asia's relative success in fighting bird flu could see a shift in UN resources to Africa. Previously hard-hit countries such as Thailand and Vietnam have had success in containing the virus, but Africa is much weaker, economically and structurally, to respond. The international community should continue to help Indonesia where there is a very difficult situation . The virus has spread to 30 of 33 provinces. Read more | |
| Nov 28 Cambodia’s religious leaders enlist in the fight against avian influenza. Since September, religious leaders from all over Cambodia have been partaking in a series of orientation sessions on bird flu, sponsored by UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of Cults and Religions. A series of 70 sessions have been held in 12 provinces throughout the country. Close to 6,000 Buddhist monks and nuns have attended along with many Muslim and Christian leaders. As influential people, they are in a unique position to help educate others about bird flu. “These religious leaders disseminate information through their visits to communities and when people visit temples,” said UNICEF Representative in Cambodia Rodney Hatfield. Read more | |
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Nov 28 South Korea. H5N1 avian influenza has been confirmed at a second poultry farm near the site of a recent outbreak in South Korea. The outbreaks on the two farms are South Korea’s first in almost 3 years. No human cases of H5N1 illness have ever been reported in South Korea. Read more. | |
| Nov. 22 Outbreaks show virus is changing (Health Day News) -- Detailed data on clustered human cases of avian flu have experts agreeing that the H5N1 virus is evolving -- but in what direction? Vaccinating every bird in the United States does not make sense right now. That's because the virus would simply go "underground," infecting fowl but not producing outward symptoms. "You want to vaccinate susceptible populations, and then control outbreaks by killing affected birds" htttp://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2006/11/22/hscout536220.html | |
| Nov 21 Dutch let poultry our as bird flu fears ease The Dutch Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday lifted an order on keeping poultry indoors, introduced to protect flocks from the threat of avian flu from migrating birds, as fears of a possible outbreak receded. "The ban can be lifted because the monitoring of wild birds in the European Union showed no traces of the disease. http://article.wn.com/view/2006/11/21/Dutch_let_poultry_outdoors_as_bird_flu_fears_ease/ | |
| Nov 8 Bird disaster could spread: diclofenac. The "most significant conservation disaster ever" may be about to repeat itself around the world, according to research by the RSPB. The anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac is toxic to three species of Asian vulture. They die from kidney failure if they eat the carcasses of cattle treated with it. Conservationists estimate that 10-14 million birds have died; populations are still declining at 30% to 50% a year. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1941728,00.htm | |
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2 Nov Avian influenza is
likely to remain a significant global threat
for animals and humans for the
next decade, top UN coordinator David Nabarro said on Thursday. “The
risk of a mutation to cause pandemic is still very much there,” he said.
“As long as the virus is present in birds, there will also be a threat of
sporadic human infection, and a possibility of a mutation which would cause
at the end of the day a pandemic.” “It’s the reason why I do think we a have to put now plenty of energy towards a long term reform of the poultry farming techniques, in order to reduce the risks of human infection.” | |
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6 Nov Foam approved to kill chickens in pandemic : Washington - The government has approved the use of fire fighting foam to quickly kill chickens if there is an outbreak of bird flu in commercial poultry. The Agriculture Department says water-based foam can be an alternative to carbon dioxide, which has traditionally been used to quickly kill large quantities of birds. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15590706/ | |
8
Nov Study
fingers migrating ducks in bird flu spread Migrating
ducks, geese, and swans spread the H5N1 bird flu virus from
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31 October Scientists Discover New Strain of Bird Flu in China Scientists in Hong Kong and the United States have detected a new strain of bird flu in China that could start a new wave of outbreaks. The discovery by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, is reported in the newest issue of U.S.-based Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists named the new strain "the Fujian-like virus," because it was first discovered in China's southern Fujian province. They say the strain has become the primary version of the bird flu in several Chinese provinces, and has already spread to Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand. Public health authorities fear the virus could mutate into a strain that can easily spread from human to human, raising a potential of a worldwide pandemic. http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-10-31-voa2.cfm | |
| Protecting virus' offers instant flu protection & converts flu infections into their own vaccines Research led by Professor Nigel Dimmock at the University of Warwick is developing an entirely new method of protecting against flu. This has been shown to protect animals against various strains of flu, and could offer protection against the full range of influenza A infections, including H5N1 and any new pandemic or epidemic strains infecting humans. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/dipr/ | |
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Vaccines
for birds do work:
Information
from BBC 'You and Yours' - John
Oxford, Professor of Virology, was interviewed at the International
Conference in | |
| Oct 20 Details of new avian and pandemic flu research projects announced today http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/381&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr | |
| October 15 New bird flu restrictions come into force in Switzerland. Poultry kept within a one-kilometre radius of major Swiss lakes and rivers must stay indoors . . . to prevent domestic flocks from coming into contact with migratory birds infected with the H5N1 virus. The measures will remain in place until April 30 2007. Thirty-two dead wild birds were found with the H5N1 virus in Switzerland in February and March 2006, mainly around lakes . . . No new cases have been detected in Switzerland since April 2006. The economics ministry says monitoring of wild birds will continue, especially on lakes . . . where 74 per cent of waterfowl spend the winter. Switzerland's summertime waterfowl population of 50,000 swells to 500,000 during the winter migration to Africa. More info | |
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October 9 No new bird flu outbreaks reported over ten months Vietnam's bid to prevent the reoccurrence of avian influenza has shown progress, as no new outbreaks of bird flu had been reported nationwide since the last December. According to a report dated October 8 by the Veterinary Department to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), 40 out of 64 cities and provinces throughout the country had provided second vaccinations in 2006 to nearly 70 million poultry. The department requested local authorities throughout the country to reinforce measures to prevent bird flu from returning, particularly their task to monitor raising poultry at household farms. The department also asked localities nationwide to halt the incubation of waterfowls and quails until the end of February 2007. (VNA) http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/news/091006/domestic_n.htm | |
| 29 Sept Government order placed for supply of avian influenza vaccine. Pharmamaceutical company Intervet will supply the UK with ten million doses of avian influenza vaccine, following a tendering process announced by Defra in July. The vaccine can be used against both H5 and H7 strains of the virus and could be used in poultry and other captive birds if a risk assessment and scientific evidence indicates it would help prevent disease spread. The UK's policy on vaccination remains unchanged. Due to uncertainties in the future nature and spread of the virus, this supply is part of sensible contingency planning. Defra would not use currently available vaccines in advance of an outbreak or as an immediate disease control response. Early reporting, rapid action, biosecurity, culling and surveillance remain the most effective methods of protecting against and controlling an avian influenza outbreak. Five million doses of the vaccine have already been manufactured at Intervet's production facility in Spain and are expected to arrive in the UK within the next 3 weeks following labelling and shipping. After inspection by UK authorities, this vaccine will then be fully ready for use. The remaining five million doses will take a further 13 weeks to manufacture due to the need to first grow and purify the virus and carry out quality checks. This step comes after 2.3 million doses of vaccine were bought earlier this year for a possible risk based preventive vaccination of zoo birds. The vaccine would be available for all UK administrations. http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2006/060929c.htm | |
| Sept 18 Chief vet issues new alert over bird flu. Britain has stepped up its defences against the deadly strain of avian flu and is to increase surveillance at the most likely disease hotspots. As thousands of wild birds return to these shores after spending the summer in the Arctic or in the Russian tundra, vets and ornithologists are on the alert for a possible outbreak of the H5N1 strain and other virulent forms of bird flu. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2363889,00.html | |
| Sept. 7 Bird Flu's Spread Tracked With Satellite-Linked Swans. Swans fitted with the same global positioning system satellite transmitters used to navigate cars may help scientists better understand the role wild birds play in the spread of avian influenza http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=a0GWsqy6um9U&refer=germany | |
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22 August: An OIE/FAO/IZSVe conference,
co-organised and
supported by the EC
20 to 22 March 2007
in Verona
at "Palazzo della Gran Guardia". The objectives of the
conference are to: | |
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Aug 18 Laboratory confirmation points to both old and new isolates of the bird flu
virus as sources of recent HPAI outbreaks in Southeast Asia, FAO said today.
Vigorous implementation of recommended control measures is needed to prevent
a further spread of the disease and sustain past successes in the region,
the Organization warned. Concerned about the recurrence of bird flu in Asia, close monitoring of
diagnostic results by FAO has revealed that bird flu is endemic in some
areas while new strains have emerged in other places. "Last month's HPAI outbreak in Thailand's Pichit province was caused by
the same virus strain circulating in the area since 2003/4. The H5N1 virus
thus remained alive in central Thailand in a reservoir of birds and poultry,
most probably a mix of backyard chicken, ducks and fighting cocks,"
said Laurence Gleeson, regional manager of FAO's bird flu center in Bangkok
today. On the other hand, the outbreaks in Nakhon Phanom and Vientiane were caused by a H5N1 virus strain previously not detected in Thailand and Laos. Instead, the virus is similar to recent isolates from southern China, suggesting that the virus spread from China to Thailand and Laos. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/printerfriendlynews.php?newsid=49911 | |
| Aug 16 China reported on Wednesday a fresh outbreak of bird flu at a duck farm that led to the slaughter of more than 200,000 fowl. http://article.wn.com/view/WNAT19EDF0041A7D70A3568C0DA82B8F1536/ | |
| Aug 12 Cambodia has suffered its second outbreak of bird flu this year . . . The virus was confirmed in more than 1,300 ducks that died 70 km southeast of Phnom Penh Reuters | |
| Aug 4 A swan found dead in a zoo in the eastern German city of Dresden was infected with H5N1 strain of bird flu http://news.scotsman.com/latest_international.cfm?id=1131862006 | |
| Aug 8th China has denied covering up a 2003 human death from bird flu which was only confirmed this week, but admitted shortcomings in its disease reporting. http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=136994 | |
| Aug 5th A leading virologist has urged countries battling new H5N1 bird flu outbreaks in animals to analyze the genetic makeup of the virus to trace its origins and better arm themselves to combat the disease. It will be very important to find out whether this new virus is the same virus that was there in Thailand before or whether it is a different virus that has been introduced," Peiris said. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=2&art_id=24374&sid=9179312&con_type=1&d_str=20060805 | |
| July 31 Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a new research method that may help identify the types of genetic changes necessary for the avian influenza virus (H5N1) to be more easily transmitted among people. After developing the research method, CDC scientists used it to investigate the ability of a lab-engineered combination of the avian influenza virus and a more common human virus to spread in lab animals. Efficient and sustained human-to-human transmission is the remaining property that H5N1 avian influenza viruses do not yet have that is needed to cause a pandemic. In this series of experiments, published in the July 31, 2006 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, genes from a human H3N2 influenza virus were added to genes from an H5N1 avian influenza virus to create new hybrid viruses. The new viruses were tested in ferrets because their susceptibility to flu viruses is similar to that of humans. The animals were then placed in close proximity, to see if infected ferrets passed the new virus to uninfected animals and whether they transmitted it more easily than the original H5N1 virus. In this model, human H3N2 viruses transmitted efficiently between the ferrets, but avian H5N1 viruses did not. When the hybrid viruses were tested it was found that these viruses also did not pass easily between ferrets. Read more on: http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/hotnews/67h3114284383051.html | |
July 29 2006 ~ Avian Flu - "Mild in the Wild, Benign in the Backyard, Fatal in the Factory." Comments from www.warmwell.com
The vaccination and quarantining of poultry is an important protection, especially for free range and organic poultry. However, it can never be a long-term solution for the intensive chicken sector, since they are too prone to becoming "viral factories," and risk becoming the route for H5N1 to mutate and hence spread resistance to available vaccines. . .....it would appear that chickens are shipped from Europe, used for breeding in Thailand, then cooked chicken is sent back again to Europe. And this from a country that is Asia's biggest producer of poultry and poultry feed for exports. Day old chicks, exported to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, are already thought to have brought avian flu to these countries. ..." The Role of Intensive Poultry Farming and International Trade in the Spread of Avian Flu ( pdf file opens in new window) . | |
Jul 31, 2006 (CIDRAP News) Massive chicken cull in Thailand as experts await human avian flu test resultsA Thai province is culling 300,000 chickens after a laboratory test confirmed an avian influenza outbreak, and the country's health ministry is monitoring 80 patients who are suspected of having avian flu. The Bangkok Post reported today that the cull in the Nakhon Phanom province is being carried out on 70 farms by 1,500 health officials. The culling was prompted by the deaths of several chickens. The province's governor, Nikhom Kerdkhanmak, told the Post that samples of chicken carcasses were sent to the Centre for Veterinary Research and Development in Kohn Kahn, and results showed that the chickens were infected with bird flu; the strain was not specified in the story. Last least week, 40,000 chickens were culled in the province as a precautionary measure. http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/jul3106thailand.html | |
| Romania poultry sector hit hard by avian influenza Romania, due to become an EU member state in 2007, has been particularly hard hit by the avian influenza virus. In June the European Commission banned the import of all poultry and poultry products from Romania into the EU due to the bird flu outbreak there. According to a report released this week by the US Department of Agriculture, there are 15 active avian influenza (AI) outbreaks out of a total of 127 cases that occurred during the second wave of the virus in May. The disease has left many Romanian producers are on the verge of bankruptcy. Almost one million birds were culled during the country's second avian influenza wave in May, compared to 421,000 birds culled during October to December last year. The majority of them, 764,865 birds, belonged to commercial farms located in Codlea Platform district, while 211,035 birds belonged to over 14,000 households in the countryside.Under the previous strategy, only the birds in the affected premises would be culled until laboratory tests confirmed the presence of the H5N1 form of the virus. To date, in 99 per cent of the cases the rapid tests have been confirmed to be H5 by additional laboratory tests. In order to prevent the virus spread further, the agriculture ministry is culling all birds within a three km area as soon as soon as rapid tests indicate the presence of avian influenza. The country has also increased the number of samples for avian influenza testing in the high-risk areas, increased inspections at poultry http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=69115-avian-h-n-romania | |
| July 21 (Reuters) - European regulators have given a green light to the first two avian influenza vaccines for use in birds http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21881785.htm | |
| July 20 (Reuters) - Bulgaria said on Thursday it had detected bird flu in three farms in a village in the south of the country near the Turkish border and suspected it was the feared H5N1 strain of the virus. http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20296093.htm | |
| July 11th Bird flu vaccine ordered despite concerns The farm ministry issued a tender on Tuesday for 10 million doses of bird flu vaccine, responding to requests from organic free-range poultry producers. Reuters | |
| July 11 Romania culled almost 1 million fowl in May The H5N1 avian influenza virus was actively circulating in four of Romania's counties on June 30, compared with 18 counties in May.. no new outbreaks were detected since June 8 report said. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0K4uLB6RoqM&refer= | |
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International Conference Bird flu in Netherlands on
1 July '06 Conclusion of the European Conference (Ede, 1 July
2006): the Dutch hobby holders who vaccinate their chickens are the
forward-liners of a new animal disease control policy. New vaccination round for hobby poultry in August Vaccination against bird flu will be possible again in August for hobby birds. One month later all the non-vaccinated birds and poultry have to be kept inside again due to autumn migration, as Martijn Weijtens, Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer of the Ministry of Agriculture, announced at the international Conference about bird flu and about the future of hobby holding in Europe. Read the presentation of martijn_weijtens http://hobbydierhouder.nl/content/blogcategory/23/54/ | |
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July 11th Government contracts to be
placed for supply of avian influenza vaccine | |
| July 7 (Bloomberg) Bird Flu Risk May Increase Next Month, Govt Report Says. The risk of avian flu re-entering the U.K. will be higher between August and November when wild birds typically fly through the country during winter migration, a government report said (see the defra website) .http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=a3LTUkXIXGGk&refer=uk | |
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July 7 (Reuters) Madrid - A
Spanish laboratory has confirmed the country's first case of H5N1 bird
flu after analysing a sample taken from a wild migratory water bird, the
Agriculture Ministry said on Friday. The dead great crested grebe was found
in the northern province of Alava and a sample sent to the National
Reference Laboratory on Thursday revealed "high pathogen" H5N1,
the ministry said http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07621747.htm See also http://www.recombinomics.com/News/07070601/H5N1_Spain.html | |
| July 5 (Reuters) Nigeria has been infected multiple times with H5N1 bird flu p http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L04512406.htm | |
July 2 2006 ~ China has suffered a new outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in poultry"... experts were trying to determine whether a Chinese man died of the disease in 2003, two years before the country reported any human cases. The new outbreak was found near Zhongwei, a city in the Ningxia region, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the Agriculture Ministry. It didn't say how many or what type of birds were affected. Ministry experts were sent to the area "to control any possible outbreak" and local authorities were disinfecting vehicles and people traveling into and out of the area, Xinhua said. China has reported more than 30 bird flu outbreaks in poultry since last October. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/07/02/2003316855 | |
from www.warmwell.com
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| June 19 France said on Monday it was officially free of bird flu http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19840133.htm | |
| June 14 Hungary poultry bird flu outbreak was H5N1 Hungary has already slaughtered over 300,000 poultry, mainly ducks and geese in the affected area, and it may cull up to half a million in total http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14153877.htm | |
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June 12 (Reuters) - Teams
of veterinarians have been sent to destroy domestic poultry in northern
Ukraine http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12398930.htm | |
| June 10 EU says H5 virus found in Hungary The European Commission said Friday that a H5 highly pathogenic strain of bird flu had been found in a domestic flock of geese in Hungary. Samples will be sent to the European Union (EU)'s reference laboratory for avian flu in Weybridge, near London, for further tests to determine whether it is the deadly H5N1 strain, the commission said in a statement. The Hungarian authorities found the infected flock in Bacs- Kiskun in southern Hungary. Cases of highly pathogenic bird flu were detected in wild birds earlier this year in this county. All 2,300 geese in the flock were immediately culled upon suspicion of the virus. All poultry in the 1 km radius around the outbreak are also being culled Friday, the commission said. http://english.people.com.cn/200606/10/eng20060610_272806.html | |
| June 6 BEIJING (Reuters) - China needs to improve its efforts to control bird flu, a leading Chinese expert on the disease said, adding to voices anxious about the country's preparedness http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=PEK211051 | |
| June 5 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Horrified by reports from Asia of chickens being set on fire or buried alive in plastic bags, U.S. animal welfare groups are gearing up with trepidation for the arrival of bird flu and the probability of mass killings to contain it......Mass euthanasia and disposal training programs are being carried out around the United States. One method demonstrated in central California last month used fire-fighting foam that can smother thousands of birds in a few minutes . . . so how is that different from live burial? | |
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June 1 Stick up for chickens: "If you cram 50,000 birds into a shed, breed them and drug them so they can barely walk, and coop them up in their excrement, that's begging bird flu to come here," said PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N01384537.htm | |
Global Scientists Gather To Study Wild Birds and DiseaseRole of migratory birds in
avian influenza spread is a key issue By Charlene Porter Washington File
Staff Writer | |
FASO/OIE International Scientific Conference on Avian Influenza and Wild
Birds Rome, May 30-31, 2006 http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjects/en/health/diseases-cards/conference/index_en.html
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May 29
UN: Humans more likely spreaders of avian
influenza THE UNITED NATIONS’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said it was unreasonable to blame wild birds as the source of H5N1 or bird flu in the absence of rigorous research into their role in the ecology and dynamics of the virus.“Human activities not birds are more likely to spread the virus,” the FAO said in a statement posted last week on its web site at www.fao.org. http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=77361 | |
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May
25 Bulgaria
bans Romanian poultry over bird flu | |
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A total of 399 bar-headed geese and ruddy shelducks had died from the virus in outbreaks in Tibet's Naqu district and the Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in neighboring Qinghai province, the agriculture ministry said. The ministry reported on its website that the outbreaks, which it said had happened 'recently,' were confirmed as the deadly H5N1 virus earlier today. Although the two outbreaks had occurred in separate locations, they were linked by the same migratory route. The route also linked the outbreaks to two other recent incidents in the area, the ministry said. According to earlier reports, 123 birds had died in the previous outbreaks. The ministry said the area was thinly populated and had no farms where poultry was being raised, suggesting the risk to domesticated birds was small. Qinghai is along one of Asia's main bird migratory routes and a series of avian flu outbreaks were recorded there in May last year. http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2006/05/24/afx2769641.html | |
| 18 May Discovery of poultry exposed to bird flu virus was kept from public Government scientists found evidence of bird flu in poultry in October but did not report their concerns to the public, the Guardian can reveal. The scientists placed movement restrictions on a bird rescue centre in south-west England after finding evidence that 13 free-range geese had been exposed to an H5 virus http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,,1777205,00.html | |
| 12
May H5N1
Bird Flu Returns to Romania
Recombinomics Commentary The H5 bird flu virus was detected yesterday in 50 birds found dead in central Romania, officials said, less than a month after the virus was said to have been eradicated from the country. The new outbreak in Hurezu village is the 53rd to have been found in the country. The return of H5n1 to Romania is not unexpected. Wild birds brought H5N1 into Africa through Romania and as they migrate back to the north, they bring H5N1 back to Romania. H5N1 is widespread in Europe and the Middle East and has reappeared in three regions in Russia and in China. The data further undermine the credibility of reports by wildlife and watershed conservation groups, who generated massive numbers of false negatives to bolster their views on the role of wild birds in the spread of H5N1 throughout Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. These groups fail to report the detection of low pathogenic avian influenza, reducing the credibility of their reports. http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05120606/H5N1_Romania_Return.html | |
| 10 May The flocks of migratory birds that winged their way south to Africa last autumn and then back over Europe in recent weeks did not carry the H5N1 or spread it during their annual journey, scientists have concluded, defying health officials' dire predictions. The number of cases in Europe has decreased so dramatically compared to February, when dozens of new cases were found daily, that experts believe the northward spring migration played no role. There was one grebe in Denmark on April 28 — the last case — as well as a falcon in Germany and a few swans in France, according to the World Organization for Animal Health, based in Paris. In response to the good news, agriculture officials in many European countries have this month lifted restrictions designed to protect valuable domestic poultry from infected wild birds. In the first week in May, both the Netherlands and Switzerland rescinded mandates that poultry be kept indoors. Austria has loosened similar regulation and France is considering doing so, as farmers (and their poultry) chafe under the restrictions of indoor life as the weather warms. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/10/health/10cnd-flu.html?ex=1147492800&en=34534b3b2a87983d&ei=5087%0A | |
| 8 May Chickens across Norfolk are being tested for bird flu (H7) after it emerged that up to 20 farms in the county were exposed to carcasses from an infected poultry outlet. About 100 dead birds from a free-range farm at North Tuddenham, near Dereham, which was infected with the H7N3 virus were taken onto farms across Norfolk on March 30. The bodies were collected in sealed barrels from the Norwich Road and Mowles Manor free-range farms by Attleborough-based animal disposal company T J Kent and carried to other premises during its daily rounds. At the time both T J Kent and the farms' owners Geoffrey and Simon Dann were unaware the virus had spread to one of the farms on March 20, as the outbreak was not discovered until Saturday April 29. Eastern Daily Press | |
| 6th May China
reported a bird flu outbreak among wild migratory geese in the northwest
province of Qinghai, the second case in less than a week. Seventeen
bar-headed geese were found dead in a remote area . . . on April
23rd, with the cause of deaths confirmed as bird flu . . . A total of123
birds had now died of the virus there . . . Qinghai is along one of
Asia's main bird migratory routes and a series of avian flu outbreaks
were recorded there in May last yea. http://www.todayonline.com/articles/116704.asp | |
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5th May Germany will
continue to enforce a lock up of domestic fowl in most of the country to
combat bird flu, despite protests by farmers. Agriculture
Minister Horst Seehofer said. 'The bird flu risk remains as high as
before', he said. An announcement in April that the lock-up would be
extended indefinitely provoked a protest in Berlin by about 1000 poultry
farmers who said they risked losing their livelihood as their produce no
longer passes for 'free range'. Seerhofer promised state funding to help
affected farmers, but said the lock up would continue to apply in all
parts of the country where wild birds were infected with bird flu. it will
also remain on place in all areas where there is a high concentration of
poultry farms or migratory birds.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/116464.asp There is a petition in Germany to try to persuade minister Seerhoffer to allow vaccination to protect against avian influenza. The German authorities have been particularly hard on waterfowl keepers. Even last autumn birds were culled if they could not be brought indoors. The cull continues as avian influenza outbreaks spread in Germany. This website http://www.vhgw.de/ invites people to add to the German petition for vaccination. Follow the yellow banner to: |
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Signatur abgeben Organisationen OR
Personen
Zuruckseten means set back Abschicken means send |
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5th May Bird flu virus hardier, lives for
longer Leading influenza experts urged nations not to lower their guard against
the deadly and hardy H5N1 virus, saying it now survives longer in higher temperatures and in wet and moist conditions. Scientists previously found the virus to be most active and transmissible among birds in the cooler months from October to March in the northern hemisphere, and many people were hoping for some respite in the coming summer months.But influenza expert Robert Webster warned against complacency and underestimating the virus, which made its first documented jump to humans from birds in 1997 in Hong Kong, killing six people. "When we tested the virus in Hong Kong from 1997, the virus was killed at 37 degrees Celsius (98 Fahrenheit) in two days. The current H5N1 is still viable for six days at 37," said Webster, from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the U.S. city Memphis."H5N1 at room temperatures can stay (alive) for at least a week in wet conditions, Webster told Reuters on the eve of a bird flu conference organized by the Lancet medical journal in Singapore. "One of the often overlooked facts about influenza is that it's more heat stable than people realize, especially under moist, damp conditions ... Don't trust it," he said. Kennedy Shortridge, who spent three decades studying influenza viruses, called for a complete rethink of the way poultry should be raised in parts of Asia, where ducks -- natural reservoirs of flu viruses -- are raised in padi fields to get rid of rice pests. Ducks are also raised alongside chickens, and cross infection is all too common. "When I first saw the beginnings of intensive raising of poultry in the early 1980s in southern China, to me, the alarm bells were there," said Shortridge, who described these padi fields as "nothing more than fecal soups of influenza viruses". In an interview, he also called for a change in the ways chickens are now raised. Conditions were often too stressful for the birds and this made them vulnerable to disease. "We've got to find other sources of protein, other than just chicken. And the chickens have to be raised in such a way that the birds are not going to be stressed and not susceptible to so many infections," he said. htttp://www.chinapost.com.tw/detail.asp?ID=81527&GRP=A |
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| 4th May No avian influenza found among migrating birds yet in Finland. Dead birds are being constantly sent from around Finland to the National Veterinary and Food Research Institute of Finland (EELA) for examination for possible avian influenza or bird flu. Professor Liisa Sihvonen of the institute’s virological institute, expects the number to continue to rise. However, no carriers of the disease have been found in Finland, even though the H5N1 virus appeared to be moving rapidly toward the north of Europe. The virus has already been detected in the south of Sweden. Swans have been carriers of the virus in Europe. About 12,000 pairs of swans have arrived in Finland. In Sweden the virus has been found in a tufted duck. "There have to be carriers of the virus somewhere, but only a very small percentage of the birds have caught it. Whether or not it will be detected is a completely different matter", Sihvonen ponders. She does not believe that the spread of the virus has slowed down, even though it has not been detected in Finland. The mild winter led to an early migration from the east of Europe to warmer parts of the west. Unusually large numbers of birds congregated in resting areas in Germany, for instance, thus favouring the spread of the virus. For instance, there were more swans on the move than in a normal winter.http://www.hs.fi/english/article/No+avian+influenza+found+among+migrating+birds+yet+in+Finland/1135219740415 | |
30th April Chickens at two more British farms are found to have bird flu. Britain's defenses against bird flu were last night exposed as ineffective, as chickens in two more farms in Norfolk were found to have a strain of the disease. The news came as an Independent on Sunday investigation revealed severe flaws in the Government's surveillance against the infection http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article361042.ec |
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27th April New bird flu virus hits chicken farm About 35,000 chickens were being slaughtered on a farm in Norfolk last night after a form of bird flu was found in dead birds. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/27/nflu27.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/04/27/ixnewstop.html |
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Vaccines
do work - Read in full
Twelve
waterfowl and poultry organizations urge defra to produce a plan In The truth is that, if birds
are vaccinated
preventively (prophylactically) before infection arrives, they are very well
protected.
Birds free from disease, inoculated with a dead vaccine, CANNOT shed
virus. IF they are later challenged with disease, then a small number may
contract the disease. If they do, experiments show that they shed virus
for up to three days, but shed such a tiny amount that they do not even
infect sentinel birds. There is very good flock immunity. |
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April Bird Life Statement on Avian Influenza: There are several ways in which H5N1 can be spread within and between countries. Three major potential routes are the movements of infected poultry (and poultry products), movements of caged wild birds in trade, and movements of wild birds. Effective responses need to focus on all of these possible means of spread.Outbreaks among wild birds in Europe and Iran during 2006 show that wild birds are capable of carrying the virus to new sites after infection, possibly in a “leap-frog” fashion by travelling for a short time and passing on infection to another group of birds before dying. Many questions remain concerning the effects of the virus on wild birds and how efficiently they can spread it to other wild birds or to domestic poultry. (See section “The role of wild birds”.)here are several ways in which H5N1 can be spread within and between countries. Three major potential routes are the movements of infected poultry (and poultry products), movements of caged wild birds in trade, and movements of wild birds. Effective responses need to focus on all of these possible means of spread.Outbreaks among wild birds in Europe and Iran during 2006 show that wild birds are capable of carrying the virus to new sites after infection, possibly in a “leap-frog” fashion by travelling for a short time and passing on infection to another group of birds before dying. Many questions remain concerning the effects of the virus on wild birds and how efficiently they can spread it to other wild birds or to domestic poultry. (See section “The role of wild birds”.) By contrast, recent outbreaks in Cameroon, Egypt, India, Israel, Jordan, Niger, Nigeria and Pakistan originated within the poultry industry. Here, as in most other H5N1 outbreaks, there is strong circumstantial evidence that movements of poultry and poultry products are responsible. The timing and location of these outbreaks do not match the movements of migratory birds. Moreover in many of these countries poultry outbreaks occurred almost simultaneously in multiple large-scale poultry operations, indicating that migratory birds were an unlikely agent of the transmission. http://www.birdlife.org/action/science/species/avian_flu/index.html |
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| 24th April No Need to Cull Wild Birds to Stop Birdflu Poultry are more important carriers of the virus, and H5N1 avian influenza has probably been circulating, unseen and steadily, for years in Southeast Asian flocks, the experts in the Netherlands and Sweden said. "With our current limited knowledge on highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds, there is no solid basis for including wild birds in control strategies beyond the physical separation of poultry from wild birds," Ron Fouchier and Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam and a team of colleagues wrote in a report published in the journal Science. http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=36099&newsdate=24-Apr-2006 | |
| April 22 Two more swans have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in France, authorities in the affected region said. The swans were found this week in Saint-Paul-de-Varax in the Ain region of southeast France, some 45 km from the city of Lyon. A national laboratory on Friday confirmed they were infected with H5N1, the Ain region's prefecture said. Anti-bird flu protection and surveillance zones were put in place stretching for 10 km around the spot where the two dead swans were found. The measures will be in place for a month. The Ain is the epicentre of French efforts to combat bird flu, recording 65 of the 66 cases of H5N1 found so far this year in tests on more than 14,000 dead wild birds in France. The other case was in the Bouches-du-Rhone region further south. http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=Birdfluscare&slug=Swans+test+positive+for+bird+flu+in+France&id=87139&callid=1 | |
| April 22 Germany has indefinitely extended a lock-up order for domestic fowl in a bid to contain the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer said he had decided to continue the restrictions on the recommendation of the national veterinary institute . Since mid-February, H5N1 has been found in more than 300 wild birds in seven of Germany's states.It has also spread to mammals, infecting three cats and a stone marten on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen. http://www.todayonline.com/articles/114023.asp | |
| Restoring wetlands and clearing poultry farms from migratory flyways could help curb the spread of bird flu by stopping wild birds from mixing with domestic fowl, UN-commissioned report. The clearance of wetlands due to drainage for agriculture or hydroelectric projects is forcing some wild birds on to alternative sites such as farm ponds and paddy fields, bringing them into direct contact with domestic poultry. This increases the spread of the virus, which has jumped from Asia to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "There's a contraction for the habitat for wild birds and a natural situation arising which promotes the inter-mixing of wild birds and domestic poultry," said David Rapport, a Canadian professor and lead author of the report. "So should a pathogen arise in domestic poultry, it becomes more likely to be spread into wild birds... because the health of those ecosystems has been compromised," he told a news conference in Nairobi. http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=14395 | |
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19th April Is
this what the government meant by 'the best-prepared nation in the world'
for bird flu? |
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8th April
What Sir David Kings thinks . . . . Sir David King, the government's chief scientist, told the BBC that farming practices might change if the virus spread among wild birds: "There would no longer be outdoor birds. That means free-range farming and organic farming would effectively come to an end. "Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, said Sir David appeared to have "an unreconstructed attitude against nature-friendly and health-promoting forms of livestock farming". "The big issue is what kind of attitude we have," he said. "Whether it is calm and sophisticated or hysterical, draconian and fear inducing. "The association had been assured by Defra officials in March that 10m doses of vaccine were being ordered as a contingency to protect some poultry. That was on top of 2m doses already on standby for zoo and exotic birds. http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,,1749627,00.html?gusrc=rss#article_continue |
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8th April Swan may
have caught the virus a month ago Timing of infection linked to
arrival of H5N1 in France Extract: Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, said Sir David appeared to have "an unreconstructed attitude against nature-friendly and health-promoting forms of livestock farming". "The big issue is what kind of attitude we have," he said. "Whether it is calm and sophisticated or hysterical, draconian and fear inducing." The Association had been assured by Defra officials in March that 10m doses of vaccine were being ordered as a contingency to protect some poultry. That was on top of 2m doses already on standby for zoo and exotic birds. http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,,1749627,00.html?gusrc=rss |
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| 7th April How virus could spread from foothold in Fife across the UK Prof Osterhaus said Britain could now expect to see a similar spread of bird flu as had been witnessed in Germany, where the virus has been transmitted slowly between wild birds, but yesterday reached a poultry farm for the first time. Scientists were also considering the theory that the dead swan had brought the virus to Fife after leaving the Baltic more than a month ago. It was this movement of birds, largely mute swans, that led to the virus arriving in France and Germany. http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,,1748853,00.html#article_continue | |
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6th April Bird flu found in Scotland. A swan which was found dead of avian flu in Scotland was discovered more than a week ago, it has emerged. Tests were being carried out today on the dead bird, which was discovered in the village of Cellardyke in Fife. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/06/nflu06.xml |
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Avian
influenza goes global, but don't blame the birds The
Lancet Infectious Diseases 2006; 6:185
Extract Reports suggest that the outbreak in |
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| 5th April Unofficial report 'Now it happens, just now it´s on TV, we have H5N1 inside German poultry. It´s a farm in Sachsen (the biggest in this county) with16 000 turkeys, chicken and geese. It seems that on Sunday a lot of turkeys died and the authorities had been informed. Yesterday it was published as a suspicion on H5N1, because H5 had been tested positively. Just now, the responsible ministry told the press, that it is H5N1. The Friedrich-Löffler-Institute approved it right now. ' | |
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4
April The OIE recommends
vaccination
as an additional tool to be used when relevant
along with the classical methods of disease eradication. The use of
vaccination is strongly recommended by the OIE in developing countries
with weak veterinary services where it may be difficult to control the
infection without vaccination. This means that middle- and long-term
policies based on vaccination are not sustainable. This is why the OIE
recommended that the international community support the strengthening of
Veterinary Services in 142 developing and in-transition countries in
parallel with emergency programmes including vaccination. Preventive
vaccination should preferably be based on risk assessment to determine the
right policy and the product to be used. Zoo
animals, pets and poultry that cannot be confined have to be considered
within this risk assessment. |
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Avian
flu bloodbath imminent? Animal Aid demands answers from DEFRA
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ANIMAL
CAMPAIGN GROUP SLAMS SHOOTING LOBBY'S CALL FOR INCREASED GAME BIRD
PRODUCTION IN THE FACE OF BIRD FLU
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Dr. David Swayne, director of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's poultry research laboratory in Athens, Ga.
USA Wild birds are not major H5N1 carriers. They're the sentinels. They're not the reservoir that's spreading it around. They're infected because the poultry are infected... When you have an outbreak, sometimes you don't really know what the cause was... Nobody's going to be upset with you if you say wild birds http://www.drmartinwilliams.com/component/option,com_simpleboard/Itemid,137/func,view/id,242/catid,7/ |
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Industry caused
the flu: why blame wild birds? by Ashok B Sharma
Not just in India, industrial poultry is the cause of the spread of the
bird flu outbreak worldwide. Several studies show that transnational
poultry industry is the root cause of the problem. The spread of
industrial poultry production and trade networks have created ideal
conditions for the emergence and transmission of lethal viruses like the
H5N1 strains of bird flu. Inside factory farms viruses becomes lethal and
multiply. Air thick with viral load from infected factory farms is carried
for kilometres, while integrated trade networks spread the disease through
many carriers like live birds and chicken manure. http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=119545
Sound article from India echoing the latest from the USA 'The price of cheap chicken is bird flu |
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A note from Hansard Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what recent representations she has received about the protection from avian influenza of endangered species kept in zoos; and if she will make a statement; [55046] Mr. Bradshaw: We have received a wide range of representations and are working closely with stakeholders on these issues. Defra is considering a preventive vaccination programme for zoo birds and rare breeds in the |
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April 2 Comment from Warmwell
~ 4th Swiss
avian infected " the widespread (but apparently hidden) presence of
H5N1 in the wild bird population in significant parts of Europe"
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March 22 Coughing, Sneezing May Not Spread Avian Flu Scourge,
Study Says. Humans with H5N1 avian influenza evidently
can't spread the virus easily through coughing and sneezing, scientists
said. The virus replicates most efficiently in cells in the lungs rather than
the upper respiratory tract, including the windpipe, where it might be
more easily expelled and possibly infect other people, according to the
report today in the journal Nature. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a1fkcDujWdj0&refer=us |
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| 21 Mar 2006 Get vaccine or face mass bird culls Britain's organic farmers urged the government on Tuesday to prepare stocks of vaccines to protect free-range chickens from bird flu, saying no one could stomach the mass culls seen during the foot-and-mouth outbreak. | |
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17 March HP AI confirmed in Sweden. Second case of the highly pathogenic H5 bird flu virus in a mallard (duck). http://english.people.com.cn/200603/18/eng20060318_251631.htm 'They found one wild mallard with H5, confirmed. In the neighbourhood they kept 700 birds, ducks and pheasant with females mixed with wild males (kept for hunting people I guess). One out of 80 test was positive so now they kill them all, starting tonight. It's not too good, they keep on culling, the EU said so and that's it.' |
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15 March Thousands of birds struck down by bird flu in southern Russia 20,000 birds died of bird flu in the last 24 hours in Krasnodar Territory in southern Russia, the regional emergencies center said Wednesday.n the last 24 hours.... bringing the total number of dead birds to 328,376," the press service said. http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060315/44334410.html |
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15th March
European update on ProdMed
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/f?p=2400:1000 Denmark finds 1st case of H5 bird flu: Denmark has found the 1st case of the highly pathogenic H5 bird flu virus in a wild fowl, officials said on Wednesday [15 Mar 2006].Denmark's addition is far from surprising, in view of its geographic location. According to unofficial reports, 35 birds on the Baltic islands of Bornholm & Mon, north of Germany, were found infected. |
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| 14 Mar 2006 Dutch authorities will launch a postponed voluntary vaccination campaign against bird flu on Thursday The Netherlands initially planned to launch voluntary vaccination of its 1-to-3 million backyard poultry and about 5 million free range poultry against the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus last week after receiving EU permission on Feb. 22. | |
| 13 March Myanmar tests show first case of bird flu, BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar has found the H5N1 bird flu virus in chickens in what is believed to be the secretive country's first case of the deadly disease, but there was no sign of human infection, a U.N. official said. | |
| 12 March Preventing the spread of bird flu to domestic poultry should be feasible, a Swiss expert at UN FAO tells swissinfo. Samuel Jutzi, director of the FAO's Animal Production and Health Division, advocates the use of vaccination in domestic poultry, under strict conditions, saying its effectiveness has already been demonstrated in some countries http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=107&sid=6539140&cKey=1142154456000 | |
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10th March AVIAN INFLUENZA - WORLDWIDE (48) PROMED http://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1001:1474220268903684179::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,32298 |
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10th March Bird
Flu Detected in 11 Nigerian States
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| 10 March Large numbers of pet birds are being dumped at animal sanctuaries in the county due to growing fears about bird flu. Budgies, chickens, pigeons and ducks have all been abandoned in the past few weeks by people believing they might be at risk of contracting the killer avian flu. http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk | |
| 10th March Mass poultry vaccination started in Russia’s Southern Federal District on Friday. During March, the plant will dispatch 3 million bird flu vaccines, in April 5 millions. Read the article http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/03/10/dagestanvaccination.shtml | |
9th March United Nations Predicts
Bird Flu in the Americas within a Year
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4th March
Bird
flu may spread to pigeons and sparrows Roger
Highfield, Science Editor |
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4th March Article: Say goodbye to cheap chicken in New Scientist Magazine issue 2541DISASTER is looming for Europe's poultry. The European Union has just had its first outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in poultry, on a turkey farm in eastern France. It is unlikely to be the last. The virus has now been found in wild birds across Europe, and as spring migrants arrive from Africa virologists predict it could become endemic in European wild birds within two months. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/bird-flu/mg18925413.700 |
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| 3rd March " If we do not order or make any vaccine for birds then we can never use it. Are we heading for another disaster on the scale of 2001?" read Dr Ruth Watkins on the warmwell site http://www.warmwell.com/ | |
March 2nd/3rd~ "To my understanding, there are no
'silent carriers'..." Another
email from the General Manager of Intervet UK casts serious doubt on
David King's reasons for dismissing vaccination. "When our vaccine is used as recommended (2 doses
4-6 weeks apart) it prevents transmission of the disease, even with
the high challenges used experimentally..... infection...dies out - no
new birds get infected, and the few infected birds (which are not
clinically sick) recover and clear themselves of the infection. ..
what happened in Hong Kong during their outbreak - vaccination, as
part of a very stringent overall control program, stopped virus
circulation on infected premises from 18 days after the vaccination
started. Importantly, carriers were not found. These findings are
reported in the attached publication. (
"Vaccination of chickens against H5N1 avian influenza in the face
of an outbreak interrupts virus transmission" Avian
Pathology, August 2004 (opens in new window from the warmwell site )
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Feb 27th PARIS (Reuters) Ilaria
Capua, a top European expert on avian influenza with the World
Animal Health Organisation, the OIE, said the spread of the virus to the
wild bird population has meant the situation in Europe was now akin
"to living under machine-gun fire. And the spring migration from
Africa will make us even more exposed. This is the first time in history
that it (bird flu) has been widespread in wild birds," she added.
France launched the vaccination campaign in the department of the Landes,
in the southwest of the country, one of the areas at risk from the spread
of the virus by migratory birds. More at Feb 26th The two questions
below are in response to the message from Kyprianou 24 Feb 2006 'Learn
to live with bird flu' Feb 26 (Reuters) Hong Kong ! bans French poultry after bird flu find |
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24 Feb 2006 16:20:31 GMT RPT 'Learn to live with Avian Flu' says EU Health Chief. Reuters |
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24 Feb 2006 12:15:40 GMT France finds bird flu at a turkey farm. Reuters |
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The Times, Feb 22 A solution any birdbrain
should see THE GOVERNMENT’S response to the threat
of bird flu in Britain is heart-sinkingly predictable. As soon as the
first infected creature is identified, there will be mass slaughter around
the site where it is found. . . There is one critical difference between
avian flu and FMD, which makes the case for vaccination compelling. Its
spread is entirely unpredictable. . . . . . Stopping the movement of
animals between farms, which was standard practice during the FMD crisis,
might make sense on paper, but it would be irrelevant if this disease took
hold during the coming migration season, with flocks of web-footed birds
and waders pouring in from the Baltic.
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20th Feb 2006 The Independent: From the Far East, a lesson in how to beat bird flu by Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, in HanoiAs avian flu advances across Europe
towards the UK, public health experts in the Far East claimed the first
significant victory against the H5N1 virus since the current outbreak
began two years ago. Vietnam, the worst affected country in the world
with 93 human cases and 42 deaths, has become the first to successfully
contain the disease that threatens to become a global human pandemic,
according to the World Health Organisation. . . . . .Almost
200 million birds have been vaccinated, and up to five
million culled. |
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Sunday February 19, 2006
Feb 16th Guardian Greece,
Italy, Slovenia and Germany have confirmed H5N1 outbreaks
16
Feb 2006 HAMBURG,
Feb 16 (Reuters) - The number of birds killed in Germany
by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has risen to at least 13, and more
could follow, authorities said on Thursday. |
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Feb 16th 2006: Swans not the culprit in spreading bird
flu - Dr Albert Osterhaus, a virologist at Erasmus Medical Centre in the
Netherlands, told Reuters the pattern of the outbreaks of the disease in
four EU countries in the last few days showed other infected wild birds
were to blame.
BERLIN, Feb 16 - Germany probably had avian flu for some months Reuters
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UPDATE
ON BIRD FLU AND VACCINATION IN In With all the preparation to be done and the four weeks needed for complete immunity (after the two vaccination rounds) two months will pass before our birds will be outside again. By then most of the migrating season will be over. Why didn’t we start vaccination long before!! All birds shall be locked up, until vaccination can begin for the few species mentioned before. Hobby holders of water fowl, like ducks, geese and swans, with big ponds (larger than 25 m²) will be allowed to tighten red and white ribbons over the water in order to keep wild birds out. This way, welfare problems for these birds can be avoided. Pheasants and courser birds are exempted from the measures. The
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16TH FEBRUARY 2006
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PRESS
RELEASE NBvH, 15 February ‘06 Advancing virus requires other measures The ‘locking up’ measures, which Minister
Veerman (Dutch Minister of Agriculture) has announced today to stop the
virus, will prove not to be effective, thus states the NBvH (Dutch
Smallholders Association). To prohibit all transport of poultry and eggs
between the For some time now, the NBvH has pleaded for
obligatory vaccination of industrial poultry and for voluntary
vaccination of hobby birds. The ‘locking up’ measure, proclaimed
today, has enormous consequences for hobby holders of poultry and water
fowl, whereas experts consider the risk of introduction and spreading of
the disease, where these birds are concerned, is practically zero. The
greatest risk (introduction through contact structures of the poultry
industry) will not be lifted by ‘locking up’ these birds. The NBvH
is of the opinion, that in the interest of public health, transportation
of poultry within the EU should be restrained and that preventive
vaccination of all industrial poultry should be started as soon as
possible. For more information: |
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Intervet
UK Limited has announced that it has received official marketing
authorisation from the UK
authorities for its avian influenza vaccine Nobilis Influenza.
This is the first such licence to be issued in the European Union
and reflects the company’s considerable expertise in developing and
manufacturing a very wide range of poultry vaccines. Intervet has previously developed vaccines which were
successfully used in the control of AI outbreaks in |
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Press
release by the NBvH
Vaccination
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CHRISTMAS NEWS FROM HOLLAND
These (below) are all personal comments - news about policy will continue to be posted here Holland has decided
already that they are going to work on a plan to vaccinate free range
commercial poultry before the next migration in February. And the
European Committee seems to be working on a preventive vaccination
plan also, because the outbreaks in
It's
certainly is a real problem with the Bird Flu. Also here,
in some parts of Holland where ornamental waterfowl have their resting
locations, fanciers had to cage in their poultry. I was lucky
.
In Germany, the situation was worse, nearly all shows were called off. I got mails from several people: fanciers had to kill the whole lot, thousands of domestic waterfowl, lack of space to cage in. And they expect that close to spring next year 2006 that the same restrictions will appear again. From my part, I will breed just a few youngsters next year.
Concerning the AI. We thought that the AI
would come. But suddenly it stops. Fact is, that the authorities in
Europe were very active, with an activity very rare! They had to
DO something. Amazing. But that authorities were not well
informed. Self-profiling, commercial reasons etc etc cause them to
follow the non-vaccination strategy. The story of birds spreading the
disease is nonsense .If you take a map you can see that the virus has
a driver's license! Only transport, not birds.
The NBvH and the NPS were the only organizations
in Holland which have brought a very high pressure on The Hague and
Brussels. The NBvH through press releases with 'official language',
the NPS through 'people language'. Both additional to the other and
both with facts. That made our government nervous. It was a very good
co-operation. The cage-rules were withdrawn within a few weeks, and
totally since two weeks ago, and officially the 1st of January. Our
goal was not to influence the newspapers, because the public was
afraid and not informed well. No, we wanted to influence the people
behind who have the real power to do something. And that strategy
succeeded. A lot of contacts with the European Parliament and our
Ministry of Agriculture were the basis of success till now.
The biggest success is the fact that the European Parliament has made a rule that vaccination will be possible. Of course it is a commercial matter, because now the question is if the supermarkets will sell vaccinated meat. But they have to, because we are importing vaccinated meat from all over the world. The 'rest' exported from Holland is about 25 million Euro what is maybe in danger. But the public opinion is so against the stamping out method, that the politician has to follow, otherwise there will be a war between public and government. Latest news from Defra 20 December 2005 - News release:
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Date: 1
December 2005 Hot
news!! Unvaccinated
chickens were infected in nose and throat with the ‘Dutch’ vaccine
and all died 5 days later. In those 5 days they used 5 unvaccinated
chickens every day to join the infected ones, and only one or two of
those lived through the infection, but after 14 days most of the
chickens were dead. The conclusion is that vaccination is an ‘inviting’ way to stop the spreading of very virulent bird flu viruses. And also, this way the source of human contamination with these viruses can be removed.
BIRD FLU: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TO VOTE ON NEW EU MEASURES Advice:
vaccination against bird flu threat Temporary
preventive vaccination may be used against bird flu, even at the
international threat of
bird flu, thus is the advice of the Agriculture Commission of the Eur.
Parliament. And
this should not limit the trade of products of vaccinated animals in Maat
considers the outcome of the Agriculture Commission as an enormous
breakthrough. “This will put pressure on the Council of Agro-Ministers
to move in the same direction. Vaccination against bird flu is one step
closer now.” If
this proposal by Maat and Berman is adopted, an overall confinement of
birds inside is no longer necessary at the threat of bird flu, trade
guarantees for vaccinated products and vaccination against other animal
diseases will be easier to realise. Monday.
7th November, 2005 Smallholders in The
WHO has stated that to best way to tackle bird flu is dealing with the
source. Vaccination of poultry against H5N1 has proven to be an
effective measure in the Asian countries that applied it consequently. 1.
public health will be served
Panorama's "Bird Flu - Facing the Pandemic"
was
broadcast on Sunday 6 November 2005
Vietnam is in the process of trying to vaccinate all domestic animals in order to get rid of H5N1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/4400508.stm Press
release 3 November 2005 from the Dutch Smallholders group - NBvH
- in
Holland. Holland has already experienced an AI epidemic in 2003. Two weeks ago the EU decided to
endorse further measures to reduce the threat of Avian Influenza into Avoiding contact specifically
with migrating birds could limit the restriction period to the 7 months
of fall and winter, but one cannot avoid contact with wild birds in
general throughout the whole year without indefinite restriction. And
this could become reality because we know that the virus in Already news from As always economic reasons (like guarantees for sale of chicken meat and eggs) are in the way of vaccination. Considering that vaccination could banish the threat of bird flu from our world. Why can't we use a vaccine for our birds in the UK? Read this Guardian article in full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5318494-112338,00.html Paul van Aarle, from the pharmaceutical firm Intervet, which produces the Nobilis Influenza H5 vaccine said it was an alternative to mass culling. In Hong Kong it was used in an avian influenza control programme and there have been no new bird or human outbreaks since, he said. Soil Association: The Soil Association is urgently calling for the
Government to adopt vaccination as a first-stage control to combat any
outbreak of avian influenza in the UK. This use of vaccination in
the form of a ring-fence is a proven, effective tool that should be used
ahead of any moves to bring organic and free-range poultry indoors
throughout the country and to prevent the mass-slaughter of UK poultry. News from Intervet Avian influenza is a viral infection that affects most species of birds. Outbreaks of avian influenza in the poultry industry cause devastating economic losses. The disease is of public health significance. Control of avian influenza is through extensive culling of infected and in contact poultry, a stamping out policy. This website looks at vaccination as a supplementary control measure during avian influenza outbreaks. http://www.avian-influenza.com/ Dutch Hobby Holders (NBvH) web site http://www.hobbydierhouder.nl/ Hoevelaken,
October 17, 2005 Press
release: Vaccination prevents the pandemic The eradication of
Avian Influenza in 2003 in the Some 80 people were infected. One (veterinarian) died. Lessons, learned in Holland, made it clear that stamping out endangers public health. So, to prevent a pandemic, all commercial poultry should be vaccinated rather than buying Tamiflu. We request the Ministers of the European Union, together in Luxemburg on October 18th, to take their responsibility by making preventive vaccination possible. It is the only way to protect public health. Drs.
Paula Polman MPH
ing. Peter Kreijger
president NBvH (Dutch smallholders Association) president Aviornis Int. Ned. http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk Search this site for the Journal Avian Pathology to see what happened when a vaccine was used against avian influenza in Hong Kong and Italy. European Commission, Brussels http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/05/285&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en BBC website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/2005/bird_flu/default.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4355532.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4172182.stm (22nd August 2005 - Dutch to shield poultry from flu) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4182746.stm (25th August - Europe urges watches migrant birds) http://www.scidev.net/ms/bird_flu/ |
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Les
élevages de canards et d’oies, situés dans les zones humides
à risque des départements des Landes, de Loire-Atlantique et de Vendée,
pour lesquels le confinement ne pourrait être mis en œuvre, seront
vaccinés, dans le respect des règles communautaires.
