Bird Flu

[imported_RUDO]

Bird Flu Spreads in Europe

Bird Flu Spreads in Europe
By Cihan News Agency, Anadolu News Agency (aa), Ankara, Jakarta, Paris, Warsaw
Published: Tuesday, March 07, 2006
zaman.com


Bird flu (Avian Influenza) that first appeared in Asia has since spread across Europe.

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization President Jacques Diouf said developed countries are late in taking precautionary measures against the deadly bird flu virus, H5N1.

Avian Influenza, discovered in many countries including Turkey, and caused many deaths and is now spreading throughout Europe.

Diouf said developed countries began taking measures against the virus after it appeared in Turkey.

Bird flu first appeared in Turkey in late 2005, said Diouf speaking to French newspaper, Le Parisien, in which he accused European governments of avoiding looking toward the future and cooperating.

The bird flu crisis actually began in 2003, he claimed. "We strengthened veterinarian services in some countries that were affected by bird flu such as Thailand and Vietnam at that time; however, developed countries thought the developments were restricted to Asia and the risk had simply been exaggerated. They only reacted once the virus reached Turkey."

Diof noted only $16 million of $1.9 billion of aid promised at an international conference in Peking reached the FAO, and declared that he was sorry that developed countries had spent millions of dollars on drugs and masks instead of forming an aid packet to prevent the epidemic.

Countries recently facing cases of bird flu and the measures they took

Austria: Two chickens and three ducks have been diagnosed with H5N1 virus in Graz.

Bosnia: Two swans were diagnosed with H5N1 virus. Bosnia Veterinary Institute president Jozo Bagaric said 4,420 fowls in 12 villages would be culled.

Bulgaria: A swan was diagnosed with H5N1 virus on the Romanian border.

Croatia: A swan was diagnosed with H5N1 on Ciovo Island.

French: A dead wild swan was diagnosed with the H5N1 virus in Bouches-du-Rhone, France.

Germany: German Federal Agriculture and Protection of Consumer Minister Horst Seehofer said the bird flu virus was found in 140 wild birds. Dogs are required to wear a collar, and cats are banned from going outside.

Greece: Reportedly, 17 H5N1 cases occurred in the country and the three dead wild swans found two days ago in Thessalonica tested bird flu positive.

Hungary: The virus has been found in about 10 wild birds since the first case recorded last month. The region from the River Danube's Slovakia border to Budapest was quarantined.

Italy: A swan was diagnosed with H5N1 virus in the south of the country. Health Minister Francesco Storace confirmed that in addition to two dead swans in Sicilia, other birds in various parts of the country also carry the virus.

Poland: Two swans found dead in the Vistula River, Torun were diagnosed with the virus.

Romania: Cases of bird flu were determined in about 40 villages along the Black Sea coast since the first case was discovered in October. Thousands of fowls were culled.

Russia: 24,000 chickens in seven regions died from bird flu in just one day last weekend. H5N1 was found in Dagestan, Kabardin-Balkaria, Kamikia, Adige, Krasnadar, Chechnya and Stravropol.

Slovakia: A falcon and loon were diagnosed with H5 virus of bird flu.

Slovenia: The number of wild birds that carry H5N1 virus in the entire country reached 20. Reportedly, cases were also seen in Maribor, Austria.

Sweden: All dead birds were taken for examination out of Oskarsahmn port.

Switzerland: A dead bird was diagnosed with H5N1 virus near Geneva.

Ukraine: A common commission has been formed with Russia in the struggle against the spread of bird flu, as concerns that the virus can spread faster when the hot weather onsets. Over 200,000 birds, diagnosed with H5N1 virus, have been killed since 2005.

[imported_RUDO]

UN Predicts Bird Flu will Hit US Within a Year

UN Predicts Bird Flu will Hit US Within a Year
By Anadolu News Agency (aa), Ankara
Published: Thursday, March 09, 2006
zaman.com


The United Nations reported the bird flu virus, which has spread in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is predicted to jump to the American continent within a year.

The UN's bird flu coordinator Dr. David Nabarro at a news briefing said the disease is expected to reach America within six to 12 months, "Maybe even before," he added.

Nabarro reported the bird flu is estimated to spread beyond the Atlantic in two stages; one with wild birds migrating from Africa to Arctic regions in a few months, then enabling the virus to reach North and South America six months later.

[imported_RUDO]

Africa to get sizeable portion of bird flu funds-WHO

Africa to get sizeable portion of bird flu funds-WHO
Wed 8 Mar 2006 8:49 AM ET

By Nita Bhalla

PORT LOUIS, March 8 (Reuters) - Africa will receive a
"sizeable portion" of the $2 billion bird flu funds pledged to
fight the disease after its discovery on the continent last
month, said the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The H5N1 influenza virus was detected in domestic flocks in
Egypt, Nigeria and Niger last month.

Suspected poultry outbreaks in Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia and
Sierra Leone are also under investigation.

There are concerns that the continent, already saddled with
HIV/AIDS and malaria, is ill-equipped to combat this new threat
with meagre resources.

During a visit to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, WHO
Director General Dr Lee Jong-wook said the spread of the virus
to Africa was a real concern and funds had to go to the region
to fight it.

Bird flu has killed 96 people among 175 cases in Asia and
the Middle East since 2003. Victims contract the virus through
close contact with infected poultry.

Lee said it was only a matter a time before the virus
mutated into a form which could pass from person to person,
sparking a pandemic.

Wealthy nations pledged almost $2 billion to tackle bird flu
at a donor meeting in Beijing in January.

"A sizeable portion of this money has to be spent for
strengthening the surveillance network and taking other measures
in Africa," Lee told a news conference late on Tuesday.

Health officials are concerned that infection across Africa
might boost the probability that the virus will mutate to become
transmissible between humans.

In most of Africa, the lack of an early warning system for
avian influenza in animals or humans is hampering detection
efforts and delaying control measures, experts say.

Lee said early detection and tracking of the virus was
essential.

"The best chance to stamp out this disease is to catch it as
soon as it appears," said Lee. "That takes a good early warning
and surveillance systems."

[imported_RUDO]

Turkey Warned of 2nd Wave of Bird Flu

Turkey Warned of 2nd Wave of Bird Flu
By Cihan News Agency
Published: Saturday, March 11, 2006
zaman.com


Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Mehdi Eker has warned on a second wave of bird flu ahead of summer.

Delivering the opening speech at a meeting concerning the Rural Development Investments Support Program, Eker drew attention to fact that birds would migrate again when the weather became hotter with the coming of summer.

[imported_RUDO]

Bird Flu Detected in Cameroon

Bird Flu Detected in Cameroon

Published: Sunday, March 12, 2006
zaman.com


The first bird flu case in West Africa was determined Cameroon.

The statement, declared by state television, reads the laboratory examinations, conducted on the dead birds in northern peak of the country in Maroua, detected the bird flu.


An official statement has not been declared so far about the strain of bird flu.



Bird flu first appeared in Asia, than Europe and now has been found in African countries Niger and Nigeria.

[imported_RUDO]

Bird flu kills Indonesia children

Bird flu kills Indonesia children

Indonesia is now one of the worst affected countries
Two Indonesian children have become the latest victims of bird flu, raising the country's death toll to 22.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a 12-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy had died from the H5N1 virus, the health ministry said.

The girl died in the town of Solo and the boy at a hospital in Semarang, both in Central Java province.

Both children were said to have been in contact with sick chickens before they became ill.

'Rapid diagnosis'

Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told reporters more would be done to protect people from the disease.

"We will carry out intensive rapid diagnosis of patients suspected of having the disease," she said.


She pledged more supplies of the antiviral Tamiflu drug for health centres, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The virus has been found in birds in 26 of Indonesia's 33 provinces, she said.

More than 90 people have now died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu since 2003.

The vast majority of the deaths have been in Asia, but cases in people and birds have also been recorded in Europe and Africa.

Almost all the deaths have been linked to contact with infected poultry.

Experts fear the virus could combine or mutate into a form that passes easily between humans, possibly sparking a pandemic, but there is no evidence that this has happened yet.

https://www.bbcworld.com

[Soorp Asdvadz]

What is there for us to do? How do we help? Personnally, these diseases are almost uncontrollable, but there is a possibility that the gov'ts have a say right?

[imported_RUDO]

Bird flu fears rattle Lebanese farmers

By Neil Heathcote
BBC World, Middle East Business Report, in Lebanon



Lebanon's poultry farmers are feeling the squeeze from bird flu
Over the past few months, many of Lebanon's small poultry farmers have been forced to close down.

Demand for chicken and eggs has slumped and prices have more than halved - even though no cases of bird flu have been reported in the country.

Exports to the Gulf ground to a halt and local shoppers stayed away.

All without a single case of bird flu being confirmed in the country - the problems began when Turkey reported its first case of the virus.

"We've had to pay the price of bird flu without having it," says Samir Freiji, of Freiji Agri Business.

He blames the media: "Every day you watch it on TV. Every cat that dies in China is reported. Every falcon that dies in Saudi Arabia is reported. A chicken dies in Germany, it's reported.

"So really, they are continuously reminding people of the problem."

Empty farms

Bekaa valley is home to many of the country's egg producers and poultry farmers.


Many farms have simply shut down
But scattered around the valley these days you'll find farms that were once full of poultry, and now lie empty.

Small farmers have been particularly hard hit, often stopping production with no guarantee they'll find the money to start up again.

"I started with my own money. But now I'm in debt," says Fadi Jamal Eldine.

He's farmed poultry for 23 years. At one point you'd find 60,000 chickens in his sheds - now they lie empty.

"People aren't asking for me to pay them back, because they're hoping the government will step in. But if people think there'll be no compensation, I'll go to jail."

Financial problems

But the government has little money to spare.

It has major political problems to deal with, an economy to sort out and a potential health scare on its hands if bird flu ever does appear in the country.

I think the government is willing to help more ... but it's a modest contribution towards adjusting the market

Mohammed Farran, government adviser

As a result, aid to small farmers is not high on its list.

Besides, many farmers have already killed thousands of their hens, rather than paying to feed them when prices are so low.

The government is now offering around $1 to egg farmers for every laying hen they kill.

Those who have already reduced their flocks may not qualify for compensation, as the numbers weren't verified.

Mohammed Farran advises the minister over how to respond to bird flu.

Limited help

But, there are limits to what the government can afford, he says.

"I think the government is willing to help more, but unfortunately, what with the current circumstances in the country and the current economical problems in the country and all these things... it's a modest contribution towards adjusting the market."


Survival of the fittest is a rule that is going to take its normal course

Musa Freiji, Tanmia

The total compensation bill would be less than a million dollars and only egg producers would qualify.

Farmers who raise chickens for their meat will get nothing, even thought the industry calculates its overall losses so far at $25m.

"$25m compared to the $40bn they owe the banks and other nations is really minute, if it's going to save an industry that is worth $350m and that employs 10,000 people," says the head of Tanmia Agricultural Development, Musa Freiji.

'Survival of fittest'

Tanmia is one of the country's largest producers. It invested $40m after the civil war to help get the country's poultry industry back on its feet.

Now it finds itself selling chickens below cost.

"Survival of the fittest is a rule that is going to take its normal course," says Tanmia's Mr Freiji.

"If they really want to keep this industry alive in this country, definitely there should be a degree of compensation. Not full compensation, but just enough to allow them to start all over again, especially those that have stopped."

All this in a country that doesn't even have bird flu.

In time, the industry hopes consumer fears will ease and they will start buying again. Major producers can afford to hang on until that happens.

But if bird flu does appear in the country, that recovery will take far longer. And the risk for many small farmers is that it'll come far too late for them to save their livelihoods

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4800816.stm

[Gavur]

Bird flu kills 3 in Azerbaijan

HELEN BRANSWELL

Canadian Press

Three women have died from an H5 avian flu virus in Azerbaijan, two more deaths are being investigated and testing is under way on more than a dozen other people identified as suspect avian flu cases, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

Typing of the neuraminidase or N of the H5 virus will be done at a WHO collaborating laboratory in Britain, but it is expected it will be confirmed as the H5N1 strain that has spread from Southeast Asia to parts of the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

“It's H5. It's almost certainly N1,” WHO spokesman xxxx Thompson said from Geneva.

A statement from the organization noted that the H5N1 strain is the only one within the H5 subtype known to have infected humans. It's also known that the virus is present in the country, which reported the discovery of infected wild birds, and later domestic poultry, to the World Organization for Animal Health (the OIE) last month.

If, as expected, the results are confirmed, Azerbaijan will be the eighth country to report human cases of H5N1 since the current outbreak of the virus began in late 2003. And these fatal cases will put over the 100 mark the number of lives the virus is confirmed to have claimed in that time.

Among the suspected cases are clusters of at least two families. WHO is constantly on the lookout for clusters of cases, as they may be a sign of human-to-human spread of the virus.

“It's going to take some time to sort them out,” Mr. Thompson said.

But he said there are no signs that health-care workers have fallen ill. If the virus had altered in ways that made it more easily transmitted from person to person, illness among hospital personnel who cared for the sick could be one of the first signals of that change.

As of Tuesday, the confirmed H5N1 case count stood at 177, with 98 deaths. Human infections with the worrisome virus have been reported in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, China, Turkey and Iraq.

[imported_RUDO]

First Death to Bird Flu in Egypt

First Death to Bird Flu in Egypt
By AA, Cairo
Published: Saturday, March 18, 2006
zaman.com


The first bird flu case among humans in Egypt has been found.

According to Egyptian official news agency MENA, a 30-year old woman showing symptoms of the bird flu died Friday morning.

However, MENA's report remains unconfirmed by independent sources. Tests are being performed by Egyptian health authorities to determine the woman’s cause of death.


Reportedly poultry at the woman’s farm also fell victim to the bird flu.