Bird Flu

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Second Bird Flu Case in Egypt

Second Bird Flu Case in Egypt

Published: Sunday, March 19, 2006
zaman.com


After a young woman died from bird flu in Egypt, another person was reported to have the disease as well.

According to MENA agency’s news, Egypt Health Minister Khatemal-Cebali reported there is a second possible bird flu case in Kalyubiye. No information has been released about the suspicious person.


In Israel, where thousands of fowls were killed, Agriculture Minister Dafna Varisca announced there is a 100 percent certainty the virus will spread across Israel.

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Dead birds spark Israel flu fears

Dead birds spark Israel flu fears

Israel has banned the import of poultry to limit the spread of bird flu
Hundreds of dead poultry have been found in two communities in southern Israel, raising fears of the country's first case of bird flu, officials say.
Israeli Agriculture Minister Zeev Boim said the dead turkeys were found in Ein Hashlosha and nearby Holit, next to the Gaza Strip in the western Negev region.

Mr Boim said officials suspected the bird flu virus was the cause of death, although testing was still under way.

A 7km (four-mile) quarantine zone has been imposed around the communities.

The H5N1 strain of the virus has killed more than 70 people worldwide. Cases of the strain have been reported in birds in at least 15 governorates in Israel's southern neighbour, Egypt.

'Suspicion'

Speaking on Israeli television, Mr Boim said the agriculture ministry could not be certain of the cause of the turkeys' deaths until a number of the birds had been tested

Tonight, we will likely find out if indeed we are talking about bird flu," he told Israel TV.

"In the meantime, it is a suspicion."

But Mr Boim said the authorities were prepared to contain the virus' spread if an outbreak was confirmed.

"We have imposed a quarantine in a radius of 7km around the area, and we are prepared, in case our suspicions are confirmed, to prepare for a wide-scale destruction of the flocks in a radius of 3km (two miles)," he said.

The tests will also determine if the birds died of the H5N1 strain of the virus, which can be caught by humans who handle infected birds, but it is not yet known to have passed from one person to another.

However, experts fear the virus could mutate to gain this ability, and in its new form trigger a flu pandemic that could kill millions.


bbc.co.uk

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Bird Flu Arrives in India

Bird Flu Arrives in India
By Anadolu News Agency (aa), Mumbai
Published: Monday, March 20, 2006
zaman.com


Over 90,000 fowls were culled in Maharashta where the first cases of bird flu were reported in India.

Officials said a thorough culling operation has now ended; however, thousands of people remain under observation as part of the preventive measures implemented against a possible pandemic. Dozens are being tested and at least three are receiving medical treatment.

Earlier in the town of Navapour, bird flu was discovered among birds, but no human case had been diagnosed so far.

A state official, T.P. Doke, informed that 65,000 people had been monitored and a further 30,000 are being observed

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US Study Confirms 2 Bird Fu Strains

US Study Confirms 2 Bird Fu Strains
By Reuters
Published: Monday, March 20, 2006
zaman.com


The H5N1 strain of bird flu in humans has evolved into two separate strains, US researchers reported on Monday, which could complicate developing a vaccine and preventing a pandemic.

One strain, or clade, made people sick in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in 2003 and 2004 and a second strain, a cousin of the first, caused the disease to appear in people in Indonesia in 2004.

The two strains may share the same ancestor, but are distinct -- as are the different clades, or strains of the AIDS virus, the team from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention discovered.

"Back in 2003 we only had one genetically distinct population of H5N1 with the potential to cause a human pandemic. Now we have two," said the CDC's Rebecca Garten, who helped conduct the study.

Speaking to an International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, Garten said the pool of H5N1 candidates with the potential to cause a human influenza pandemic is becoming more genetically diverse, which makes studying the virus more complex and heightens the need for increased monitoring.

"As the virus continues its geographic expansion, it is also undergoing genetic diversity expansion," Garten said in a statement.

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226 Bird Flu Cases in Germany

226 Bird Flu Cases in Germany
By anadolu News Agency (aa), Berlin
Published: Tuesday, March 21, 2006
zaman.com


To date, 226 bird flu cases have been determined in Germany.

The Friedrich-Loeffler Institute specializing in bird flu cases announced the disease has been found in Mecklenbourg-Vorpommern province.

In the same province, 159 birds are said to have the deadly H5N1 virus, this figure is 28 in Bavaria, 15 in Brandenburg, 13 in Baden-Wurttemberg, six in Schleswig-Holstein, and one in Lower Saxony.

The virus has also been found in three cats and one marten.

No report has been released on how the disease found its way to Germany.

[imported_RUDO]

Bird flu case confirmed in Jordan

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in dead birds on a private farm in northern Jordan.
Laboratory test results conducted overnight on Thursday showed that birds had died of the virus in the Ajloun district of northern Jordan.

The strain has been detected recently in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

Health Minister Saeed Darwazeh is due to hold a news conference on Friday to give more details about tests and outline plans to combat bird flu.

On Thursday, Mr Darwazeh issued a seven-day deadline for "people raising domestic fowl to get rid of them, after which the competent authorities will have them killed".

He said that the Jordanian authorities had raised their state of preparedness to a "maximum level".

Officials are concentrating on inspection operations of chicken farms in the Jordan Valley.


The H5N1 strain of the virus has killed more than 100 people worldwide.

It does not pose a large-scale threat to humans, as it does not pass easily from one person to another at present.

However, experts fear the virus could mutate to gain this ability, and in its new form trigger a flu pandemic, potentially putting millions of human lives at risk.

bbcworld

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Spread Of Bird Flu

SPREAD OF BIRD FLU
23 March: H5N1 found in poultry in Bekaot Jewish settlement the West Bank
22 March: Tests show H5N1 has spread to birds in Gaza
17 March: Birds found dead in Israel had H5N1 strain
17 Feb: First Egyptian cases of H5N1 in birds
3 Feb: WHO confirms a girl died of the H5N1 in northern Iraq

bbcworld

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Bird Flu in Israel

Bird Flu in Israel
By Cihan, Tel Aviv
Published: Friday, March 31, 2006
zaman.com


After officials determined that bird flu has passed to Israel, 20,000 chickens with the H5N1 virus were culled.

Israel Agriculture Ministry Veterinary Center Director Mose Caimovitz said the fowl were killed at the Kerem Shalom Farm in a region bordering Gaza and Egypt. He said research continues regarding how the virus spread to the region.

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'If H5N1 Mutates, We Should Prepare Mass Burials'

'If H5N1 Mutates, We Should Prepare Mass Burials'
By Anadolu News Agency (aa), LONDON
Published: Sunday, April 02, 2006
zaman.com


A confidential British report noted that if the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus mutates into a form transmissible to humans, 320,000 people could die in Britain and mass graves might have to be buried.

The British Sunday Times newspaper claimed that they reached the British Interior Minister’s March 22, 2006 dated classified report, titled “To deal with mass deaths in case of a bird flu epidemic.”


According to the news, the report recalls the painful memories of the great epidemic of 1665 and warns that an epidemic could cause a delay of up to 17 weeks for burial or cremation.


The report claims that in case of a 15-week epidemic, Britain and Wales could face 48,000 deaths. The Interior Ministry Spokesman was quoted as saying, “The government takes serious the threat caused by the possibility of a mutation in the bird flu virus.”

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Bird Flu Kills one more in Egypt

Bird Flu Kills one more in Egypt
By Cihan News Agency, Cairo
Published: Thursday, April 06, 2006
zaman.com


The Egyptian official news agency MENA announced today a 16 year-old girl lost her life due to the bird flu in the country, increasing the death toll there to three.

Egypt Health and Population Minister Hatim Al-Jabali had earlier announced an eight-year-old child was diagnosed with the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain, found in two separate districts south of the Egyptian capital Cairo.

The bird flu has appeared in 11 people in Egypt so far.


The worldwide death toll from the bird flu has increased to 110.

Bird Flu Causes 2 Deaths in Egypt
By Anadolu News Agency (aa), Cairo
Published: Thursday, April 06, 2006
zaman.com


The H5N1-strain of bird flu proved deadly for two people in Egypt.

In his statement to the Mena news agency, Egyptian Health Minister Hatim Al-Gabali said the latest victims of the H5N1 virus were a 16-year-old youth in the Menoufiya region and an eight-year-old child in the Kalyubiya region.

Health Ministry Spokesman Abdelrahman Sahin announced two more people contracted the virus through contact with the infected fowl.

A few of the infected birds were reportedly found dead.

With these two new cases, the number of infections has increased to 11 in Egypt since February, when the virus first appeared. The bird flu has claimed two lives in Egypt.