Update from all over

Avian Influenza from USGS



H5N1 in Wild Birds
Unpublished data presented at a meeting in Singapore this week showed that in experimental infections of sparrows, pigeons and starlings, the H5N1 virus can be found in the respiratory and digestive tract. "Saliva swabs from the birds' beaks are much better for detecting bird flu virus particles, while fecal samples are the ‘least sensitive,’" Robert Webster of St. Jude Children's Hospital said, who presented the new data in Singapore. According to news reports, although there was viral shedding in inoculated birds, mortality was seen only in sparrows, but not in the starlings and pigeons. There was no transmission to other birds in all three species. Webster suggests that keeping small birds such as those tested in these experiments away from poultry is necessary so they do not carry the virus from chicken house to chicken house.

A mortality event at the Nalabana Bird Sanctuary at the Chilika Lake, on the eastern coast of India, has killed over 80 birds with another 277 sick. Birds involved are mainly pintails, but also included shovelers, gadwalls, bar-headed geese and sea eagles. The saline lake is habitat for as many as 300,000 migratory birds from as far away as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Tibet, and Siberia. The cause of death has not been determined and H5N1 has not been ruled out.

The government of Myanmar announced this week that migratory birds stopping at the Maha Nanda Lake, near Shwebo are being observed as of last week to monitor for the possibility of them carrying bird flu into the country and the rearing of livestock in the area has been banned as a precaution.

In China, the Zhalong State Nature Reserve for the red-crowned cranes (Grus japonensis) has been placed on high alert according to Wang Wenfeng, the deputy head of administration at the reserve, because the reserve lies along a bird migratory route. The Zhalong reserve is China's largest artificial breeding preserve for the highly endangered red-crowned cranes.

H5N1 in Domestic Animals
A third outbreak of HPAI within the same month has been reported in Gimje, North Cholla province, South Korea. The farmer reported on 12/10/06 to the authorities that over 1,000 quail died over a 4-day period. The farm raises over 290,000 quail. Some experts and local farms suspect the disease might have spread along the major local highway, Route 23, but an unnamed provincial official is quoted in a Korean news report as saying “Quail are hardy birds, and it seems the infected birds got the virus from migratory birds at the same time as the poultry in Iksan and fell ill after the full incubation period of 21 days." Before the movement of poultry from the farm was halted, over 100,000 quail eggs had been sent to market. Quail eggs are not washed before sale and authorities fear the fecal contamination might contain virus. Also, 15,000 young quail were sent to a farm in Koksong, South Cholla on 12/9/06. No evidence of disease has been reported at Koksong; 360,000 poultry within 500 m of the Gimje farm will be culled. So far, over a million birds have been or will be culled in the three outbreaks this year in South Korea.

The Veterinary Department in Vietnam announced that the country has not had any H5N1 outbreaks for over a year. The last outbreak, according to the news report, was 12/15/2005.

H5N1 in Humans
There were no new human cases this week.