Fighting cocks a gamble with life

From Pro-Med Mail:

Cock-fighting birds likely culprit in Mukdahan  Laos H5N1 outbreak
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The latest bird flu epidemic in the northeastern province of Mukdahan
was most likely to have come from Sawannakhet province in Laos
through illegal cock-fighting tours, health officials said yesterday
[20 Mar 2007]. Meanwhile, the total number of local people who had
been in contact with dead poultry in 2 areas of the province's Muang
district where the H5N1 virus was confirmed has risen to 9, including
a livestock officer whose fighting cocks had died, presumably of bird flu.

Earlier, the subtype H5 was confirmed in a dead chicken in
Sawannakhet, and it was highly likely the virus had spread to
Mukdahan, said Dr Thawat Suntrajarn, the director-general of the
Department of Disease Control. There had not been a single case of
bird flu infection in the province over the past 3 years, and this
was the 1st time H5N1 was found, said Dr Prapas Veerapol, a bird flu
expert in Mukdahan. However, despite imposing stringent measures
against bringing poultry, both dead and alive, and eggs to the
province since the 1st confirmation of bird flu infection in Laos,
there was still smuggling along the Thai-Laos border, which extends
for 72 km in Mukdahan. Poultry smuggling and illegal cock-fighting
tours to Laos were 2 of the most likely channels for bird flu to have
spread to the province, Thawat said.

It was very difficult to control smugglers, who used small boats to
cross the Mekong River from Sawannakhet to Mukdahan, said Teerasuk
Nasok, a Mukdahan Port health officer. At the port, no birds or
poultry products have been allowed to be brought in since the bird
flu virus was confirmed in Laos, he said.

A source, who asked not to be named, said the cock-fighting game dens
were ordered shut down right after Laos confirmed the bird flu
epidemic, yet many local gamblers still sneaked out with their
fighting cocks for a session in Laos. A frequent gambler was the
livestock officer. A number of his fighting cocks had died, and he
himself was being watched for bird flu infection, said the source.
The results of lab tests on samples taken from the officer's poultry
were not yet known.

Seven of 8 people who had eaten a dead turkey plus the livestock
officer were given the antiviral drug Tamiflu to prevent infection. A
pregnant a woman was excluded, said Prapas. After being announced a
"disease outbreak zone" on Monday [19 Mar 2007], Mukdahan livestock
officials ordered "comb-search" testing for H5N1 virus in poultry in
every single house within a radius of one km from the 2 infected areas.

[Byline: Arthit Khwankhom]

Share and share alike

BANGKOK, March 22 (Reuters) -

Thailand shares Indonesia's concerns about access to bird flu vaccines, but has not decided to restrict access to its samples of the virus, a senior Health Ministry official said on Thursday. "This morning, our health minister said he supports Indonesia, but that does not mean that we are not going to share the virus," Suwit Wibulpolprasert, a senior adviser to Health Minister Mongkol na Songkhla, told Reuters. "We support them on the basis that the virus be shared on the the basis of a equitable distribution of the products from the virus," he said. Asked if Thailand had decided to withhold samples from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Suwit said: "No, never. Definitely not." Indonesia, which has the world's highest bird flu death toll, has created a roadblock to vaccine development by demanding guarantees before sharing virus samples. Sharing of virus samples is crucial as it allows experts to study their make-up and map the evolution and geographical spread of any particular strain. Samples are also used to make vaccines. Critics say the virus-sharing scheme operated by the WHO does not guarantee poor countries access to vaccines. Suwit said Bangkok would press for an equitable deal at a meeting of the WHO and health ministers in Jakarta next week. "This will discuss how we can come up with a good solution so that the sharing of the virus can continue," Suwit said.

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Bangladesh economy cannot handle H5N1 outbreak

Bangladesh culls 30,000 chickens after birds' death sparks bird flu fears

2007/3/22
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)

Bangladeshi authorities recently culled about 30,000 chickens at a state-owned farm after many died mysteriously, sparking fears of a bird flu outbreak that later proved unfounded, an official and a domestic news agency said Thursday.

Chickens at a farm owned and run by Biman Bangladesh Airlines began dying last month, prompting authorities to cull all the birds in the farm this month, an official of the country's livestock department told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with official policy.

But authorities later got confirmation from at least three local laboratories that it was Exotic Newcastle, a fatal respiratory virus in birds, that caused the deaths of the chickens, the official said without providing further details.

"Initially we could not determine what happened but we didn't take any risk," the official said. "We are now contented that it's not bird flu."

Local news agency bdnews24.com reported that samples of the infected chickens have been sent to a laboratory in Thailand to reconfirm the earlier test results.

"We are convinced by the local laboratory test results. To make the results internationally convincing, we have sent the samples to a foreign laboratory," the agency quoted an unnamed government official as saying.

The agency said the virus has spread to some other private farms in Savar, an industrial zone outside the capital, Dhaka.

The virus, which is locally known as Ranikhet, is a contagious and fatal viral disease affecting all species of birds but it has no record of attacking humans. It is so deadly that many birds die without showing any signs of disease. A death rate of almost 100 percent can occur in unvaccinated poultry flocks while it can also infect and cause death even in vaccinated birds.

The South Asian nation has so far reported no cases of bird flu and it has banned import of poultry products from more than 50 countries as part of a preventive measure to check bird flu from entering the country.

An outbreak of H5N1 virus in Bangladesh could devastate the impoverished country's poultry industry, comprised of about 150,000 farms with an annual turnover of about US$750 million (euro625 million), officials said.

New cases of H5N1 noted in Pakistan

Further cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu were confirmed in the Pakistani capital after dead crows found on the streets tested positive for the virus, a senior official said Thursday.

A month after Islamabad zoo was closed due to an outbreak, the National Laboratory for Avian Influenza found that two of eight tested specimens carried the virus that can mutate and cause illness in humans, said Dr Mohammad Afzal, head of the country's livestock monitoring authority.

"I will say it is the same extension of the outbreak at the zoo that was not 100-per-cent controlled," Afzal told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, adding that the samples were collected from roadsides and a park.

Officials have advised locals to get domestic and pet birds vaccinated in view of widespread backyard poultry farming that is feared to accelerate the spread of H5N1.

About two dozens birds either died or were culled at the city zoo in February to contain the virus that was thought to have emanated from seven donated peacocks. The zoo remained closed for several days during testing and vaccination of other species.

Forty chickens also died of the disease in the capital's twin city of Rawalpindi.

Pakistan suffered a major outbreak of H5N1 one year ago at poultry farms in the North-West Frontier Province, prompting a cull of 40,000 birds.

© 2007 DPA

JAPANS RESPONSE TO TAMIFLU TROUBLES

Teen deaths linked to bird flu drug

Mar 21, 2007 06:24 AM

Chisaki Watanabe
Associated Press

TOKYO – Japanese doctors were warned on Wednesday against prescribing Tamiflu to teenagers after several young patients taking the bird flu-fighting drug reportedly exhibited dangerous behavior.

The Health Ministry issued emergency instructions Tuesday to a Japanese Tamiflu distributor, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., to warn doctors not to give the drug to teenagers, a Chugai official said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

Chugai began distributing warnings to doctors, hospitals and pharmacies across Japan on Wednesday, the official said.

Martina Rupp, a spokeswoman for Swiss manufacturer Roche Holding AG, said the company didn't understand the Japanese government's rationale for the action.

"No causal relationship has been established between Tamiflu and these reports, and we don't see this as an appropriate course of action," Rupp told The Associated Press.

Concerns over Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir, have spiked in Japan after a boy and a girl, both 14, fell to their deaths from their condominiums while taking the drug in separate incidents in February.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it received more than 100 reports of delirium, hallucinations and other unusual psychiatric behavior, mostly in Japanese children treated with Tamiflu, between Aug. 29, 2005, and July 6, 2006. The Japanese government has not released detailed figures.

The FDA added a new precaution to Tamiflu's label in November, bringing the U.S. label more in line with the Japanese one that already warned that such abnormal behavior could occur.

Both Roche and the FDA have said that severe cases of the flu can spark the abnormal behavior displayed by some patients.

Two 12-year-old boys also taking Tamiflu both broke legs after jumping out of their houses in separate incidents in February and March, the official said.

Tamiflu, one of the few drugs believed to be effective in treating bird flu, is widely used in Japan to treat influenza.

New cases of bird flu noted

New bird flu outbreak in Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The U.N. reported a new outbreak of bird flu in Myanmar on Wednesday and called for more stringent measures to control the spread of the deadly H5N1 virus.

About 1,600 chickens contracted the virus and died during the weekend at a farm in Nyaunghnapin, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, said Tang Zang Ping, the Myanmar representative for the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.

Authorities slaughtered the farm's remaining 20,700 birds as a precautionary measure, he said.

"We need to impose stricter control on the movement of poultry, poultry products, chicken feed, eggs and even the trucks that carry these materials," Tang told The Associated Press.

The Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department said in a statement that the virus might have spread in the farm, located in Hmawyby township, through contaminated trays used to carry eggs or small birds, the New Light of Myanmar reported Wednesday.

Warning about bioterrorism

Interpol official warns of bioterror threat

Mar 20, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – Interpol's top official said yesterday that evidence collected from terrorists suggests that international law enforcement agencies should be ready to respond to chemical and biological attacks.

Ronald K. Noble, Interpol secretary-general, told a reporter from Gulf News, a newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates, that training materials recovered from Al Qaida investigations and information from captured operatives suggest that terrorist groups have had plans to launch bioterrorist attacks. Noble made the comments at an Interpol bioterrorism prevention workshop for the Middle East and North Africa, which is being held this week in Muscat, Oman. Interpol is the world's largest international organization of police agencies.

The goals of 3-day meeting in Oman are to educate senior law enforcement officials about bioterrorism prevention and response and provide them with guidance from international scientific and legal experts, according to an Interpol press release yesterday. Similar Interpol workshops have been held in South Africa, Singapore, Chile, and Ukraine.

"I have no doubt that the threat of bioterrorism is real and that we need to do more to prepare countries," Noble said in the press release.

Terrorists in Iraq recently perpetrated three chlorine bomb attacks, and "it is not difficult to imagine these attacks being extended from chemical to biological," Noble told Gulf News. "Nobody really knows when al Qaida will strike with chemical or biological weapons, but it is just a matter of time before the terrorists believe they are ready," he said, adding that the only restraint the terrorists face is the technical complexity of launching effective attacks.

In January, British intelligence officials warned the country's laboratory officials that Islamic terrorists may try to steal deadly viruses to mount biological attacks, the London Daily Mail reported on Jan 25.

Labs that handle infectious disease pathogens such as polio, rabies, tuberculosis, and avian flu were told that their security measures would be reviewed by law enforcement, the newspaper reported. The story said Britain's MI5 security service had warned government officials that al Qaida operatives were training in bioterrorism and that the group had apparently tried to recruit university students to gain access to labs.

Hong Kong Baby has Flu

Baby in Hong Kong infected with H9N2 avian flu

Mar 20, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – Hong Kong officials have reported that a 9-month-old girl is infected with the strain of avian influenza known as A/H9N2, which has caused mild human illness in the city three times before and is considered capable of evolving into a pandemic strain.

The Hospital Authority in Hong Kong said the baby girl has only mild symptoms but is in isolation at Princess Margaret Hospital, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report today.

Thomas Tsang, head of the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection, said test results today confirmed that the virus is H9N2, according to the story.

The same strain infected two girls in Hong Kong in 1999 and a 5-year-old boy there in 2003; all had mild illnesses and recovered.

Tsang said the baby girl became ill Mar 4 with an upper respiratory tract infection and fever and was hospitalized at United Christian Hospital from Mar 6 to 9, AFP reported. The story did not make clear when she was admitted to Princess Margaret Hospital.

The Hospital Authority said it was "very concerned" about the case and that United Christian Hospital would "conduct a review" of all healthcare workers who had close contact with the girl, according to AFP.

A report from Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) today said the girl was believed to have contracted the virus from a market in a densely populated area of Hong Kong.

The AFP report quoted Tsang as saying in a statement, "Further genetic sequencing is being conducted to determine if the virus is completely of avian origin. This is an isolated case and the source of infection is being investigated. Based on previous experience, however, we will look especially into bird-to-human transmission."

The Centre for Health Protection said the girl's family members were well and she had not been taken outside Hong Kong recently, according to AFP.

In 2004 the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), concerned that H9N2 could evolve into a pandemic strain, contracted with Chiron Corp. (now part of Novartis) to produce a vaccine against the virus. Last September scientists reported that the experimental vaccine generated a good immune response in a phase 1 clinical trial.

The contract called on Chiron to make 40,000 doses of the vaccine, based on an inactivated strain of H9N2 developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report on the clinical trial results said H9N2 viruses are widespread in Eurasian poultry. Two of the three different Asian lineages of these viruses can bind to human as well as bird cell receptors (sialic acid residues) and therefore may be more likely to infect humans than other avian flu viruses are, the authors wrote.

The H9N2 strain of avian flu is distinct from the lethal Asian strain of H5N1 virus, which has killed millions of poultry in Asia, Africa, and Europe and caused 281 human illness cases, 169 of them fatal, according to the World Health Organization's current tally.