Sad editorial from Bangladesh

Protect our small farmers from bird flu
SM Abdur Rahman

The problem: Bird flu has now spread from Biman's farm in Savar to seven districts. If the spread of this virus is not stopped, it will eventually wipe out all the small poultry farmers in Bangladesh. Small farms are owned by rural families, and have been set up with minimal investment. They are extremely vulnerable to bird flu infection for the following reasons:

* Small farms have open sheds, which are easily infected (because wild birds can easily enter the sheds).
* They sell their eggs and broiler chickens to traders. Traders' vehicles visit many farms everyday, and manure sticks to their wheels. As manure from infected farms carries the bird flu virus, the movement of traders' vehicles can spread bird flu very quickly from one farm to another.

Large poultry farms are far better protected against bird flu infection because they have invested in bio-secure facilities (facilities into which bacteria and viruses cannot easily enter).

* Large farms have closed tunnel-ventilated sheds. Closed sheds are unlikely to become infected by wild birds.
* Large farms own their own vehicles, whose wheels are washed and disinfected before they enter the farm. So large farms are less likely to be infected by vehicle movement.

Of course, the outbreak at Biman's farm proves that a large farm that is poorly managed (i.e. which has not implemented the above bio-security measures) can still become infected.

The initial outbreak at Biman was probably caused by a combination of two factors: poor bio-security (open poultry sheds) and the presence of large numbers of migratory waterfowl (which can carry the bird flu virus) on the nearby Jahangirnagar University campus.

The solution: To protect the livelihoods of small farmers, the spread of bird flu must be stopped. This can be accomplished by implementing the National Avian Influenza Plan (prepared last year with FAO/WHO assistance).

The plan requires the government to take strong action whenever there is a bird flu outbreak on any farm.

1. A no-movement zone must be established within a 10 km radius of the outbreak. No chickens, eggs or chicks can be allowed to leave this no-movement zone.

2. All chickens (backyard and farm) within a 3 km radius of the outbreak must be culled (killed). Even if these chickens appear healthy, it is likely that they are already infected. Culling them is necessary to stop the spread of the virus.

3. Farmers whose chickens are culled must be compensated, or they will not cooperate with the culling program.

Unfortunately, the plan has not been fully implemented in handling any of the outbreaks to date.

* Culling of poultry was carried out within 1 km of the Biman outbreak. This is less than the 3 km radius suggested by the plan.
* A 10km no-movement zone was not immediately established. This is why the disease has spread to so many districts after the original Biman outbreak.
* Subsequent outbreaks in Tangail, Jamalpur, Naranyanganj and Jessore were handled even more poorly. Poultry present within 1 km of infected farms were not culled, and a 10 km no-movement zone was not effectively established.

Necessary steps: The government is apparently not implementing the National Avian Influenza Plan because shortage of funds is making it difficult to compensate farmers. Without compensation, the culling policy cannot be implemented, and the spread of bird flu cannot be stopped. Funds must be requested from donors so that farmers can be compensated.

However, if that is the government's decision, it should be implemented strictly in all outbreaks. If the culling policy is to be less conservative, establishment of a 10 km no-movement zone becomes even more critical. These zones must immediately be established whenever and wherever there is a new outbreak.

S M Abdur Rahman is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.

Be sure you know how to use that mask...

Study shows knowledge gaps in N-95 respirator use

Apr 9, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – N-95 respirators are regarded as a key tool for protecting people from airborne influenza viruses in the event of a pandemic, but a recent study suggests that without special instruction, most people are likely to wear the devices incorrectly, limiting their effectiveness.

To gauge the public's current knowledge of how to use N-95 respirators, the researchers randomly questioned 538 people in New Orleans about their experience with the devices during hurricane clean-up and asked them to demonstrate putting on a respirator. Conducted by occupational safety experts from the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, the study appears in an early online edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

N-95 respirators, designed to stop at least 95% of small airborne particles, are used, among other purposes, to prevent the transmission of communicable diseases in healthcare settings and to reduce exposure to mold during flood cleanups. Donning a respirator improperly is likely to promote the leakage of unfiltered through gaps between the respirator and the skin, the authors note.

Among those interviewed for the study, 42% (233) had used a certified respirator for mold clean-up after Hurricane Katrina and 35% (192) had used N-95 models.

The respirators used in the study included written and pictorial instructions, but the volunteers were not given any additional instructions before putting them on, the report says.

In watching participants don the respirators, investigators found that only 24% (129 of 538) wore the devices properly. The most common errors were not tightening the nose clip (71%), incorrectly placing the straps (52%), and wearing the respirator upside down (22%).

Factors associated with properly wearing an N-95 respirator included male gender, Caucasian race, and being a homeowner. Proper donning technique was also associated with having had previous experience with respirators, including owning them and undergoing fit testing.

The researchers concluded that educational efforts, particularly in the workplace, could increase the public's knowledge of proper N-95 respirator use and that labeling on the respirators (as opposed to separate instructions in the package) could promote proper donning technique.

"A unique opportunity exists to enhance protection of the public through interventions, such as educational campaigns, training sessions, and respirator design modifications, aimed at improving the public's ability to don a respirator correctly," the authors write.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has stockpiled 20 million N-95 respirators for use during an influenza pandemic and plans to add 87 million more by the end of September, according to information on the HHS Web site.

Cummings KJ, Cox-Ganser J, Riggs, MA, et al. Respirator donning in post-hurricane New Orleans. Emerg Infect Dis 2007 May (early online release);13(5): [Full text]

CSULB has plan too!

Campus emergency plan isn't for the birds
Jonathan Oyama
Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: News



There is an emergency plan for Cal State Long Beach students should there be an avian flu outbreak, said a representative of the Housing & Residential Life office Monday.

Although the avian flu has not yet been carried over into the United States, as was predicted would happen in October of last year, there have been more than 200 reported cases of the avian flu in Asia from 1997 to 2006.

Director of Housing & Residential Life Stan Olin said that Maryann Rozanski, director of Safety, Risk Management and Information Security, was involved in the planning in case the avian flu spreads to CSULB.

According to Olin, Rozanski was the representative in a task force meeting at the CSU system Chancellor's Office. In the meeting, Rozanski and other representatives of the CSU system discussed what to do in case an avian flu outbreak occurs.

"CSU as a whole was trying very hard not to ignore this," Olin said. "What they had done essentially was set up lines of communication and some scenarios of what we could do if [an avian flu outbreak occurs]."

Olin said that if the avian flu spreads to the CSULB campus, the university's Emergency Operations Center has a response team that would handle the campus in case of a disaster and form a plan. University Police Chief Jack Pearson would head the center.

The Emergency Operations Center's plan states that if a disaster occurred, Pearson or his designee, Sgt. Scott Brown, would be responsible for activating the Emergency Operations Center. He would then ask the incident commander, CSULB President F. King Alexander, to start the plan.

Olin also said that one of the most difficult aspects of planning in case of a future disaster is that no one can predict what will actually happen in an emergency situation.

"If something bad happens, what we don't know is which people are going to get sick, who's not going to be here, how many people are going to be sick," Olin said. "So you have a little trouble making exact plans."

The avian influenza virus is found in wild birds' intestines and is very contagious among birds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web site. The virus is spread through infected birds' saliva, nasal secretions and feces.

The CDC Web site also states that symptoms of avian influenza include typical symptoms of the flu, as well as eye infection, pneumonia, severe respiratory disease and other severe and life-threatening conditions.

However, Health Resource Center Coordinator Nop Ratanasiripong said that it is very unlikely that the avian flu would spread from Asia to Long Beach.

"It will be very unlikely, because…we have a very good prevention plan with the department of health of Long Beach," Ratanasiripong said. "The poultry industry is also very careful on [handling] poultry products like chickens, ducks and those kinds of things."

Ratanasiripong said that the FDA has regulations for foods imported into the United States and that the food is tested carefully.

Bird flu and the University

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Awarded $3.8M For Bird Flu Research
Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu News
Article Date: 10 Apr 2007 - 1:00 PDT


The University of Alaska Fairbanks has announced a $3.8 million award for its role in one of six National Institutes of Health Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance to study influenza viruses with pandemic potential, such as avian influenza H5N1.

UAF is a partner in an $18.5 million NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases award made to the University of California, Los Angeles for creation of the Center for Rapid Influenza Surveillance and Research.

"Our initial focus is on known avian reservoirs of influenza-A viruses such as waterfowl and shorebirds," said Jonathan Runstadler, Institute of Arctic Biology assistant professor of biology and wildlife and the lead CRISAR investigator for UAF. "However, little is known about the role of the environment and about other groups of birds in the maintenance and evolution of influenza viruses worldwide.

"We want to understand how influenza viruses evolve, adapt and are successfully transmitted in nature," said Runstadler. "No one fully understands how these viruses move around between species and in our environment."

"Alaska is recognized as a prime location for transmission and reassortment of influenza-A virus strains between birds that migrate north from both eastern and western hemispheres," said George Happ, CRISAR co-investigator and director of the NIH IDeA Network for Biomedical Research Excellence at UA, which has supported UAF's avian influenza work since 2004.

More than 450 species of migratory birds from six continents come to Alaska to nest each spring and summer. Scientists say that could provide an opportunity for exchange of bird flu viruses which could then infect humans.

"Our major goal is to understand the genetic changes of flu viruses and how those changes relate to their success in animal hosts and their persistence in the environment," said Happ. "Alaska is a critical location to study the evolution of new strains of influenza in wild birds and their movement along avian flyways. The research of Kevin Winker at the University of Alaska Museum of the North and of our CRISAR group will include surveillance to isolate potentially pandemic strains of the influenza virus."

UAF researchers expect to collect and test 4,000 samples from Alaska and another 4,000 samples from Russia and northern Japan each year for five years beginning this May. Fieldwork in the Russian Far East will be coordinated by Falk Huettmann, IAB assistant professor of wildlife ecology. Samples which test positive will be further characterized by the CRISAR group that includes UAF; University of California, Davis; UCLA; Wildlife Conservation Society; and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

"At UAF, we will use the genetic information from UC Davis to continually refine existing studies and develop new research on the ecology of the influenza virus and the immune response of birds," Runstadler said.

The CRISAR partners together plan to collect and screen at least 20,000 cloacal samples from wild and domestic animals at key sites in the western United States and Asia each year.

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Morbus escensio

New Bird Flu Findings in Indonesia and Egypt
USAgNet - 04/10/2007

A new case of bird flu has been reported in Egypt as Indonesia reports its 74th human death from the disease. A 15-year-old Egyptian girl has been diagnosed with bird flu, according to media reports. The teenager, Marianna Kameel Mikhail from Cairo's Shubra district, was admitted to hospital last Thursday.

She is being treated with Tamiflu and is apparently in a stable condition; she had, it seems, been in contact with infected birds.

This is Egypt's 34th human victim of bird flu. Thirteen Egyptians have died.

Indonesia, meanwhile, has confirmed a 29-year-old man died of H5N1 bird flu infection, according to reports from various media outlets. This is the 74th human death in Indonesia from the virus.

Government officials say the man was hospitalized for nearly a week before passing away last Thursday. The man lived in Central Java Province, and officials believed that he might have contracted bird flu through close contact with infected poultry.