H5N1

Infectious diseases kill 2,198 in China in December

Via the National Health and Family Planning Commission: Infectious diseases kill 2,198 in China in December.

A total of 2,198 people died as a result of infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in December 2017, official data showed. 

According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, there were 699,850 cases of infectious diseases reported on the mainland in December.  

One person died from plague while no cases of cholera were reported in December. 

Plague and cholera are classified as Class A infectious diseases, the most serious classification on China's Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases. 

A total of 294,397 cases were classified as Class B infectious diseases, resulting in 2,187 deaths. Viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhoea as well as scarlet fever accounted for 93 percent of these cases. 

Category C diseases caused 10 deaths in December. Infectious diarrhea, influenza, foot and mouth disease were the most prevalent in this category, accounting for 93 percent of cases. 

Multiple cases of enterovirus, FMD found in Central Philippines

Via Xinhua, a report datelined Iloilo City: Multiple cases of enterovirus, FMD found in Central Philippines. Excerpt:

The Department of Health (DoH) in Central Philippines has discovered mass incidence of enterovirus as well as foot and mouth diseases (FMD) cases to humans in the country's central part -- Western Visayas region. 

Dr. Glen Alonsabe, chief epidemiologist of the DoH Western Visayas said Monday that his office had administered 49 cases of enterovirus and 69 victims of FMD. 

"This is not alarming since we are treating these cases very well. I just hope that the parents especially in communities should exercise proper hygiene so that they would not absorb the virus," Alonsabe said. 

He reminded local residents that enterovirus had killed at least 50 children in Cambodia. 

Alonsabe clarified that the Enterovirus that hit children in Central Philippines were mild compared to the virus that were recorded in Cambodia.

Egypt: H5N1, foot & mouth disease threaten public health

Via The Atlantic.com, a report by Laurie Garrett and Steven A. Cook: Egypt's Real Crisis: The Dual Epidemics Quietely Ravaging Public Health. Excerpt from a must-read article:

Ground zero for Egypt's public health emergency is Libya, where last year, in the midst of civil war, foot and mouth disease swept through the country, killing more than 10 percent of its sheep and cattle. Smugglers subsequently brought infected sheep across the Libyan border, setting off a foot and mouth disease (FMD) wildfire that Egyptian officials have been unable to slow.  

Within four weeks, FMD killed thousands of cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels, and other livestock across Egypt. In March, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization declared a "catastrophe," warning that the epidemic in Egypt was threatening human food supplies for all of the Middle East and North Africa. 

The particular viral strain responsible for the epidemic, officially called SAT2, is a new one, against which standard FMD vaccines are useless. SAT2 was first found in Sudan in 1977, when it was also thought to have been eliminated. It appears to have resurfaced there in 2010, spread to Libya, then Egypt, and now the Palestinian Territory. Consequently, public and veterinary health officials in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and elsewhere around the  region are on high alert. 

For Egypt, which is reeling from the economic repercussions of last year's revolt against the Mubarak regime and ongoing political instability, the FMD epidemic is a serious blow. The loss of thousands of cattle, buffalo, and camels has resulted in a significant spike in the price of meat from Egypt's remaining livestock, which leaves a relatively poor population with only one unaffected source of protein: chickens. 

Yet Egypt is also in the sixth year of avian influenza H5N1 epidemic. Despite vaccination and control efforts, the deadly H5N1 virus, which swept into Egypt from Asia, persists. Given the popularity of home-raised chickens in the country, where many households, rural and urban, possess flocks, controlling the infection would be a daunting undertaking for any government. Millions of the animals are estimated to have either died from infection or been killed off by veterinary authorities, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, in failed control efforts. 

The World Health Organization now ranks Egypt second in the world, after Indonesia, in human cases of the avian flu, which thus far has reportedly killed 60 Egyptians and infected about 100 more. 

Recently, a strain of the virus has spread to Egyptian ducks; this new strain carries mutations that are thought to play a role in enabling transmission between mammals. This is a particularly worrisome development  because some Egyptians have caught the flu from their animals, but not yet passed it onto other people. Once the virus begins to spread between humans, an epidemic becomes far, far more likely. 

There are only two well-established methods for controlling these viral animal diseases: through mass vaccination of more than 90% of all vulnerable animals, or via quarantine and culling measures that identify and slaughter all FMD-infected herds and H5N1-contaminated flocks. 

In either case, governance is the key. These are big, difficult undertakings, and they require public trust in the state. Poor farmers are far less likely to cooperate with such a program, which asks them to risk, their livliehood, with faith that government will provide adequate compensation for culled animals.

Egypt: Livestock disease puts livelihoods, food security at risk

Via IRIN Middle East: EGYPT: Livestock disease puts livelihoods, food security at risk. Excerpt:

A new strain of foot-and-mouth disease in Egypt has killed several thousand livestock, put farmers’ livelihoods at risk and could threaten regional food security, say local and international experts.   

“Urgent action is required to control a major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and prevent its spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East, which could have serious implications for food security in the region,” the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on 22 March.   

“If the virus kills more cattle, there will be more economic suffering for a large number of people,” said Mohamed Al Falw, a veterinary officer in Sawaris village, in the Greater Cairo governorate of Qallubia. “The government cannot just keep talking and leave these farmers to face this tragedy on their own.”

Korea to cut farmers' compensation for FMD, H5N1

Via Arirang: Govt. to cut FMD & bird flu compensation by up to 80%. Excerpt:

The government will reduce compensation to those affected by livestock diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza starting next year. 

The agriculture ministry says that in the future, if outbreaks of diseases were brought on by the farmers' negligence, compensation will be cut by up to 80 percent, and under no circumstances will their damages be fully covered. 

Also, when farm owners do not report the employment of migrant workers or fail to sterilize the area thoroughly enough to prevent animal diseases, their licenses will be revoked.

Vietnam: More H5N1 plus FMD

Via People's Daily Online, a Xinhua report: Vietnam reports more cases of bird flu.

Bird flu has been discovered in five more provinces in Vietnam, the Vietnam News Agency reported Friday. 

According to the report, the cases were found in northern Thai Nguyen, Vinh Phuc, Lang Son, Nam Dinh provinces and Central Highland Kon Tum province. 

Meanwhile, foot-and-mouth disease has been discovered in 19 provinces across the nation since the end of January. A total of about 700 buffaloes, cows and pigs were reported to be affected.

CIDRAP: News scan for February 11

With the good news from Egypt drowning out everything else, CIDRAP still finds a lot to report in today's NEWS SCAN: Bacteria on docs' coats; foot-and-mouth outbreak; dengue, pneumococcal vaccine efforts. Excerpt:

North Korea has been hit hard with foot-and-mouth disease and has asked the United Nations (UN) for help, according to a report in South Korea's The Korea Herald today. 

The nation admitted yesterday for the first time that it has an outbreak, more than 40 days after the disease was reported in Pyongyang by other sources. The announcement is unusual for the communist North Korea, which rarely shares outbreak information outside its borders. 

The state's official news agency has reported that thousands of livestock, including cows and pigs, have died from the highly contagious disease despite quarantine efforts, and that the outbreak has spread to eight provinces. 

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization will dispatch three to five experts to Pyongyang to determine the scope of the outbreak, according to Radio Free Asia. 

South Korea has been battling foot-and-mouth disease since last November and has culled more than 3 million livestock.

FMD, bird flu outbreaks inflict huge damage on S. Korea

Via Mass Communications Organization of Thailand: FMD, bird flu outbreaks inflict huge damage on S. Korea. Excerpt:

Recent nationwide outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and bird flu are estimated to have cost South Korea 2 trillion won (US$1.8 billion), a government official said Wednesday. 

Since the first FMD case was confirmed on Nov. 29, Seoul has culled and buried 3.22 million heads of cattle, pigs, goats and deer, with the number of birds destroyed to combat the avian influenza (AI) hitting 5.41 million since late last year. 

"Estimates need to be updated constantly, but the current tally stood at 1.9 trillion won for FMD and around 100 billion won for bird flu," farm ministry spokesman Ahn Ho-keun said in a press briefing. 

In terms of livestock culled so far, the outbreaks are the severest in the country's history.

CIDRAP: News scan for January 27

I feel sorry for CIDRAP; this has been a disaster-rich day and it's been hard to keep up. Nevertheless, they've posted a NEWS SCAN: Polio funding, Haiti's paralysis cases, dengue vaccine collaboration, FMD alert in Asia, diseases from pets. Excerpt:

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said yesterday that polio probably did not cause the paralysis that recently afflicted four recovering cholera patients in Haiti, killing three of them. 

Officials from PAHO, the WHO, Haiti's Ministry of Health, and the CDC are investigating the cases and "are likely to rule out polio as a cause, pending laboratory results," the agency said. 

Polio was eliminated from the Americas in 1994, the statement noted. A cluster of neurologic illnesses in Haiti's Northwest department was first reported Jan 10. 

Four of the patients had signs and symptoms of acute bilateral flaccid paralysis; three patients died, and the fourth is recovering slowly in a Port-au-Prince hospital, PAHO reported. Polio was one of the first possibilities investigators considered, but it is unlikely, mainly because it does not produce a high mortality rate, officials said.

Korea: FMD still not abating, new bird flu culls ordered

Via JoongAngDaily, a lot of bad news: FMD still not abating, new bird flu culls ordered.

Korea has confirmed two more foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks despite quarantine efforts and wholesale vaccination of livestock, the government said Tuesday. 

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said pig farms in Gimhae and Gongju, 450 kilometers (280 miles) and 160 kilometers south of Seoul, respectively, tested positive for the highly contagious animal disease. 

The outbreak in Gimhae is the second confirmed case in South Gyeongsang and a clear sign that FMD has spread nationwide. Six provinces and two large cities have had confirmed cases of the disease since the first outbreak was reported on Nov. 29. 

With the exception of some breeding sows that received vaccines more than two weeks ago, all 8,188 animals will be culled at the farms to stop the spread of the disease, the ministry said. 

But no animals at nearby farms will be slaughtered in accordance with updated quarantine rules announced last week that reflect an ongoing nationwide vaccination effort that should be complete by the end of January. 

Seoul started inoculating a limited number of cattle on Dec. 25 and expanded this to all pigs and cows in the country after existing quarantine efforts failed to stem the outbreak. More than 2.62 million cows, pigs, goats and deer have been culled and buried at a cost of over 2.5 trillion won ($2.2 billion). The country was hit by the disease in 2000, 2002 and two more times early last year. 

The ministry, meanwhile, confirmed two new bird flu outbreaks late Monday, with one case involving an egg-laying chicken farm in Sangju, North Gyeongsang, which had not been affected by the avian influenza in the past. 

All 201,000 chickens at the Sangju farm have been ordered culled along with 8,300 ducks at a farm in Icheon, Gyeonggi. 

Counting the new cases, the country has reported 37 outbreaks since the first was confirmed on Dec. 31. And 5.15 million birds have been culled so far.