H5N1

State health officials investigate a detection of H5N1 influenza virus in a human in Colorado

Thanks to Krutika Kuppalli for tweeting the link to this news release from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment: State health officials investigate a detection of H5 influenza virus in a human in Colorado. Excerpt:

April 28, 2022—The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has been monitoring and testing people exposed to poultry and wild birds infected with avian flu (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, HPAI), also known as H5N1 flu. Earlier this week, a test revealed the presence of the influenza A (H5) virus in a single nasal specimen from a person who was working on a farm with infected poultry. CDC confirmed the result on April 27, 2022. Repeat testing on the person was negative for influenza. Because the person was in close contact with infected poultry, the virus may have been present in the person’s nose without causing infection.   

The adult male, who is younger than 40, is largely asymptomatic, reporting only fatigue. He is now isolating and receiving the influenza antiviral drug oseltamivir (tamiflu) per CDC guidance. Scientists believe that the risk to people is low as H5 flu viruses spread among wild birds and poultry. They do not normally infect humans nor spread from person to person. There are currently no known cases of this H5 flu virus spreading among people. There are no other confirmed human cases in Colorado or the United States at this time.   

This positive result is due to direct exposure to infected poultry at a commercial farm in Montrose County. The person, who is an inmate at a state correctional facility in Delta County, was working with poultry as part of a pre-release employment program where participants have the opportunity to work for private employers and be paid a prevailing wage. The affected flock has been euthanized and disposed of under the guidance of the USDA and CDA. All members of the response team, including other inmate workers, were provided personal protective equipment while working on the farm.  

“We want to reassure Coloradans that the risk to them is low,” said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, state epidemiologist, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “I am grateful for the seamless collaboration between CDC, Department of Corrections, Department of Agriculture, and CDPHE, as we continue to monitor this virus and protect all Coloradans.”  

While human infections of the H5 viruses are rare, direct exposure to infected birds increases that risk. Infected birds shed flu viruses in their saliva, mucous, and feces. Public health officials in the United Kingdom confirmed H5N1 virus in January 2022 in a person who was asymptomatic and had direct contact with infected birds. 

H5N1 avian flu discovered in birds around St. John's, Environment Canada says

Thanks to Mike Coston for alerting me to this development. Via CBC News: Avian flu discovered in birds around St. John's, Environment Canada says. Excerpt:

Environment Canada says a highly pathogenic avian influenza first identified on a farm on the Avalon Peninsula has been found in birds around the St. John's area.  

In a statement from the City of St. John's on Friday, officials said Environment Canada had confirmed the influenza, known as H5N1 and often called bird flu, has been found in wild birds in areas like Bowring Park, Quidi Vidi Lake and other areas frequented by flocks of birds.  

"Like our human flu, it has variants that we refer to as highly pathogenic, meaning that they cause illness and death in birds that get infected with them," said Ian Jones, a biology professor at Memorial University.  

The city has asked residents not to feed, touch or handle wild birds, including ducks, pigeons and gulls.  

Cases of H5N1 were first identified on the island around mid-December on an exhibition farm on the island, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and a report from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). 

Jones said the flu circulates naturally in birds, with higher case numbers in Europe signalling a higher risk for North American poultry flocks this year. The disease is often found in birds such as chickens, turkeys, quails, and guinea fowl, as well as pet and wild birds.  

Jones suspects the flu could have come from Europe in recent months, as some species of geese not usually seen in North America have been found in the province following an October windstorm.  

"It was a major system filling almost the entire North Atlantic, producing very strong winds from northern Europe straight across and then down to Newfoundland, including the Avalon Peninsula. Migrating waterfowl, especially geese from Europe, were caught up in this," he said.  

"Birdwatchers have observed in eastern Canada an unprecedented number of barnacle geese and pink-footed geese, two European geese species that don't normally occur here."  

Jones said the risk of humans getting the disease is low and it would involve dealing with the insides of infected animals. The biggest risk, Jones said, comes in agriculture and the poultry industry.  

The exhibition farm where the disease was first identified doesn't produce birds for sale, the agency said, adding it won't have an effect on poultry trade. The farm was under quarantine, which included a 10-kilometre zone with movement control measures and enhanced biosecurity to limit the potential spread of the disease.  

According to the OIE, 419 birds were identified to be carrying the flu. Of those, 360 died, while 59 had to be euthanized.

Ivory Coast confirms H5N1 avian flu outbreak

Not only Ebola, but H5N1 as well. Via Reuters: Ivory coast confirms H5N1 avian flu outbreak. Excerpt:

ABIDJAN, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast has identified an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu near the commercial capital Abidjan and has taken steps to curb its spread, the livestock ministry said in a statement. 

Testing confirmed the presence of the virus after a large number of poultry started dying in the Grand Bassam commune on July 20, the ministry said on Wednesday. 

Movement of poultry has been limited within the Grand Bassam area, which is about 42 kilometres (26 miles) outside Abidjan, the statement said. Poultry imports from other infected countries have been suspended. 

Birds have been culled in the vicinity of the outbreak, the statement said, without saying how many. 

Ivory Coast, which last declared avian flu outbreaks in 2006 and 2015, is the latest of several West African nations to declare H5N1 outbreaks.

India's first H5N1 case and fatality

Thanks to Giuseppe Michielli for alerting me to this NDTV report. Bird Flu: Delhi's AIIMS Reports First Bird Flu Death This Year, Haryana Boy, 11. If I'm not mistaken, this is the first ever H5N1 fatality in India, and the first human case. Fifteen years ago, H5N1 was popping up in Bangladesh and Pakistan, but India escaped. Excerpt:

New Delhi: A 11-year-old boy from Haryana who died today at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was infected with the H5N1 virus, which is also called 'avian influenza' or 'bird flu'. This is believed to be the first case of H5N1 among humans in India, and the first bird flu death this year. 

A report from Pune's National Institute of Virology confirmed the infection. 

Sources told news agency PTI his samples tested negative for COVID-19 (testing for which is now routine at hospitals) but was positive for influenza and H5N1 was confirmed by by the NIV. 

Staff who came in contact with the boy, identified as Susheel and admitted July 2 with pneumonia and leukemia, have been asked to self-monitor for symptoms and report in case of a possible infection. 

A team from the National Centre for Disease Control has been sent to Susheel's village in Haryana to check for more H5N1 cases and carry out contact tracing. 

Earlier this year thousands of wild birds were found dead and tens of thousands of poultry were culled after a massive wave of bird flu cases swept several states, including Haryana. 

Several of the infections, however, were from a different strain of the virus - H5N8 - which experts say is less dangerous to humans. 

Nevertheless, by January-end the centre sounded an alert as it confirmed bird flu among poultry in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, as well as Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, UP and Punjab. 

Over 50,000 birds were killed in Punjab, Maharashtra and Kerala each as precaution, with thousands more killed in other states.

I can't find any comment or news release on the sites of AIIMS or NIV (Pune). I'll keep looking. Here is the WHO tally of H5N1 cases:

EpiCore: Avian influenza (A/H5N1)--Prey Veng, Cambodia

EpiCore, I've recently learned, is a volunteer epidemic-intelligence group that checks reports of outbreaks in different parts of the world. Here's their latest, from March 29: Epicore: Avian influenza (A/H5N1)--Prey Veng, Cambodia.

Media quoting national health authorities have recently confirmed that the mass bird deaths reported in mid-March in Tuolporn Taley Boeung Sne protected area (Ba Phnom district, Prey Veng province) were due to highly pathogenic avian influenza (A/H5N1). Response activities have been implemented and the community has been asked to keep the environment around their homes clean and to report unusual deaths of poultry, as the virus could be transmitted to domestic animals as well. 

An RFI was sent to EpiCore members to get any update about this officially confirmed and ongoing event, in particular details on the investigation and if there is any report of similar events, in the surrounding, in poultry or wild birds. 

The EpiCore network has added details about the ongoing response activities in the country. Currently the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Health are closely following the situation and collaborating through a common Technical Working Group on Zoonotic diseases. A joint field investigation is ongoing, and information collected from the two sectors is regularly shared. So far there have been no other unusual events reported in births in the area and the import/export within a 3 km radius has been suspended by the animal health authorities that are monitoring the bordering areas as well. In addition, community members and vets have already isolated and destroyed almost 2,000 bird carcasses since the first report. 

From a human health side, as of today there has been no report of any suspected cases in the surrounding areas. The early detection of potential cases is based on direct reports through the MOH hotline phone service (115) of exposed people in the area presenting ILI/SARI signs, with immediate lab testing of samples collected to rule out A(H5N1). In addition, routine sentinel surveillance activities for ILI and SARI are regularly ongoing in the country. More information is available in Khmer on the MOH website (cdcmoh.gov.kh). 

The RFI has been supported with useful details that have provided an update about the current situation. In case of more information provided in the coming days/weeks this summary will be updated.

Indonesian COVID-19 deaths surpass, within weeks, 17 years of H5N1 bird flu fatalities

Via The Jakarta Post: Indonesian COVID-19 deaths surpass, within weeks, 17 years of bird flu fatalities.

The number of COVID-19 fatalities in Indonesia in the month since its first confirmed case has officially surpassed the country’s total avian influenza death toll over nearly two decades. 

On Thursday afternoon, Indonesia’s death toll reached 170 after the country recorded 13 new fatalities nationwide, Health Ministry disease control and prevention director general Achmad Yurianto said. 

The total number of nationwide infections has hit 1,790 with 113 new confirmed cases, Yurianto added, while those who had recovered from the disease had increased to 112. 

The 170 deaths from COVID-19 in Indonesia have now surpassed the 168 deaths caused by avian influenza recorded in the country between 2003 and 2020, according to World Health Organization data. The bird flu caused by the H5N1 virus – which was first detected in Indonesia in 2005 – infected a total of 200 people in the country.  

The numbers seem to support the conclusion that the global pandemic is spreading at a faster rate than the previous major outbreak in the archipelago. 

Indonesia's current COVID-19 mortality rate, 9.4 percent, is among the highest in the world.  

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo announced the country's first two confirmed COVID-19 cases on March 2. 

The provinces of Java now contain the majority of the country’s total infections, as combined cases from Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta and East Java totaled 1,519 as of Thursday. 

The capital remains the country’s hardest-hit location with a total of 897 positive cases and 90 fatalities to date.

China reports outbreak of H5N1 bird flu among chickens in Hunan province, close to coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan

China can't catch a break these days. Via the South China Morning Port: China reports outbreak of deadly bird flu among chickens in Hunan province, close to coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan.

China has reported an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu in Hunan province, which lies on the southern border of Hubei province, the epicentre of the rapidly spreading coronavirus. 

“The outbreak occurred in a farm in the Shuangqing district of Shaoyang city. The farm has 7,850 chickens, and 4,500 of the chickens have died from the contagion. Local authorities have culled 17,828 poultry after the outbreak,” a statement by China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Saturday. 

The H5N1 avian flu virus, often called bird flu, causes severe respiratory disease in birds. and is contagious to humans. It is possible, but difficult, to transmit the infection from person to person, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

However, bird flu is deadly to humans who contract it, with a mortality rate of close 60 per cent in cases of the last 15 years. Bird flu is much deadlier to humans than either Sars (a 10 per cent mortality rate) or coronavirus (a 2 per cent mortality rate in the outbreak so far). 

No human victim of the Hunan H5N1 outbreak has been reported.

Avian influenza A viruses among occupationally exposed populations, China, 2014–2016

Via Emerging Infectious Diseases: Avian Influenza A Viruses among Occupationally Exposed Populations, China, 2014–2016. The abstract:

To determine the seroprevalence and seroconversion of avian influenza virus (AIV) antibodies in poultry workers, we conducted a seroepidemiologic study in 7 areas of China during December 2014–April 2016. We used viral isolation and reverse transcription PCR to detect AIVs in specimens from live poultry markets. 

We analyzed 2,124 serum samples obtained from 1,407 poultry workers by using hemagglutination inhibition and microneutralization assays. We noted seroprevalence of AIV antibodies for subtypes H9N2, H7N9, H6N1, H5N1-SC29, H5N6, H5N1-SH199, and H6N6. In serum from participants with longitudinal samples, we noted seroconversion, with >4-fold rise in titers, for H9N2, H7N9, H6N1, H5N1-SC29, H6N6, H5N6, and H5N1-SH199 subtypes. We found no evidence of H10N8 subtype. 

The distribution of AIV antibodies provided evidence of asymptomatic infection. We found that AIV antibody prevalence in live poultry markets correlated with increased risk for H7N9 and H9N2 infection among poultry workers.

New discovery could spell end to seasonal flu

Via Deutsche Welle: New discovery could spell end to seasonal flu. Excerpt:

A potential breakthrough discovery of new antibodies could lead to a universal vaccine. If successful, it could protect against all types of deadly influenza viruses and even prevent pandemics, a study shows. 

 Immunologist Ali Ellebedy was working on a study analyzing the immune response to flu infection in humans. During his research, he spotted a new type of powerful antibody in a blood sample from a patient infected with human influenza virus.   

Ellebedy then sent samples of the antibody to Florian Krammer — a microbiologist who proved the effectiveness of the antibodies by testing them against extensive samples of virus proteins dating back to the 1970s. These proteins, called neuraminidase, enable the virus to spread through the human body. 

The study, which was jointly conducted by Scripps Research, Washington University's School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, was published in the October 25 issue of Science.  

Future vaccine could survive antiviral resistance  

Krammer told DW that the beauty of this new antibody, called 10G1, is that it binds to the parts of the virus that never change. This means that even if new strains of influenza viruses are detected, a potential vaccine containing new antibodies would still be effective. 

Moreover, the antibody has a powerful potential to attack both A and B subtypes of influenza viruses, making it an even better candidate for a universal vaccine that would combat human, swine, and bird strains, as well as other rarer strains of lethal flu viruses.

H5N1, H5N6 bird flu hits Vietnamese province

Via English.news.cn, a Xinhua report: Bird flu hits Vietnamese province.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's southern Ben Tre province has seen the first outbreak of A/H5N6 bird flu which has led to the culling of 1,000 chickens. 

The outbreak was spotted in Mo Cay Nam district, and then tests confirmed that the flock of fowls raised by a household were infected with the bird flu virus, Vietnam News Agency on Sunday quoted the provincial Department of Livestock and Animal Health as saying. 

Relevant local agencies have culled the chickens, disinfected surrounding areas and intensified vaccination among fowls in the province. 

In late July, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that outbreaks of A/H5N6 and A/H5N1 bird flu had been reported in 13 communes of 11 localities from the start of 2019, leading to the culling of more than 23,000 poultry. 

The bird flu is forecast to widely spread in the remaining months of this year due to changing weather and surging poultry transportation ahead of the lunar new year holiday. 

Vietnam first detected bird flu virus strain of A/H5N1 in December 2003 on both humans and fowls. More than 45 million poultry in Vietnam were culled between 2003 and 2006. Since then, hundreds of thousands of fowls have been killed each year.  

In the 2004-2014 period, 127 people in Vietnam were infected with H5N1, including 64 fatalities, according to the ministry. The country has detected no new human cases of H5N1 infection since 2014.