H5N1

Guan Yi on H7N9

Credit: CFP

Many thanks to Lucie Lecomte for sending the link to this report in WantChinaTimes.com: H7 strains have infected humans before, says China's 'bird-flu hunter'. Guan Yi, like Zhong Nanshan, is one of the heroes of H5N1 and SARS. Excerpt:

The new strain of the avian influenza virus that has already killed two in Shanghai and left five others critically ill belongs to a subtype that has infected humans before, according to the man dubbed the "bird-flu hunter" by Time magazine. 

In an interview with the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald on April 2, Guan Yi, a microbiology and virology expert from the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, said he is not surprised by the recent H7N9 outbreak that has so far infected seven people in Shanghai, Anhui and Jiangsu. 

Guan said this is not the first time humans have been infected by a virus under the H7 subtype of avian influenza as there are records of mammals contracting the H7N2, H7N3 and H7N7 strains in the past. Notable cases involve an English farmer's wife who contracted an H7 virus while cleaning a chicken coop in 1993, and Dutch veterinarians who died from infections contracted while putting down diseased birds in 2003, he said. 

Of the 17 H-subtype designations of avian influenza, only the H5 and H7 subtypes are high pathogenic, Guan said. The H5 subtype is well known because it was the H5N1 strain that caused the previous outbreak in Asia in 2003, he added. 

On Beijing's decision to use the antiviral drug Tamiflu to treat H7N9 patients, Guan agreed that it was a good idea as the drug can be effective in preventing new cells from being infected, especially if administered in the early stages of illness. Irrespective of effectiveness, it is a good sign that the government is paying attention to the disease, he said. 

The virologist also said that it is only natural that the public will draw a link between the virus and the thousands of dead pigs found in Shanghai's Huangpu river last month. While he has only seen the virus before in water birds and not in pigs, Guan said he did not rule out the possibility that the virus may have mutated while inside the bodies of pigs to become contagious to humans. 

Although Shanghai health authorities said samples of the pig carcasses pulled out of the water revealed no traces of the H7N9 virus, Guan said it could be because it had been more than 24 hours since death and the bodies were heavily decomposed by the time they were tested, making it difficult for the virus to be detected.

Cambodia: H5N1 outbreak is over

Via GlobeMeatnews.com: Cambodia and Taiwan claim success in fight against bird flu.

The Cambodian and Taiwanese governments have both claimed successes in their efforts to stamp out recent bird flu outbreaks. 

In a note to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), Dr Sen Sovann, deputy secretary general of Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said the current highly pathogenic bird flu outbreak – which has killed eight people in the last two months – was over: “The event is resolved. No more reports will be submitted,” he told the OIE. 

Noting there had been no new outbreaks this month, the ministry stressed how it had stamped out the disease through destroying susceptible poultry, imposing movement controls, disinfecting infected premises, dipping and spraying. No vaccination or treatment of livestock has been permitted. 

The current outbreak began in January and has affected the whole country. It started in the south-west Takeo province, near the Vietnam border, where 2,304 backyard poultry chicken and ducks died of the disease and 4,743 birds at risk were destroyed. There is concern that weak border controls could have allowed infected birds to be imported from Vietnam. 

The disease then spread to neighbouring Kampong Speu province, near the capital Phnom Penh, where 503 birds died or were killed. It then moved to Cham, north of the capital, with 1,144 bird casualties; coastal Kampot – 634 birds dead; and then westerly Siem Reap province – 2,359 dead birds. 

In Taiwan, Dr Ping-Cheng Yang, director of Taiwan’s Animal Technology Institute, said there had been no new cases since January in an outbreak that began in November, although he did not declare it over. Taiwan has imposed quarantine measures, movement controls, screening, zoning and disinfection, and has also blocked vaccination and treatment. 

The Taiwan authorities reported four clusters of cases in chicken, ducks and geese, although deaths have been significantly lower than in Cambodia and the virus was a low pathogenic strain, offering limited risk to humans.

I don't find anything about this on the OIE site yet, but good news is always welcome.

Hong Kong: Dutch village poultry banned

Via the Hong Kong government website: Dutch village poultry banned.

The Centre for Food Safety has banned poultry and poultry product imports from a poultry holding in the Dutch village of Lochem after an H7 avian influenza outbreak there.   

The Netherlands Consulate General in Hong Kong notified the centre about the outbreak.   

The centre has since contacted Dutch authorities for more details and will monitor information from the World Organisation for Animal Health on the bird flu outbreak.    

Last year, Hong Kong imported about 17,000 tonnes of frozen poultry and 1.3 million poultry eggs from the Netherlands.

Mike Coston at Avian Flu Diary has the details on the outbreak itself.

Mexico: B2B H7N3 keeps spreading

Via Excelsior: Gripe aviar avanza en Guanajuato y Jalisco. [Avian flu advances in Guanajuato and Jalisco] The entire report, with my translation:

La presencia de la gripe aviar se extendió de 16 a 21 granjas en Jalisco y de 25 a 27 unidades de producción y predios de traspatio en Guanajuato.   

Avian influenza has spread from 16 to 21 farms in Jalisco and from 25 to 27 production units and backyard operations in Guanajuato. 

El Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (Senasica) dio a conocer que el número de aves sacrificadas o muertas por el virus de Influenza Aviar H7N3 se mantiene en dos millones 25,449 pollos de engorda en Jalisco y un millón 699,652 aves en Guanajuato.   

The National Health, Safety and Agroalimentary Quality Service (Senasica) has announced that the number of birds culled or killed by the H7N3 virus remains at 2,025,449 broiler chickens in Jalisco and 1,699,652 hens in Guanajuato.

Destacó que hasta el momento se han aplicado, dentro del cerco sanitario, cuatro millones de vacunas en Guanajuato, 661,000 en Aguascalientes y, desde enero, 39 millones de dosis en Jalisco.

Senasica emphasized that up to now it has administered, within the cordon sanitaire, four million vaccinations in Guanajuato, 661,000 in Aguascalientes, and (since January) 39 million in Jalisco.

Australia: An H5N1-immune chicken?

Via the Geelong Advertiser: Our CSIRO chicken coup has disease in its sights. I don't see anything about this on the CSIRO site yet. Excerpt:

Geelong scientists are getting closer to creating the world's first disease-proof animals. 

The ground-breaking CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) project is producing genetically modified chickens, using cutting-edge science from the plant world. 

It is hoped the CSIRO super-chickens will breed disease-resistant offspring, creating a line of poultry which is immune to the deadly bird flu.  

Former CSIRO AAHL director, Martyn Jeggo, who has recently retired and taken up a part-time post as chief of the Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases, this week said the global implications of the project could not be overstated.  

"If this avian influenza stuff works you'll want to be in Geelong. Right now, is the first time we have ever produced a resistant animal to a major disease like this," Dr Jeggo said. "If we can do it for one, why the hell can't we do it for every other disease? This is a proof-of-concept project which is massive, massive, massive."  

Dr Jeggo said CSIRO plant scientists had found RNAi molecules could switch off genes in plants to create changes such as bigger ears of corn, stronger stalks or drought-resistance. 

This science had laid the groundwork for the chicken project. 

"Interfering with RNAs is the real answer to vaccines and disease-resistant animals, cancer, a whole range of important things," Dr Jeggo said. "In CSIRO Plant Industries a lot of the pioneering work has been done for a lot of this ... which is why we (CSIRO AAHL) are now the lead group in producing an influenza-resistant chicken." 

CSIRO AAHL head of animal biosecurity research, Dr John Lowenthal, said the project had been made public several years ago but was now at a critical stage. 

Interfering with RNAs was a technology that allowed scientists to control or silence particular genes, leading to the production of "transgenic" chickens. 

The process happened naturally in animals all the time as part of the body's way of preventing and dealing with viruses but CSIRO scientists were effectively super-charging the process, Dr Lowenthal said.  

He said it had not yet been scientifically proven that the chickens in the project were resistant to avian influenza but they had been shown to express RNAi molecules.  

"It's a whole complicated process to be able to show that and then being able to breed from them," Dr Lowenthal said. "The next generation of chickens will inherit higher levels of RNAi, which is why they are called GMOs (genetically modified organisms), because it's an inheritable trait ... the capability is passed on."  

Dr Jeggo said the research was being funded by the world's biggest broiler producer. 

Even assuming this GM chicken will solve the broiler producer's problems, how will poor peasants in Cambodia, Vietnam, or Indonesia be able to afford them? And what will happen to the present genetic diversity of domestic and wild birds across the world, if they're left to the mercy of H5N1 and other avian influenzas?

These are not rhetorical questions. I really don't know the answers.

Mexico: H7N3 in 41 locations, but "the pathogen is contained"

Via Sagarpa, Mexico's secretariat of agriculture, a March 4 report: Reporte del Dispositivo Nacional de Emergencia de Sanidad Animal. [Report of the National Emergency Agency for Animal Health] Excerpt, with my translation:

Como parte del Dispositivo Nacional de Emergencia de Sanidad Animal (DINESA), instrumentado para controlar y erradicar al virus de Influenza Aviar AH7N3, el Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (SENASICA) enfatizó que el patógeno está contenido dentro del cerco sanitario establecido y no ha habido presencia viral en ningún otro estado. 

As part of the National Emergency Agency for Animal Health, implemented to control and eradicate the H7N3 avian influenza virus, the National Service of Health, Safety and Agroalimentary Quality has emphasized that the pathogen is contained within the established cordon sanitaire and there is no viral presence in any other state.

Se informó que en Guanajuato, después de la inspección de la zona y de analizar siete mil 613 muestras, se detectó la presencia de Influenza Aviar en 23 granjas y dos predios de traspatio. En Jalisco, las 16 unidades avícolas afectadas se mantienen sin variación. 

It is reported that in Guanajuato, after inspecting the region and analyzing 7,613 test samples, H7N3 has been detected in 23 poultry farms and two backyard operations. In Jalisco, the number of affected sites remains at 16 poultry farms.

Respecto al sacrificio de aves, el órgano desconcentrado de Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación (SAGARPA) indicó que prevalecen las cifras reportadas el viernes pasado próximo: en Jalisco, dos millones 25 mil 449 pollos de engorda, y en Guanajuato, un millón 241 mil 265 gallinas. 

As for the culling of birds, Sagarpa said that the numbers remain as given last Friday: in Jalisco, 2,025,449 broiler chicken, and in Guanajuato 1,241,265 hens.

El SENASICA informó, asimismo, del avance en las acciones preventivas fuera del cerco sanitario, donde se han aplicado hasta hoy más de 18 millones de vacunas para proteger a las aves de larga vida, que constituyen la base de la producción avícola del país. La meta es aplicar alrededor de 210 millones de vacunas mensuales.

Senasica also reported that in preventive measures taken outside the cordon, as of today over 18 million vaccinations have been administered to protect breeding stock that constitute the base of the country's poultry production. The goal is to apply about 210 million vaccinations monthly.

H5N1 and factory farms

Via The Huffington Post: We Are Not Safe From Bird Flu as Long as Factory Farms Exist. Excerpt:

CNN reports that Cambodia is seeing a spike in the number of deaths due to the H5N1 strain of bird flu. In a related case, Mexico recently slaughtered more than 1 million chickens infected with the H7N3 strain of bird flu. 

Despite the increase in bird flu in Cambodia, H5N1 is currently not very contagious among humans (most people who contracted the virus were in direct contact with sick farmed animals), and H7N3 is not known to cause harm to humans. 

In spite of our current low risk, it is just a matter of time before H5N1, H7N3 or another influenza strain evolves into a dangerous form that results in a pandemic. And the events in Mexico and Cambodia beg the question: Are we ever going to be safe from bird flu? 

As long as we continue to treat animals raised for food poorly, the answer is a definite "no."

Poultry farms certainly offer wonderful opportunities for avian influenzas: Any monoculture, animal or vegetable, is (to coin a phrase) a sitting duck for some enterprising predator. 

But I don't think factory farming is the problem. Indonesia has seen more H5N1 outbreaks, more human cases, and more deaths than anyone else, but they seem to have resulted from H5N1 in backyard and small-village flocks.

Similarly, H5N1 in Vietnam turns up in rural regions, not in modern factory farms. It's just too easy to traipse from one henhouse to another, with all kinds of mud and poop on your sandals. It's also easy to haul your birds to the local wet market, tied to the handle bars of your motorbike.

Obviously we can't continue to raise animal protein as a major component of the human diet. It's environmentally impossible, quite apart from the hazards of contracting diseases like H5N1. But mass production of such meat is not the only culprit.

Mexico: H7N3 spreads to 39 farms and a backyard property

Via El Universal: Se extiende gripe aviar a 39 granjas y un predio. [Avian flu spreads to 39 farms and a backyard property] Excerpt, with my translation:

El Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (Senasica) informó que hasta el momento suman 23 granjas y un predio de traspatio de Guanajuato, así como 16 granjas de Jalisco, con presencia del virus de la influenza aviar A-H7N3. 

The National Health, Safety, and Agroalimentary Quality Service (Senasica) reports that at the moment the presence of H7N3 avian flu has been confirmed in 23 farms and a backyard property in Guanajuato, as well as in 16 farms in Jalisco.

En su último reporte del Dispositivo Nacional de Emergencia de Sanidad Animal, indicó que en Jalisco han sido sacrificados dos millones 25 mil 449 pollos de engorda y en Guanajuato un millón 241 mil 265 de gallinas. 

The latest report of the National Animal Health System indicates that in Jalisco, 2,025,449 chickens have been culled; in Guanajuato, 1,241,265.

Explicó que en territorio guanajuatense se han inspeccionado 66 granjas y 33 predios de traspatio en los que se practica la avicultura, con una población de siete millones 48 mil 933 aves. 

It said that in Guanajuato 66 farms and 33 backyard properties have been inspected, with a total poultry population of 7,048,933.

Los municipios de Guanajuato en los que se encuentran las granjas con el brote del virus son: Dolores Hidalgo, Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas, San Miguel de Allende, San Luis de la Paz, León, San Felipe y Celaya. 

The cities of Guanajuato with outbreaks of H7N3 are: Dolores Hidalgo, Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas, San Miguel de Allende, San Luis de la Pax, León, San Felipe, and Celaya.

El Senasica añadió que continúan las labores de vigilancia sanitaria y la aplicación de medidas contra-epidémicas en el área de cuarentena de más de 19 mil kilómetros cuadrados, que abarca a los estados de Guanajuato, y las colindancias de Jalisco y de Aguascalientes.

Senasica added that it continues to conduct sanitary surveillance and counter-epidemic measures in a quarantine area of over 19,000 square kilometers, covering Guanajuato and the neighbouring states of Jalisco and Aguascalientes.

That backyard property is worrying. The big corporations have the people and resources to seal off their infected sites. But if H7N3 gets into the small poultry operations, I don't know how they'll stop it.

Mexico: H7N3 spreads out of Guanajuato state to 38 farms

Via El Universal, some bad news: Gripe afecta 38 granjas de Jalisco y Guanajuato. [Flu infects 38 farms in Jalisco and Guanajuato] Excerpt, with my translation:

El Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria (Senasica) informó que el brote de gripe aviar AH7N3 se extendió a 38 granjas, 22 de ellas en Guanajuato y 16 en la zona colindante de Jalisco; éstas últimas propiedad de la empresa Bachoco. 

The National Health, Safety, and Agroalimentary Service (Senasica) reports that the outbreak of H7N3 avian flu has now extended to 38 farms, 22 of them in Guanajuato and 16 in the neighbouring region of Jalisco; these last belong to Bachoco.

En Guanajuato, en las últimas horas se detectaron otras cuatro granjas contaminadas en los municipios de Celaya y San José Iturbide, en los límites con el estado de Querétaro. 

In Guanajuato, another four farms have been found infected in the last few hours. They are in the towns of Celaya and San José Iturbide, on the border with the state of Querétaro.

Éstas se ubican fuera del cerco sanitario que se montó en los primeros cuatro municipios donde se identificó el problema, éstas son: Dolores Hidalgo, San Felipe, San Luis de la Paz y Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas. 

These are outside the sanitary boundary created around the first four town where the problem was identified: Dolores Hidalgo, San Felipe, San Luis de la Paz, and Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas.

El titular de la Secretaría de Desarrollo Agropecuario de Guanajuato, Javier Usabiaga, dio a conocer en el análisis de centinelas (señuelos) colocados en unidades productoras avícolas se encontró la gripe aviar. 

The head of the Guanajuato Secretariat of Agribusiness Development, Javier Usabiaga, made it known that sample analysis in poultry farms had found avian flu.

Las productoras con el contagio son de las empresas Bachoco y Pilgrim’s. 

The producers with the disease belong to the Bachoco and Pilgrim's corporations.

El funcionario señaló que se ha extendido el cordón sanitario en la frontera con Querétaro. 

The official said that the cordon sanitaire has been extended to the Querétaro state border.

El Senasica, órgano desconcentrado de la Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación (Sagarpa), informó en un boletín que hasta el momento se han aplicado 3.2 millones de vacunas en el foco y perifoco del brote. 

Senasica, an agency of the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development Fish, and Alimentation (Sagarpa) said in a bulletin that so far 3.2 million vaccinations have been administered in the centre and edge of the outbreak.

Michoacán se protege/Michoacán protects itself  

La delegación en Michoacán de la Sagarpa anunció que se vacunarán contra la gripe aviar un total de 500 mil aves ponedoras de granjas del estado.

Sagarpa's office in Michoacán has announced that a total of 500,000 birds in the state's farms will be vaccinated.

In another report, Usabiaga is quoted as saying Jalisco may have been the source of the Guanajuato outbreak, resulting from inadequate eradication of H7N3 in last year's outbreak.

CIDRAP: Public health, food safety agencies brace for budget cuts

Via CIDRAP, a report by Lisa Schnirring: Public health, food safety agencies brace for budget cuts. This could be a public health disaster on a very large scale. Excerpt:

Public health and food safety agencies are among the many sectors bracing for the impact of automatic budget cuts slated to kick in tomorrow, but there is much uncertainty about when and how the cuts will be felt. 

A budget deal to hold off "sequestration" cuts appears next to impossible before the Mar 1 deadline, and yesterday the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent a memo to departments and agencies outlining their responsibilities in implementing the measure. 

The cuts were part of a bipartisan deal passed in August 2011 to raise the national debt limit and are aimed at cutting $1.1 trillion from defense and discretionary spending over the next decade. Sequestration would amount to $85 billion in cuts over the last 7 months of the current fiscal year, which works out to about a 9% reduction for nondefense programs, according to the OMB. 

Over the past weeks and months the White House, health groups, and federal agencies have outlined the possible impacts on public health and preparedness. For example, in July Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., issued a report detailing the potential impact on nondefense jobs and services, which broke down the possible cuts in Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) grant funding for each state. 

PHEP cooperative agreements, administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), enable states and four major metropolitan areas to improve their ability to respond to public health threats, such as pandemic flu, foodborne illness outbreaks, and bioterror events. 

A report from the American Public Health Association (APHA) on possible sequestration effects on the CDC said the reductions would reduce lab and disease detection capacity. "The nation will be slower to detect and respond to new infections such as SARS and H1N1 when they emerge," the APHA said. 

Sequestration would also shutter 12 of 20 domestic quarantine stations and shut down ArboNet, a key program that monitors pathogens in humans, mosquitoes, and wildlife, the APHA projected.

CIDRAP is also ending the month with a news scan on tertiary vaccinia infection, Haiti's cholera plan, and the promise of $100 million from Michael Bloomberg to fight polio. If nothing else, that will buy a lot of ammunition in Pakistan. 

As well, CIDRAP's flu news scan covers Ron Fouchier's resumption of H5N1 research, H7N3 spreading in Mexico, and the vaccine strains that will go into the 2013-14 flu shots.