India: It’s Spreading

[Clytie]

20,000 chickens culled in Surat


Summit Khanna
Monday, February 20, 2006 23:42 IST
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1014049

SURAT: Over one lakh chicken were culled in the bird flu-affected town of Navapur, situated on the Gujarat-Maharashtra border, on Monday. More than 20,000 chicken were also culled in Uchhal taluka of Surat district.

Official sources said that one suspected human bird flu case was detected in Uchhal taluka on Monday. Prakash Gamit (38), a resident of Mogarwad village in Uchhal, was admitted to a hospital in Vyara, after he showed symptoms of the disease.

Blood samples of six people of Navapur and five people from Uchhal, were sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for testing.

Talking to media-persons, R B Shukla, director of state animal husbandry department said, “Since bird flu has been confirmed in Navapur, we are taking steps to abide with the
Central government’s action plan. In accordance with the plan, we have decided to cull all chicken in poultry farms, situated within a three-km radius of Navapur.”

“All humans in this area will be provided medicines, while all chicken and humans living in a 10-km radius of the affected area will be vaccinated,” he said, adding that the district administration has already received over 40,000 vaccines from the Central government.

[Clytie]

"....all chickens and humans living in a 10-km radius of the affected area will be vaccinated"

Does anyone know what kind of vaccine they might be using on the humans in this 10-km area?

[Mellie]

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Dis...6022254845.xml

Flu spreads; thousands tested in India
Web posted at: 2/22/2006 5:48:45
Source ::: Reuters

BRUSSELS: The H5N1 strain of bird flu was confirmed in Hungary and Croatia yesterday as the deadly virus spread around the globe, while EU officials considered measures to vaccinate millions of birds in France and the Netherlands.

In India, where officials are scrambling to contain a major outbreak in poultry, hundreds of people turned up for screening at medical camps in areas where bird flu has been reported.

In India, 12 people have been quarantined in the town of Navapur, about 300km north of Mumbai, and three others are under observation in Vaira in neighbouring Gujarat state. So far, there are no confirmed human cases in India but thousands of people have been tested just in case.

“About 500 people have walked into makeshift medical camps in Navapur to get checked for cough and cold since Monday evening,” said T P Doke, health director of the state of Maharashtra.

Doke said authorities had completed a door-to-door search in Navapur where 30,000 people had been examined. Another Maharashtra state official said about 300,000 birds have been culled so far with tens of thousands more to be killed.

At least 15 nations have reported outbreaks in birds this month, an indication that the virus, which has killed more than 90 people, is spreading faster.

The World Health Organisation said that while no human cases of bird flu had been found in India, Egypt or Nigeria transmission risks remain as long as the virus is present. The WHO says thoroughly cooked poultry meat and eggs are safe to eat but that assurance has failed to calm consumers.

[Sally Furniss]

Bird flu-hit India probes 16,000 new poultry deaths
21 Feb 2006 13:24:55 GMT

Source: Reuters
- Indian authorities reported 16,000 new chicken deaths on Tuesday and although early indications did not point to bird flu, officials were running more tests to conclusively rule out the H5N1 avian influenza. Indian Animal Husbandry Secretary P.M.A. Hakeem said the chicken deaths had taken place in Shimoga district in the southern state of Karnataka and samples of the dead birds were being sent for testing to a government laboratory.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL325091.htm

news is provided by

[Texanna]

Humans may have contracted bird flu: Officials

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=63283

Associated Press
Posted online: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 1856 hours IST
Updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 1911 hours IST

New Delhi, February 22: India’s Health Secretary said on Wednesday that ‘it is a distinct possibility’ that some people in the country have contracted bird flu, a news agency reported.

P K Hota, the top civil servant in the Union Health Ministry, said tests on nine people hospitalised with flu-like symptoms were still being analysed and that results were expected on Thursday.

“We do not rule out the possibility of humans being affected, and it is a distinct possibility,” he was quoted as saying.

However, he said that even if the tests are positive, those affected would have only a ‘mild episode’.

[HenryN]

http://www.ndtv.com/template/templat...egory=National

Mild bird flu confirmed among humans


NDTV Correspondent

Wednesday, February 22, 2006 (New Delhi):


Initial reports have confirmed mild bird flu in two out of the nine people who were under observation in Navapur in Maharashtra.

The individuals are reported to be down with mild infections.

Earlier in the day, the government had ordered two new sophisticated testing procedures to tackle the bird flu outbreak.

The new tests will shorten the time taken to detect the virus in both human beings and birds.

While previous tests took days to confirm the presence of H5N1 virus, the new testing procedures will produce results in a few hours.

Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, culling operations are taking place over a 10-kilometre radius around Navapur, which is ground zero of the outbreak.

Vaccinations have been stopped completely and all chickens are being culled in the area.

Surveillance operation

Poultry farmers, who buried dead chicken before the government sent its teams to Navapur, are taking government officials to the site.

The move is in the hope that the government will pay them for the dead chicken rather than use it as evidence of the cover-up.

Blood test results of 94 poultry farm workers who came in contact with infected poultry are also being sent to the Union Health Ministry.

Health authorities say they visited 42,000 houses in a surveillance operation to prevent the spread of bird flu to humans.

At least 12 people showing flu symptoms are under observation in Navapur.

The World Health Organisation has supplied about 200 bottles of the anti-flu drug, Tamiflu in syrup form.

The government is also inviting bids from Cipla, Hetero and Ranbaxy for supply of anti-viral drugs.

Delhi under control?

The Delhi government has deputed four veterinary doctors at the Gazipur Chicken market, one of the largest wholesale chicken markets as a precautionary measure.

The doctors will examine the supply of poultry that comes in from neighbouring states like Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan and issue certificates if the poultry is found fit.

Nearly 36 vets have also been deputed to scan all private farms around the city to check for any signs of the infection in the birds.

Karnataka bird deaths

Reports from Karnataka say 16,000 chickens died in Shimoga district in the past few days - but bird flu was ruled out after tests.

The Animal Husbandry Department said chronic respiratory infection was responsible and it will not spread to humans.

The remaining 9,000 chickens in the affected farm are also said to be showing symptoms of the disease.

[Auburn Boy]

Originally Posted by Doofa

Snowy Owl,
Is that a picture of a chicken with bird flu.

Yes that's a picture of a sick chicken. It's ahrd to tell from that photo though.

That was snipped from an FAO website describing a 1999-2000 outbreak of H5N1 in Italy.

It can be found at:
http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjec...ian_slide.html

If the link doesn't work correctly you'll have to manually edit until you get to the page. It doesn't work smoothly.

The slide show has a series of pictures of tissue slide, necropsy photos, and ill chickens in various states of decline.

[Auburn Boy]

Originally Posted by Juliet

(Copy of Kissa's post from breaking news)

Indian officials say have confirmed country’s first bird flu virus case

The press in India keep confusing us with CASE, and OUTBREAK.

They say "cases" when they mean in chickens. I think most of us read "Outbreak" to mean in chickens, and "case" to mean in chickens.

However, the point is mooted by the fact that India is on the virge of confirming first HUMAN cases of H5N1 today..,

[Auburn Boy]

Originally Posted by Pixie

'We can't even think of killing our birds'

“My hens don’t need any medical care. However, if there is ever a problem like during winter I make some medicine from household items like garlic and onion paste and give it to them,” she adds.

Pradne says she is aware of the bird flu outbreak but says her hens are not affected. “I don’t plan to get my hens vaccinated because they are healthy,” says Pradne, adding that anyway no BMC official has come to carry out checks either. “My hens are very dear to me and I can’t even think of killing them,” she says.

Sometimes you just have to say, "Oh, well..,"

So, she's not going to even think to choose when the time comes and the choice is the lives of her family or here "beloved" chickens.

Oh, well..,

[viamede]

If cafeteria chicken isn't safe (i.e. cooked to death) then no chicken is.

[Snowy Owl]

Reports
Bird flu-hit India awaits first human test reports
Wednesday February 22 2006 22:14 Reuters
MUMBAI: Health workers culled thousands of birds in India on Wednesday as the nation anxiously awaited the first laboratory reports to see whether the bird flu virus had infected people, officials said.

Adding to concern, there were reports of more sudden deaths of poultry elsewhere in the country after India's first known outbreak of avian flu in Maharashtra.

Twelve people have been quarantined in an isolation ward of a hospital in the remote Navapur town in Maharashtra -- where the virus was found in poultry on Saturday.

Those quarantined either had flu-like symptoms or were kept there as a precautionary measure. So far, blood samples from 185 people, including those quarantined, were being tested at a virology laboratory in Pune, health officials said.

“The initial results are expected today (Wednesday) evening,” Vijay Satbir Singh, Maharashtra's top health official, told Reuters, referring to those in quarantine. “We are keeping our fingers crossed.”

Singh said if any human blood sample tested positive for bird flu after preliminary investigations, then a series of more intensive tests would be carried out before a final conclusion.

GOVT SHOWING “FORKED TONGUE”

The government has been criticised by the media for not backing up its claims that well-cooked chicken was safe to eat. “Govt shows forked tongue for chicken”, read The Times of India front-page headline.

The newspaper said while the army had suspended buying of eggs and chickens and the parliament canteen had stopped serving poultry, health and animal husbandry officials ate chicken at a news conference on Tuesday to show eating poultry was safe.

In Navapur, health workers wearing anti-viral masks and goggles have so far culled about 400,000 birds. But a report in a newspaper said the culling process suffered from defects because many birds, buried alive in shallow pits, were re-emerging.

It said some birds were seen emerging from their graves, wriggling out of plastic bags in which they had been buried. However, state health director T.P. Doke denied knowledge of the chickens being buried alive.

Witnesses said workers were killing chickens either by poisoning them or by wringing their necks. They later dumped the carcasses into pits.

In Gujarat, which neighbours Maharashtra, police said they had banned the transport of chickens and eggs within the state.

Reports of thousands of poultry deaths poured in from pockets across the country, the latest from Karnataka where 16,000 dead chickens were found.

Dead poultry have also been reported in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Authorities said monitoring and regulating backyard poultry, common in rural India, was tough.

“There is a problem (about backyard poultry)... it is more difficult to regulate and have surveillance over them,” P.M.A. Hakeem, union Animal Husbandry Secretary, told Reuters late on Tuesday.

Bird flu has killed more than 90 people in seven countries since 2003.

While the virus remains hard for people to catch, experts fear it could mutate and spread among people, sparking a pandemic that could bring economic chaos and overwhelm health services.

23 Feb 2006

. Krishnagiri taking steps to prevent onset of bird flu
. No report on human beings affected by bird flu: Govt
. Efforts on get bird flu-free status for TN

http://www.newindpress.com/2006/Avia...28&nDate=&Sub=

[Vibrant62]

Unfortunately, ignorance and a lack of understanding are the greatest problem both here and elsewhere in the world. Even highly intelligent people I know cannot grasp the threat, the nature of the threat nor why it is so serious. It is easy to forget that just becuase we are knowledgeable and informed on the subject, most people are not, including politicians etc. My friends cannot grasp that becuase people are not dying in their thousands now, that it is entirely possible that this could rapidly become the case once a pandemic strain emerges - 'it hasn't happened yet and the virus hasn't managed to become a problem, so why should it now?' is a statement I hear again and again.

Even if there is not a high mortality rate, few people can understand why a pandemic would be so serious. The term epidemic has frequently been misused for disease outbreaks involving few individuals and a localised geography e.g. meningitis outbreaks. Therefore their concept of a pandemic is similar, but with small outbreaks in many places at one time.

For these reasons my hopes of convincing others until we are already well into a pandemic are not high. This is a problem/ disease that will affect and happen to others as far as they are concerned. Until something happens to persuade them otherwise, nothing will change their minds. I expect it will be the same throughout India and Africa, and possibly elsewhere too

[sharon sanders]

Viamede - LOL

[Sally Furniss]

I read an article in a New Zealand magazine that warned of the stuffing in roast chicken. The article said the chicken may be reach a high enough temperature but the stuffing may not reach sufficient temperature kill H5N1.

[Mellie]

Epidemic fear looms large over Navapur Epidemic fear looms large over Navapur
- By Ashish Agashe

http://www.asianage.com/main.asp?la...&RF=DefaultMain

Navapur, (District Nandurbar, Maharashtra), Feb. 21: After the outbreak of bird flu and culling of over nine lakh birds since then, the fear of epidemic looms large over the people of the area. According to locals, many crows, dogs, some cranes have died after getting the same infections as the hen in the 52 poultries across the Navapur region, home to the second largest poultry industry in Maharashtra before the culling of birds actually bought the poultry industry to a standstill.

But what the locals fear the most is humans being affected due to the stench of carcasses of birds that are being buried. As this reporter found out while going through various villages across the region, the fears of the locals are not without reason.

I came across the case of 45-year old Thakur Dodhiya in the village of Ucchal, three km from here which falls in the Gujarat state. Mr Dodhiya works in a sawmill situated right next to a piece of land which National poultry converted into a dumping ground for its dead chicken. Mr Dodhiya was admitted to the Phulwadi government hospital with symptoms of bird flu.

"Though I could not afford it, we were in no position to stay back as vomiting of some greenish fluid, fever, cold, cough was getting unbearable for me," adds Mr Dodhiya.

as his son sitting next to him is visibly angry at him for divulging the economic condition of the family to a journalist.

What hurts Mr Dodhiya the most is that he was just working at the sawmill for five days when he was inflicted with this fever and other problems like cold, cough etc, all symptoms of bird flu.

Mr Dodhiya was discharged from the hospital after being given a dose of Tamiflu tablets and a couple of bottles of saline. When asked about the isolation ward in hospitals that is supposed to house patients like him, Mr Dodhiya said, "Hum garib hain aur hame aise kuch bhi nahi pata (We are poor and do not know anything like this)." The result: Mr Dodhiya is staying in his hut in the village along with his family who stand to get infected with the fatal disease.

[Mellie]

Some people may have contracted bird flu
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...686,curpg-2.cms

[ Wednesday, February 22, 2006 08:59:33 pmAP ]

NEW DELHI: The Health Secretary, P.K. Hota said Wednesday that "it is a distinct possibility" that some people in the country have contracted bird flu.

He said tests on nine people hospitalized with flu-like symptoms were still being analyzed and that results were expected Thursday.

"We do not rule out the possibility of humans being affected, and it is a distinct possibility," he said.

However, he told reporters that even if the tests are positive, those affected would have only a "mild episode."

Meanwhile, health workers in western India pressed on with a massive slaughter of chickens to halt the spread of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus.

More than 700,000 birds have been killed in India's Navapur district since tests of some of 30,000 chickens that died in recent weeks detected the virus. Another 80,000 birds are to be killed before the cull is completed.

The H5N1 virus has devastated poultry stocks and killed at least 92 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Most human cases of the disease have been linked to contact with infected birds. But scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmitted between humans, sparking a possible pandemic.

Authorities have ordered 48 poultry farms around Navapur, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of Mumbai, to be emptied and remain shut for three months.

Amid mixed messages from the government, chicken sales dropped across the country. The army, Indian Airlines and Indian railways took chicken an Indian staple and eggs off their menus.

Parliament also stopped serving chicken in its cafeteria, media reports said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bird flu may have spread to humans
Web posted at: 2/23/2006 9:32:51

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Dis...6022393251.xml

New Delhi: The Indian government said yesterday it could “not rule out the possibility” of avian influenza spreading to human beings in a village in Maharashtra.

“We cannot rule out the possibility of bird flu being transmitted to humans. There is a distinct possibility of such transfusion,” Health Secretary Prasanna Hota told a TV news channel.

Hota was reacting to reports that two people in Maharashtra’s Navapur village, from where India’s first case of bird flue was confirmed on Saturday, were suffering from a mild case of human avian influenza.

Twelve people, including two children, had been kept in an isolation ward in Navapur’s sub-district hospital after they reported flu-like symptoms. The two people displaying bird flu-like symptoms were part of this group.

Hota said there was a “protocol” to be followed in such cases and details about the suspected cases would be available only Thursday.

This apart, blood samples had been collected from 104 Navapur residents to ascertain if the H5N1 strain of avian influenza had affected them.

Known to spread to human beings, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has resulted in nearly 100 human casualties across Southeast Asia, mostly in Vietnam. It has so far been reported in seven countries.

Meanwhile, some regional states like Mizoram and Tripura have banned the import of poultry and eggs from other Indian states as well as Bangladesh and Myanmar to prevent the spread of the global disease that is known to spread from birds to humans.

“There is a drop in sales of chicken and eggs in the northeast by about 40 per cent in recent days,” said Pranjit Pratim Koch, technical director of the Northeastern Poultry and Egg Federation.

There has been no reported case of bird flu in the northeast, but the spread of the virus in other states has led to panic in the region. “People have stopped eating chicken and even eggs and so the demand for fish and mutton has gone up manifold during the past week,” said veterinarian Bhairab Kanta Sharma.

With the demand for fish and mutton on the rise, traders in Assam and other northeastern states have hiked prices of the two commodities.

“Butchers and fish mongers have increased their prices by Rs15 to Rs25 a kg,” Lonkeswar Das, a resident of Assam’s main city of Guwahati, said.

All the seven regional states - Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Tripura - have sounded a maximum alert to prevent the outbreak of bird flu in the region.

“Although there are no reports of any bird flu in our state yet, we have prohibited import of chicken and eggs from other states and even from Myanmar as a precautionary measure,” said C Sangnghina, Mizoram’s animal husbandry and veterinary director.

[Theresa42]

Map of outbreakds/suspected outbreaks in India (as of late Tuesday) posted here:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...3&postcount=12

[Theresa42]

Govt blows hot and cold on flu
February 23, 2006
DH News Service New Delhi:

The government has been blowing hot and cold about the avian flu infecting humans. A few hours after Union Health Secretary P K Hota told the media on Wednesday that there was a “distinct possibility” of avian flu having infected some humans in the virus-affected areas of Navapur, Maharashtra, the government went on a denial mode.

An official press release issued by the health ministry read: “Reports appearing in a section of the media that two persons have tested positive for avian influenza are merely speculative.”

“As of now, i e 8 pm, on February 22, 2006, there is no case of avian influenza,” it said. The release said that 12 people kept in isolation for observation in Navapur were normal.

Earlier, Mr Hota told reporters: “Some human samples are under various stages of being analysed and we will come to know of it by tomorrow. We do not rule out possibility of humans being affected and it is a distinct possibility.”

However, he tried to play it down by saying if the human tests were positive it would be “mild episode”.

He said 51 clinical samples of human cases were sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune and 44 samples to the Delhi-based National Institute of Communicable Diseases.

Stating that Maharashtra had requested for ambulances and ventilators, Mr Hota said his ministry had made available Rs 80 crore to strengthen the preventive measures. On the culling operations, Upma Chawdhry, Joint Secretary, said 73,157 birds had been culled in Gujarat while 2,08,892 birds had been destroyed in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, the Centre ordered two new sophisticated testing procedures to tackle the bird flu outbreak. The new tests will shorten the time taken to detect the virus in both human beings and birds. While previous tests took days to confirm the presence of H5N1 virus, the new testing procedures will produce results in a few hours.

Flu update
Test reports on humans awaited
188,726 birds culled since Sunday morning
Culling in Navapur to end on Thursday
Rs 28 lakh paid as compensation to poultry farmers

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanhe...7182006222.asp

[Theresa42]

India investigates claims of bird flu cover-up
T. V. Padma
22 February 2006
Source: SciDev.Net

[NEW DELHI] India is investigating media reports that a major poultry producer suppressed evidence of the nation's first bird flu outbreak by paying local people to bury dead chickens.

Upma Chawdhry, a senior agriculture ministry official, told reporters in Delhi yesterday (21 February) that chicken deaths were first observed in Navapur in Marahashtra state as early as 27 January, but the government only found out on 8 February through a local newspaper report.

With commercial poultry farms in the area under scrutiny, the Maharashtra state government yesterday charged Pune-based poultry producer Venkateshwara Hatcheries with concealing chicken deaths.

The claims, if true, would mean that India lost 12 days that could have been used to contain the outbreak and raise awareness of the threat. In addition, anyone burying dead birds risked being infected with the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

Tests are underway on samples from 95 people with respiratory tract infections in Navapur. Twelve people who were in contact with the infected poultry have been quarantined.

Venkateshwara Hatcheries had attributed the deaths to the more common Newcastle disease, known in India as ranikhet. Even so, given that tens of thousands of birds died, the company was obliged to notify the ministry's animal husbandry department, but did not.

Its managing director Anuradha Desai, says it is not the only poultry supplier in Navapur, and is being unfairly singled out.

Parts of India's poultry industry continued to deny there was a bird flu outbreak, even after the presence of the H5N1 virus was confirmed on 18 February.

On 20 February, The Hindustan Times printed a statement from the National Egg Coordination Committee, a 25,000-strong association of poultry farmers, saying that the chickens died from Newcastle disease.

But Shantanu Kumar Bandyopadhyay, commissioner of animal husbandry in the agriculture ministry, says there is "no ambiguity" in test results from the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal that detected H5N1.

In a separate development, India yesterday set up a scientific committee to investigate the source of the infection (see Egypt and India race to control bird flu outbreaks).

"The source of the infection is still not known," Bandyopadhyay told SciDev.Net.

India banned poultry imports in February 2004 following the 2003 outbreaks of H5N1 in South-East Asia. No dead migratory birds — another possible source of the virus — have been found in Navapur.

India has extended the radius around the outbreak within which birds will be culled from three to ten kilometres. However, the culling operations did not meet their initial target of killing 500,000 birds in the three-kilometre radius by Tuesday evening.

http://www.scidev.net/content/news/e...u-cover-up.cfm

[Theresa42]

Human infection results today
Ganesh Kanate
Thursday, February 23, 2006 01:02 IST

Has the dreaded bird flu affected human beings? The verdict will be out today. That is when the results of 94 human blood samples –which were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune- will be out. And that is also when the real picture comes out.

The state government had sent as many as 151 human blood samples to the NIV out of which reports of 94 were expected by Thursday evening, said Bhushan Gagrani, official spokesperson of the state government on Wednesday.

Gagrani also said the government had not sent any fresh sample of bird or human blood either to High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory, Bhopal or NIV, Pune from any place other than Navapur. This, he said, has been clarified to dismiss rumours of spread of bird flu in other parts of the state like Hingoli, Jalna, Nagpur, and Karanja as reported by a section of the media.

Gagrani said the fact that 151 blood samples had been sent for tests did not mean that they were all affected by the virus. He said only nine individuals were hospitalised and kept in isolation wards under surveillance.

Similarly, he said, door-to-door survey was on in the possible affected areas of which total population was around 65,000.

“Till this evening, 50,000 persons had been checked by doctors and the paramedical staff deployed in Nandurbar district in general and Navapur tehsil in particular,” he said.

He said in Navapur, where the bird flu has struck first, all birds had been culled and all eggs and complete bird feed in the area too had been destroyed, Gagrani said. At least 1,95,128 birds from poultry farms and 14,669 birds from adjoining villages were culled, 3,60,000 eggs and 36 metric tonne bird feed was destroyed by the animal husbandry department that had taken over charge tehsil, he said.

“What is left there is the litter consisting of waste and bird wings and so on which too are being cleaned up on a war-footing,” he said.

The compensation package, he said, which was promised, was also being paid to poultry owners. An amount of Rs5,60,000 had already been distributed to four poultry farm owners, he said.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1014433

[Cautel]

[February 22, 2006]
Travel cos feel the heat as US warns its citizens



(Ecomonic Times, The (India) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 22--NEW DELHI --
http://www.tmcnet.com/scripts/print-...%2f1398184.htm

Though there have been no travel advisories yet against the bird flu outbreak, the US embassy has shown its concern by issuing a warning to its citizens in India to avoid travelling to the affected parts of Maharashtra.


Meanwhile, in a pre-emptive move, the Ministry of Tourism has communicated to all foreign offices abroad and prominent travel companies that the bird flu does not have any impact on India's tourist circuit.

In its latest Avian Influenza Update, the US embassy has advised American citizens against travelling to the affected areas in Maharashtra. "We remind all American citizens of previous recommendations to avoid all contact with live poultry and wild birds and to avoid commercial or backyard poultry farms and live poultry markets," the communication said.

It also advised US citizens to register with consulates for regular updates on the spread of bird flu in the country.

Travel industry is keeping its fingers crossed on the flu's impact on inbound tourist traffic to the country. "There have been many enquiries from foreign tourists, who are scheduled to travel to this country. However, we have not yet received any postponement or cancellation in their schedules," noted Arjun Sharma of Le Passage to India, a leading inbound tour operator.

Many travel agents confide in private that there has been a slowdown in bookings for the summer. The country attracted 3.9m foreign tourists in '05, up 14percent from the previous year.

Ministry of Tourism is already wearing a battle gear, having issued communication to all Indian Missions and prominent travel agents abroad on the ground reality in the country and how the situation has no impact on the country's popular tourist routes.

"India continues to be an absolutely safe destination since, the disease is contained in a very small geographical area, which is not a tourist destination. It is important to realise that India is bigger than 23 countries of Europe and an isolated incident in a small geographical area has no bearing on tourist destinations of the country," read the Ministry communication, posted on its website.

Hotels and restaurants, along with airlines and railways, have already dropped chicken and poultry items from their menu. Hotel managers noted that there have no cancellations in bookings.

[ukcz]

The symptoms of the mild form are... (anybody wish to take a bet that they're similar to flu+Norwalk?)

[Goju]

Anyone think they are false negatives?

[Cautel]

Why do they think that this "mild form" is not contagious?

And yes, Goju, hasn't every country reported a slew of false negatives before retesting and finding that the patients were positive?

[Cautel]

No Human Bird Flu Cases In India, All Samples Tested Negative

23 Feb 2006
Article Date: 23 Feb 2006 - 14:00pm (UK)
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/heal...p?newsid=38288#


Of the 94 samples tested so far for human bird flu infection, all have come back negative, say authorities in India. There is still one more to come, we will know the result on Saturday. This is a great relief for the Indian government as dozens of people have been calling in to hospitals complaining of flu like symptoms. It seems the cases are just of normal colds and human flu.

Over 700,000 birds have been culled in Maharashtra state over the last week as government agencies try to stem the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus strain among birds. Authorities are now dealing with the clean up after such a massive undertaking - cleaning up the farms, burning feathers and bird faeces.

The town of Navapur, population 30,000, has been completely sealed off - there are checkpoints around the town, trains are being diverted so they do not stop in the town, and all schools have closed for the time-being.

Officials say anyone with a temperature who tries to leave Navapur will not be allowed to leave.

India's poultry industry is massive. As people shy away from buying chicken meat and some neighbouring countries have banned chicken imports from India, the country's poultry industry is experiencing a drastic fall in activity.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

While government officials tell people that eating chicken and eggs is safe, if cooked properly, many people are annoyed at the Indian parliament's decision to ban chicken and eggs from the menu of its restaurants. The military, railways and the main airlines are also shunning poultry products.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today

[Mellie]

Theresa42 posted this last night in the maps section

Map of what's going on in India (as far as I know...). I came up with this map late in the day on Tuesday and at the time I was pretty sure it wasn't a complete picture -- I just included everything I was aware of at the time. Now it's definitely not up to date -- there have been suspicious cases reported elsewhere. I will post a new map as soon as possible. >>

Red dots = confirmed bird flu cases
Orange dots = reports of suspicious bird deaths
Yellow dot = reports of suspicious human cases (death/hospitalizations)

Marharashtra & Gurajat in the west where the confirmed bf cases in chickens is, plus several suspicious cases in humans. Also, where Ganesh Sonar/Sonarkar died.

Chennai in the south where "protein signatures of the ‘highly pathogenic’ H5N1 strain were spotted" in 3 poultry workers in 2002(!).

Other areas = other reports of suspicious bird deaths.

[Snowy Owl]

Between the lines of the WHO India update


WHO has issued a terse (200 word) update on the evolving situation in India. We'll have to read between the lines on this one:

WHO update: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India has informed WHO that no human cases of H5N1 infection have been detected to date. Tests conducted on samples taken from persons under investigation and their close contacts have yielded no positive results as of today.

My translation: WHO will only say that the Indian government will not admit to any detection of cases or any positive tests.

WHO update:Testing has been undertaken at the National Institute of Virology in Pune and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Delhi
.
It was not clear if samples from a 27-year-old poultry worker from Gujarat State, said to have died of respiratory disease on 17 February, were among those tested.

My translation: WHO is suspicious some important specimens have not undergone appropriate testing.

WHO update: In India, as in all countries experiencing their first outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, WHO strongly recommends that patient samples be sent to a WHO collaborating laboratory for diagnostic confirmation. Certainty about the status of human cases in a newly affected country is important for accurate risk assessment.

My translation: India should be sending the samples to a properly qualified WHO laboratory, not keeping them within their own laboratory system.

WHO update: In addition, analyses conducted by WHO-approved laboratories can yield information about the possible evolution of the virus and clues about how the virus may have arrived in the country. Genetic and antigenic studies of circulating viruses also help ensure that work on the development of a pandemic vaccine stays on track.

My translation: The reluctance of the Indian government to provide samples to WHO is obstructing a vital function and denying scientists possibly vital information.

WHO's consternation is plainly visible. So should the world community's.


posted by Revere
http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com

[Sally Furniss]

400 dead birds found in India, bird flu suspected

NEW DELHI: About 400 Siberian migratory birds found dead in Orang Abad India, suspected of died by the bird flu virus.

The dead birds found about 30 kilometers’ distance from Orang Abad, Indian TV reported. Local authorities suspecting the birds’ death by deadly bird flu strain. However no symptoms of the disease found in other birds.

Meanwhile, Indian chicken prices have plummet from Rs. 50 KG to Rs. 18 after confirmation of the disease in the South Asian country. http://www.geo.tv/main_files/world.aspx?id=107922

[Snowy Owl]

No bird flu in Punjab, drop in prices due to panic only
Chandigarh | February 24, 2006 4:48:07 PM IST

Ruling out a single case of suspected bird flu in Punjab so far, the state government said the steep fall in the prices of chicken and eggs in the state was due to panic following the confirmation of outbreak of the disease in one district of Maharashtra. Speaking on a call attention motion on the spread of bird flu and its impact in the state, Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Jagmohan Singh Kang informed the House that the state government was concerned over the steep fall in the prices of chicken and eggs and had taken up the matter with the neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi to continue the entry of poultry produce from Punjab.


Mr Kang said the Centre had also been urged to help those states where the poultry business was drastically affected due to the fear of bird flu.


He said the state government had already taken stringent preventive measures against the outbreak of the disease in the state.


As many as 91 'Rapid Response Teams' of veterinary officers, poultry inspectors and pharmacists were already operating at district and sub-division levels, Mr Kang added.
Besides, a state level core group, headed by Secretary of Health Services, has been formed for better coordination between different departments like Animal Husbandry, Forest and Wild Life and Medical Education and Research, he said.


Earlier calling the attention of the House on the issue, Capt Kanwaljit Singh of the Shiromani Akali Dal said people involved in this business were finding it difficult to pay the installments of the loans due to the steep fall in the poultry prices.


He demanded the state government to financially help the small and marginalised poultry owners as they were worst hit.


http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=259992&cat=India

[Clytie]

[February 24, 2006]

We saw bird flu coming...

(Indian Express Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-we-sa...24/1405893.htm

The irony about the bird flu is that we all saw it coming. But, as usual, when it came to implementation, we did nothing. Consequently, millions of birds are being culled mercilessly even as threat of pandemic continues to loom large.

Shockingly, instead of following a time-tested system of eliminating the virus, we are using unacceptable mechanisms in dealing with it. Most of the workers are either not using gloves and protective clothing, masks or lack the training to do the job. In fact, India has not even deemed it necessary to import N95 masks that are absolutely essential to filter the virus.

Unlike in Japan, where poultry was accounted for and farmers compensated, in India many farmers preferred not to report cases of birds dying en-masse. Worse, there were reports of small farmers in Maharashtra shifting their poultry stock to neighbouring states like MP to save them. Clearly, there is a lack of trust in the prevailing machinery that promises compensation but seldom delivers.

As for medical aids, we are poorly equipped. A city like Mumbai is understood to have only 20 ventilators in comparison to the many thousands positioned in each city in the US. Ventilators are essential to address respiratory distress in case of an outbreak.

France should be more than willing to provide us with testing kits that it has already deployed successfully to combat the virus in its home ground. Our government should waste no time in ordering these kits, ventilators, N95 masks and other protective gear, so that the damage control regime is quickly put in place.

Disaster management is a subject that perhaps only exists in files in our country. Should the pandemic hit India, there is likely to be complete chaos. Neither the hospitals nor the doctors are trained to handle such a crisis. A blueprint, if any, to tackle the emergency is mysteriously shrouded in secrecy at the health ministry. There are indeed no reasons to panic for now, but at the same time we need to be prepared for the worst.

The whole issue brings the focus back on Indian research. Ever since independence, there has been little or no incentive for the pharma industry to invest in basic research. Reverse engineering was considered to be a cheap and effective alternative to time-consuming, costly research. But with India having become IPR compliant, we urgently need to put the R&D house in order. Beginning with the budget, it is of paramount importance to provide every possible incentive to R&D-based industries so that at least in the future India is better prepared.

The writer is co-chairman of the pharma committee of ASSOCHAM and president, Nicholas Piramal India Ltd