GERMANY - Dead swan in Dresden zoo tests pos for H5N1

[Theresa42]

babelfished from German:

Dead swan in the Dresden zoo
August 3, 2006

The animal was positively tested on the aggressive virus H5N1. Thus the illness broke out for the first time after three months again with a game bird.

Dresden - For the first time for scarcely three months in Germany again a case of bird flu was proven with a game bird. A dead swan from a pond in the Dresdener zoo was tested positively on the aggressive virus H5N1, reported the Saxonian Ministry of Health on Thursday evening in Dresden. The tests took place in the national reference laboratory on the island Riems (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). According to data the zoo animal lady doctor originates the swan from existence of the tierparks.

Approximately around the discovery site in Dresden closing and observation districts were furnished. In the zoo first all birds in stables are accommodated. The accessible free flight enclosure remains closed for disinfection measures up to further, those is strengthened. Dogs and cats may not run in the periphery from ten kilometers freely.

On 12 May a Gaensesaeger in the Bavarian purchase ring had been positively tested last with Landsberg on the animal epidemic. In Saxonia the virus had changed over in April to the first and so far only mark in Germany to house poultry.

The federal agrarian Ministry had stressed on Thursday already that there could not be an 'all-clear' signal for the bird flu in Germany. In the past weeks it has isolates cases of suspicion again and again with game birds given, said agrarian undersecretary of state Gert Lindemann in Berlin.

http://www.welt.de/data/2006/08/03/986046.html

[Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Kissa

I was at a zoo Monday July 31 and this thing walked into the restaurant, you can imagine my thoughts.Attachment 550

Let me guess. "Who's for lunch, you or me?"

[Sharpe]

Anyway, bf should be beginning to re-return to Europe from Siberia. Although it must be kept in mind that the timing is up in the air somewhat, because the weather has become so hot globally this year that the migratory birds are getting confused regarding the time of year, are hatching at the wrong times, and are flying in some places weeks before and in other places weeks after they normally do.

[Thinlina]

It is soo nice to know, that officially the migrating birds of autumn that fly over Finland are not from the bird flu hot zones like Siberia. Of course they aren't! How stupid of me to think so...

What about Sweden? Or Estonia? Or Poland? Of course migrating birds that fly over these countries are not coming from Siberia?

Soo shallow of our government

[AlaskaDenise]

any info of which swan species? Having 4 species here, 2 of which return to both coasts of US, I'm really interested in the details.

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[hawkeye]

Very Interesting. I guess if there was every time to have migration patterns get confused...now would be the time.

Originally Posted by vaffie

Anyway, bf should be beginning to re-return to Europe from Siberia. Although it must be kept in mind that the timing is up in the air somewhat, because the weather has become so hot globally this year that the migratory birds are getting confused regarding the time of year, are hatching at the wrong times, and are flying in some places weeks before and in other places weeks after they normally do.

[HenryN]

Originally Posted by AlaskaDenise

any info of which swan species? Having 4 species here, 2 of which return to both coasts of US, I'm really interested in the details.

.

I suspect the species is not all that important. H5N1 has been isolated from both mute and whooper swans. However, it can transmit species to species. The HA H5N1 sequences from a buzzard in Bavaria was released today. However, the sequence of the H5N1 was almost identical to a mute swan sequence from the Czech Republic, as well as a mallard from Italy. Thus, there is some geographic clustering, but it involves several species (and these are just the dead birds - it's those that are alive that may be the species of greatest concern for transmission to North America.

[AlaskaDenise]

So are there some that are more suseptible? Like swans and mallards?

I thought last winter we saw more flu in the ?LWfG - (lesser white fronted goose) that was traveling from upper west of Urals, thru Turkey & Azir, down to Iraq, & then the cold chased them out of their wintering spots at upper Crimean Atomic Power plant ponds - over into eastern Europe?

Are there patterns only by geography & groups? Are they all developing anti-bodies at a similar rate?, i.e., do some species have higher CFRs?

Here Yellow Wagtail is #1 on our test list - I believe due to his social life, as he loves to inhabit backyards (w/ chickens) in Indo.

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[HenryN]

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08...esdan_Zoo.html

[AlaskaDenise]

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/08...esdan_Zoo.html

H5N1 Bird Flu Confirmed in Dresdan Zoo in Germany

Recombinomics Commentary
August 3, 2006

The animal was positively tested on the aggressive virus H5N1. Thus the illness broke out for the first time after three months again with a game bird.

Dresden - For the first time for scarcely three months in Germany again a case of bird flu was proven with a game bird. A dead swan from a pond in the Dresdener zoo was tested positively on the aggressive virus H5N1, reported the Saxonian Ministry of Health on Thursday evening in Dresden.

The above translation indicates H5N1 bird flu has been detected in a dead swan at the Dresdan Zoo. This may signal addition migration through the East Atlantic Flyway.

Today the HA sequence of H5N1 from a buzzard from Bavaria, A/common bussard/Bavaria/2/2006, was released. It is very similar to a mute swan isolate from the Czech Republic, A/Cygnus olor/Czech Republic/5170/200, as well as a mallard from Italy, A/mallard/Italy/835/2006. The similarity between these sequences suggested H5N1 is passing readily from species to species in Europe. Earlier reports of H5N1 from Spain also suggested that the isolate was similar to an isolate from the Czech Republic. These data suggest local Europe versions of the Qinghai strain may have moved into the East Atlantic Flyway and may now be in North America.

The continued detection of H5N1 in wild birds suggests H5N1 will soon be reported in North America. An earlier detection of H5 on Prince Edward Island was likely an H5N1 infection, but there was no report on the size of the insert in the positive PCR test and the National Labs in Winnipeg were unable to detect or isolated the H5 that was confirmed on Prince Edward Island.

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[canagica]

Originally Posted by AlaskaDenise

any info of which swan species? Having 4 species here, 2 of which return to both coasts of US, I'm really interested in the details.

.

I just received an email from a colleague who works with folks in H5N1 monitoring in Germany. The swan was a captive-reared Mute Swan that had been reared at the zoo and had never left the premises. No other birds at the zoo have tested positive.

[HenryN]

Originally Posted by canagica

I just received an email from a colleague who works with folks in H5N1 monitoring in Germany. The swan was a captive-reared Mute Swan that had been reared at the zoo and had never left the premises. No other birds at the zoo have tested positive.

Thanks for the update. In general, the mute swans are like the canary in the coal mine. They don't migrate, but are good indicators of H5N1 in the area. There may also be detection issues because Europe has found few if any positive wild birds, yet a long list of countries have found H5N1 in dead birds, especially mute swans.

My guess is there is access to wild birds flying into the zoo, bringing along the H5N1.

[sharon sanders]

Originally Posted by canagica

I just received an email from a colleague who works with folks in H5N1 monitoring in Germany. The swan was a captive-reared Mute Swan that had been reared at the zoo and had never left the premises. No other birds at the zoo have tested positive.

Thanks Canagica.

[AlaskaDenise]

Mute Swan again - interesting. Beautiful canary.

I hope they also tested local (non-zoo) birds. Otherwise, maybe it's the cats - or has there been a case of cat to bird?

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[canagica]

It makes one wonder why it didn't spread to other birds in the (generally) clustered zoo environment...

Previous zoo outbreaks (in cats/carnivores) have been linked to infected poultry that was fed to them; and with only a single Mute Swan infected in Dresden despite the generally high-density/stationary living conditions that typify zoos, it does make me pause slightly and wonder how that occurred. Compared to the H5N1 outbreak at the Cairo Zoo earlier this year that killed at least 6 birds (of 83 total) from three different groups of birds (turkeys, ducks, geese), the extent of this outbreak is much smaller. The question is "why?". If you told me biosecurity was better in Dresden, I would believe you, but no one has actually gone and done the research. They're just hand-waving like me Yet, without the research (or at least good guidelines) the rest of the zoos are left hanging.

I would also be interested in seeing what they are feeding to their cats/carnivores/fish/elephants etc (anything that could be a vector for contaminated poultry or ag products) and where they get it from. Right now, neither a wild fly-by nor a systematic contamination make a lot of sense if only one bird became ill; but we can make some predictions for each: if it was a wild fly-by, then other swans in the area should start popping up (or waterfowl in the area should test positive); if it was systematic contamination, something else at the zoo should get infected.

Having never been to the Dresden Zoo (http://zoo-dresden.de/), I looked at some of the pictures on the website and using Google Earth (they have great high-rez photos of this area) and it appeared similar to other zoos in that there are small freshwater pools for zoo waterfowl & animals that are undoubtedly used by other waterfowl. A couple blocks southwest is a large recreational lake, and the zoo itself is smack-dab in the middle of an urban area on the edge of an urban greenspace park, with a river a few blocks away. From an admittedly distant perspective, cats or other mesopredators might be a vector given the level of greenspace and urban development, but without other birds (poultry or wild) dying nearby, i'm not sure where they'd be contracting the virus in the first place.

Looking forward to hearing more...

[canagica]

FYI-
I am attempting to contact my source that told me it was a Mute Swan to reconcile it with the news report above [reporting a Black Swan]. I apologize for any confusion if my initial report turns out to be wrong...

[Neanderthaler]

Second bird in dresden suuspected with H5N1

http://www.nzz.ch/2006/08/04/vm/newzzEQGICD1M-12.html

The bird is a Reiherente a small black and white duck. The duck has proved positive for H5 and further tests are being performed.

This newspaper reports the Swan with H5N1 as a Trauerschwan which is a black swan.

[Theresa42]

Originally Posted by canagica

FYI-
I am attempting to contact my source that told me it was a Mute Swan to reconcile it with the news report above [reporting a Black Swan]. I apologize for any confusion if my initial report turns out to be wrong...

Eh -- don't worry about. We're used to the confusion that usually surrounds breaking bf news.

Thanks for posting the info you have/will get!

[Neanderthaler]

[quote=Kissa]IT must be open, what irony, i dont know to listen to Tom Waits or Janis Joplin


I do not see the Irony. H5N1 exists in the environment here. The chances of contacting this disease from birds seems remote in the extreme. I swim along with tens of thousands of others in a lake where ducks and swans were found with H5N1. Statistically the greater danger is the drive to the lake or drowning or having a heart attack, not the contacting H5N1. We are creatures that grow accustomed to certain dangers and rightly or wrongly we aportion a certain risk level to the realm of acceptable behaviour. I drive my car on the freeway I swim in the lake of Constance. The chances of contacting this disease without repeated close contact and a lot of bad luck are extreme. You get used to it, you accept the risks where necessary.

[Neanderthaler]

Well the Zoo's response is that every single bird in the Zoo will be destroyed. Every type of animal will be tested and should it prove positive all 600 birds will be destroyed.

http://www.fr-aktuell.de/in_und_ausl...?em_cnt=941976

This is more of a public relations exercise for the Zoo at the cost of the birds. If the swan in the Zoo caught the infection from wild birds then every pond in europe is suspect to some degree of harboring asymptomatic carriers. If the other brids that shared the same pond are not all infected there seems little to fear of a cross species transfer. Not that I want to dismiss caution but there is a strong emotional reaction that is out of all proportion to the risk. Close the zoo until the situation is clarified is probably a wise thing to do, it seems however that H5N1 is about to become or is already endemic and with experience the true nature of the risks will become apparent. Of course with the ever evolving nature of the DNA virus we will never know for sure.

[Snowy Owl]

Seems that the Swan was not positive

cf:
Duck from Dresdner zoo did not have H5N1
Le canard du zoo De Dresde n'avait aucun H5N1
Ente aus Dresdner Zoo hatte kein H5N1