Outbreak in poultry in Pakistan feb 2007

[Dutchy]

New Pakistan case

06 Feb 2007 12:37:38 GMT

In Pakistan, Mohammad Afzal, Livestock Commissioner at the Ministry of Agriculture, said all the chickens in the flock of about 40 birds at a house in Rawalpindi, a city adjoining Islamabad, had died or been culled as a result of H5N1.

"It has been contained and there is no danger of the spread of this virus because there are no poultry farms near this house," he told Reuters.

Pakistan's first reported cases of H5N1 bird flu were found in chickens in February last year in North West Frontier Province. In all, about 40,000 chickens were culled. There have been no human cases in Pakistan.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK144902.htm

[HenryN]

Bird flu hits Pakistan again

www.chinaview.cn 2007-02-06 21:34:13

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- A strain of bird flu has been found in chickens near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and a city in the country's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), officials and reports said. The H5N1 virus, which also afflicted the country one year ago, has been found in the chicken flock in a house in the city of Rawalpindi, some 30 kilometers south from Islamabad, and also in aflock of peacocks in Mansehra, a main city in the NWFP, according to Pakistan's Animal Husbandry Commissioner Rafiq-ul-Hasan Chughtai. The private News Network International quoted Chughtai as saying that there was no report of the spread of the virus in any other poultry farm anywhere in the country. TV channels reported that all the chickens in the affected flock of some 40 birds at the house in Rawalpindi had died or been culled. The poultry industry in Pakistan suffered huge losses when bird flu hit chicken farms near Islamabad and several other parts of the country in March last year.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...nt_5705710.htm

[yielddude]

Bird Flu Strain Find Confirmed By Pakistani GovernmentLast update: 2/6/2007 11:15:13 AMISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP)--Laboratory tests confirm that the H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found near the Pakistani capital and elsewhere, the government announced Tuesday. The virus, which badly affected the country's poultry industry last year, was found in the chicken flock at a home near Islamabad, and also in a flock of peacocks in a village of northwestern Pakistan, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. The state-run National Reference Laboratory received these two "positive samples of avian influenza (H5N1)" over the weekend, the statement said. It said although there was no report of the spread of virus at any commercial farms, people should remain vigilant and get their birds vaccinated again for avian influenza. The statement, however, clarified that the poultry eggs and meat were safe to eat. (END) Dow Jones NewswiresFebruary 06, 2007 11:15 ET (16:15 GMT

http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/tdameritrade-com/html-story.asp?guid={bf78bae2-73a8-4045-a59a-2203b06d9c1d}

[yielddude]

(this seems to be a different occurence from the previous post, yet no mention of the other outbreak(s) from today - yield: Updated comments - apparently it is the same as the 1st outbreak, just confusing as some reports claim 40 chickens, yet here mentions 18 pet birds?)

Bird Flu in pet birds confirmed in Pindi, Mansera



ISLAMABAD, Feb 6 (Online): Presence of Bird Flu in pet birds Tuesday has been confirmed in a few areas of Rawalpindi and Mansera .

According to details, 18 pet birds have been killed in the area of Saddar, Rawalpindi while some in Mansera due to presence of H5N1 strain .

It has been told that a man in the area of Rawalpindi Saddar, who is found of keeping pet birds in his house has kept several birds at his house, however out of which eighteen died due to Avian virus. On the other hand, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock has confirmed the cases of bird flu in pet birds underlining that no such cases have occurred from any poultry farms where there are hundreds of hens .

Meanwhile since occurrence of Bird Flu in February 2006 in Pakistan, Minfal in collaboration with provincial livestock departments and Pakistan Poultry Association has continued surveillance for disease throughout the country. The surveillance included 64,000 samples of blood, tracheal swabs and tissues from the dead and morbid birds .

In commercial poultry, vaccination against H5N1 is being carried out at large scale, which has given good results .

After the July 3, 2006 no outbreak or case of Avian Influenza (H5N1) was observed .

http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?168139

[Dutchy]

New outbreaks of bird flu in Pakistan

Afp, Islamabad

Pakistan has reported its first cases of deadly bird flu in almost a year after finding the virus in small flocks of chickens and peacocks, officials said yesterday.

All the chickens in a flock of about 40 birds at a house in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, had died or been killed after the H5N1 virus was detected, said Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry spokesman Mohammad Afzal.

"The virus was found in domestic poultry in Rawalpindi. Eighteen birds died and tests confirmed they were infected with H5N1 virus, the rest of the birds were then slaughtered," he told AFP.

"We believe it is an isolated case" in Rawalpindi, he added. Several major chicken farms are located in the area.

Afzal said the virus had also been detected in a flock of peacocks in Mansehra in North West Frontier Province. "Again 18 birds died and the rest had been quarantined and will be slaughtered today," he said.

He added: "There is no case of human infection."

The virus has not yet been found in commercial poultry following the latest outbreak and the government had provided farmers with enough vaccine to protect their birds, Afzal said.

Pakistan produces 4.5 million chickens annually, while peacocks are often kept for decorative purposes and as a good luck charm to bring their owners wealth.

Pakistan's first H5N1 cases were in March 2006 at two chicken farms in North West Frontier Province. Its last case was in April when it slaughtered about 40,000 chickens at eight poultry farms on the outskirts of the capital.

No human bird flu cases have been recorded in Pakistan.


http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/02/...2071306118.htm

[HenryN]

Bird flu in Pindi, Mansehra
ISLAMABAD: The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was detected in birds at a small chicken farm in Rawalpindi and some 40 birds died or were culled, the government announced on Tuesday. Bird flu was detected in some parts of Pakistan almost a year ago, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL). MINFAL Spokesman Mohammad Afzal said almost all chickens in the flock of about 40 birds had died. Some of the chickens were culled, he added. “The birds tested positive for the H5N1 strain,” he said. “It has been contained and there is no danger of the spread of this virus because there are no poultry farms near this farm,” he said. Online news agency said that bird flu had also been confirmed in some areas of Mansehra district in NWFP province. staff report

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...7-2-2007_pg1_4

[HenryN]

British Veterinarian Doesn't Have Bird Flu Virus, Tests Show

By Mark Deen and Bill Murray
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- A British veterinarian who fell ill after helping contain an outbreak of the deadly avian influenza virus at a turkey farm in eastern England has tested negative for the disease.
The unidentified man was held in quarantine in a hospital yesterday after reporting a mild respiratory illness, the U.K.'s Health Protection Agency said. The vet will be discharged later today, the Nottingham City Hospital said.
The U.K. culled 159,000 fowl at a farm in Suffolk owned by Bernard Matthews Holdings Ltd., Europe's largest producer of poultry, after the H5N1 strain of avian flu was found there. Global disease trackers are monitoring H5N1 infections in birds, which can create opportunities for the virus to mutate into a form that's more easily spread among people.
``It should be remembered that chest infections and fevers are common in Europe at this time of year, when ordinary seasonal flu circulates,'' said John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the HPA.
The H5N1 virus is known to have infected at least 272 people worldwide since 2003, killing 166 of them, according to a statement yesterday from the World Health Organization. The Geneva-based agency confirmed that the virus killed a 17-year-old girl in Egypt, the country's second bird flu death this year.
Recent European outbreaks in birds haven't increased the risk of a flu pandemic among people, WHO officials said yesterday. The U.K. is reviewing its stockpile of antiviral medicines including Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu, which the WHO recommends for treating H5N1 in people.
Antiviral Drugs
The U.K. man, an employee of the State Veterinary Service, underwent tests at Nottingham hospital, according to the British Broadcasting Corp.
All workers at the farm were offered antiviral drugs, Pat Troop, the HPA's chief executive officer, told the BBC on Feb. 4. She would be ``very surprised'' if the disease had spread to any of them, as ``it doesn't pass easily from bird to human,'' she said.
At least 2,500 turkeys out of 159,000 died at the Holton farm before the culling began, making the outbreak among the largest in poultry farms in Western Europe, according to the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE. The government is restricting movement in 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) around the farm.
U.K. officials are looking at a possible link to an outbreak in Hungary, where Bernard Matthews has farms. The Hungarian government said the eastern European division only sells locally.
Asian Strain
Tests have identified the virus as the highly pathogenic Asian strain, similar to a virus found in Hungary in January, The U.K.'s Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement on its Web site. The Hungarian outbreaks in geese last month were the first confirmed H5N1 infections in the European Union since August.
In Pakistan, bird flu killed chickens and peacocks, the country's first outbreaks of the disease in seven months, an agriculture ministry official said.
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza was found to have killed 18 of 40 chickens raised in a coop in the northern city of Rawalpindi, which joins the capital, Islamabad, said Mohammad Afzal, animal husbandry commissioner at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.
A separate outbreak was reported in peacocks kept by a household in Manshera city, in the country's North West Frontier province, Afzal said over the telephone from Islamabad today. No human H5N1 cases have been reported in the South Asian nation.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Deen in London at markdeen@bloomberg.net ; Bill Murray in London at at wmurray1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: February 7, 2007 04:04 EST

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...RbA&refer=home

[AlaskaDenise]

earlier suspected H5N1 in peacocks:

Feb 18, 2005

.....The unexplained pig deaths in the Uttar Pradesh region of India are cause for concern. The transmission to dogs eating the pigs is one red flag, but two more are the recent deaths of people and peacocks in the same region. These unexplained deaths have an encephalitis component which has now been described for H5N1 avian influenza in Vietnam. The pigs have "viral fever", the children have encephalitis, and the peacocks have neurological symptoms like polio. Bird flu can cause neurological problems in people and birds. A mysterious illness in the three species in the same region is cause for concern. http://www.rense.com/general63/mystw.htm .

[HenryN]

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02..._Pakistan.html

[MHSC]

www.oie.int


Highly pathogenic avian influenza, Pakistan

Information received on 07/02/2007 from Dr R. H. Usmani, Animal Husbandry Commissioner/CVO Government of Pakistan, Livestock Wing , Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Islamabad , Pakistan


Summary

Report type	Immediate notification
Start date	01/02/2007
Date of confirmation of event	04/02/2007
Report date	07/02/2007
Date submitted to OIE	07/02/2007
Reason for notification	Reoccurrence of listed disease
Date of previous occurrence	07/2006
Manifestation of disease	Clinical disease
Causal agent	Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus
Serotype	H5N1
Nature of diagnosis	Laboratory (advanced), Necropsy
Report pertains to	Entire country

New Outbreaks

Summary of outbreaks	Total outbreaks: 2
Outbreak Location	NORTH-WEST FRONTIER (Lohar Banda, Manshera, Abbottabad PUNJAB (Roomilane, Rawalpindi)
Total animals affected	Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered Birds 227 120 118 109 0
Outbreak statistics	Species Apparent morbidity rate Apparent mortality rate Apparent case fatality rate Proportion susceptible removed* Birds 52.86% 51.98% 98.33% 100.00% * Removed from the susceptible population either through death, destruction or slaughter

Epidemiology

Source of infection

Introduction of new live animals

Control measures

Measures already applied	Screening Disinfection of infected premises/establishment(s) Quarantine Stamping out Vaccination permitted No treatment of affected animals
Measures to be applied	Vaccination in response to the outbreak (s) Zoning

Diagnostic test results

Laboratory name and type

National Animal Sciences Institute, National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad (National laboratory)

Tests and results

Species Test Test date Result Birds agar-gel immunodiffusion (AGID) 04/02/2007 Positive Birds haemagglutination (HA) test 04/02/2007 Positive Birds haemagglutination inhibition test (HIT) 04/02/2007 Positive Birds rapid tests 04/02/2007 Positive Birds reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) 04/02/2007 Positive Birds virus isolation 04/02/2007 Positive Birds virus neutralisation test (VNT) 04/02/2007 Positive

[yielddude]

Bird flu in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: After Rawalpindi and Mansehra, H5N1 bird-flu has reportedly resulted in the death of peacocks and domestic chickens in the federal capital.

According to reports on Friday, it has been confirmed that on February 4, four peacocks, three turkeys and 10 chickens owned by a resident of Islamabad died of bird flu.

The Health and Agriculture and Livestock ministries confirmed the presence of the virus in samples sent to them. The ministries did not give details of the owner of the birds.

Recently, Pakistani scientists found the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in a small flock of chickens in Rawalpindi.

Mohammad Afzal, the livestock commissioner at the Agriculture Ministry, said all the chickens in the flock of about 40 birds at a house in Rawalpindi had died or been culled.

“They tested positive for the H5N1 strain,” said Afzal. “It has been contained, and there is no danger of the spread of this virus because there are no poultry farms near this house,” he had said.

Pakistan’s first reported cases of H5N1 bird flu were found in chickens in February last year in NWFP. In all, about 40,000 chickens were culled. online

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...0-2-2007_pg7_5

[Dutchy]

WHO clears bird flu samples of 4 people

Sunday February 11, 2007 (0142 PST)


ISLAMABAD: World Health Organization (WHO) has cleared the bird flue sample of four employees working in poultry farm of Rawalpindi where deadly H5N1 was reported.

It is merit mentioning here that recently Pakistani scientists found the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in a small flock of chickens in Rawalpindi and Mansehra on Feb 03.

On Feb 04, four peacocks, three turkeys and 10 chickens owned by a resident of Islamabad died due to bird flu, whereas the sample of house owner was still not received by WHO.

Spokesman of WHO Maj Gen (Retd) Masood Anwar talking to Online said that we had received samples of four people working in poultry farm of Rawalpindi where bird flu was reported while the result of their samples was negative.

He went on to say that Federal Health Ministry has issued directives to Health Departments of the country in this respect sothat it could not be further spread.

http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?168595

[AlaskaDenise]

Originally Posted by niman

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02..._Pakistan.html

Qinghai H5N1 Re-emerges in Pakistan
Recombinomics Commentary
February 7, 2007

The H5N1 strain of avian influenza was found to have killed 18 of 40 chickens raised in a coop in the northern city of Rawalpindi, which joins the capital, Islamabad, said Mohammad Afzal, animal husbandry commissioner at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

A separate outbreak was reported in peacocks kept by a household in Manshera city, in the country's North West Frontier province, Afzal said over the telephone from Islamabad today.

The above comments describe the re-emergence of Qinghai H5N1 in Pakistan. It was first reported at this time in 2006. Recent outbreaks have also been reported in Krasnodar, Hungary, and the UK, as well as several countries in Africa.

These outbreaks in 2007, parallel reports from 2006. More reports of confirmed H5N1 are expected in Pakistan as well as Europe, the Middle East, and Africa,


.