A poultry worker has contracted the H7 strain of bird flu in the form of conjunctivitis, the Health Protection Agency has confirmed.
It is believed the worker was infected through close contact with birds at the Witford Lodge Farm in North Tuddenham, in Norfolk which had the disease.
H7 has no relationship to the deadly H5N1 strain which has killed over 100 people, mainly in South Asia.
The Health Protection Agency said the worker has no other symptoms.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the strain seen at the farm is the H7N3 form of bird flu.
It is not highly infectious.
The strain was last seen in the UK in 1979.
The 34,000 birds on the infected farm will still be slaughtered, and a 1km exclusion zone will remain in place.
Defra said further tests were being carried out to confirm scientists' initial findings. The World Health Organization says not all H5 or H7 strains are severe, but their ability to mutate means their presence is "always a cause for concern"
Last edited by Admin; April 28th, 2006 at 01:33 PM.
Reason: formatting only
And the answer is....via Dr. Niman,
> The co-circulation of H7 and the Qinghai strain of H5N1 is cause for concerns. E627K could be acquired by H7N3 via recombination or reassortment. This acquisition would likely increase virulence in an H7 which is probably readily transmitted between humans.<
Everyone got the answer yet? Write it down. This is one of the answers.
Be the first on your block to tell 'em all. First, go into the bathroom, look at the mirror, and tell that person, slowly, clearly, tell that person. This virus is not kidding around.
the worker, who does not want to be named, has the H7N3 strain of bird flu which is not highly infectious
The above comments acknowledge that H7N3 has caused at least one case of conjunctivitis in Great Britain. This case is not a surprise. H7 infections in poultry frequently result in conjunctivitis cases in human contacts. The most recent example was in British Columbia in 2004 where several poultry workers developed conjunctivitis from H7N3. However the H7N7 outbreak in the Netherlands in 2003 produced over 80 cases of conjunctivitis in poultry cullers.
However, a sensitive assay was developed to detect H7 antibodies and hundreds or thousands of culler contacts had H7 antibodies, indicating human-to-human transmission of H7 is efficient. The cases had mild symptoms or were asymptomatic. However, a veterinarian developed pneumonia and died. This is the only reported fatality from bird flu linked to a serotype other than H5N1. The H7N7 isolated from the fatal case had PB2 E627K.
E627K was first reported in H5N1 from birds in the 16 isolates from Qinghai Lake, almost 1 year ago. All Qinghai H5N1 PB2 sequences to date have also had E627K. This polymorphism is liked to enhanced polymerase activity at lower (33 C) temperatures. It is also associated with increased virulence in mammals.
Although the has been only one report of H5N1 in the UK, the Qinghai strain has been detected throughout Europe, raising serious issues about the sensitivity of the assay in the UK. The UK surveillance failed to detect significant infections by H5N1 or low pathogenic serotypes, even though over 7000 birds were tested. The surveillance failed to detect any H7 infections.
The co-circulation of H7 and the Qinghai strain of H5N1 is cause for concerns. E627K could be acquired by H7N3 via recombination or reassortment. This acquisition would likely increase virulence in an H7 which is probably readily transmitted between humans.
__________________
"The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation
Officials have moved swiftly to reassure the public after a poultry worker contracted the H7 strain of bird flu in the form of conjunctivitis. Letters are being delivered to some 1,800 homes near to the Norfolk farm, as vets continue to slaughter 35,000 chickens after the virus was detected earlier this week. Both the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Norfolk County Council have stressed the countryside is "open" despite the outbreak.
...
The HPA said the worker reported his illness on Friday, adding symptoms were limited to an eye infection, without respiratory problems.
The infected man, who has not been identified, has the low pathogenic H7N3 strain of avian flu which does not transmit easily from person to person, it added.
Dr Maria Zambon, Director of the HPA's Influenza Laboratory, said: "He is in good health. He has a mild illness.
__________________
LIN YUTANG:
Hope is like a road in the country;
there was never a road,
but when many people walk on it,
the road comes into existence.
Conjunctivitis caused by H7 avian influenza in poultry worker
Conjunctivitis caused by H7 avian influenza in poultry worker http://www.hpa.org.uk/hpa/news/articles/press_releases/2006/060428_avian_flu_h7.htm
Helath Protection Agency
Press Statement
28 April 2006
Conjunctivitis caused by H7 avian influenza in poultry worker
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has confirmed that a poultry worker is suffering from conjunctivitis caused by H7 avian influenza. The individual works on the Norfolk poultry farm confirmed as having an outbreak of (low pathogenic) H7N3 avian influenza.
H7N3 does not transmit easily from poultry to people, so the risk to those in contact with the infected poultry is considered low. H7N3 does not transmit readily from person to person and so the risk to anyone in contact with the infected poultry worker is also considered to be very low. In almost all cases of human H7 infection to date, the virus, in both low and high pathogenic forms, has only caused a mild disease. Therefore in this outbreak the risk to the general public is extremely limited.
The poultry worker reported his illness on 27 April. Samples were taken and sent to the regional Health Protection Agency laboratory and the HPA Centre for Infections for analyses where H7 was confirmed.
The poultry worker, who does not require hospitalisation, was given the antiviral drug oseltamivir as a precautionary measure on 27 April, as soon as the HPA was notified of the incident at the Norfolk poultry farm. Oseltamivir is the standard treatment for H7. The poultry worker, along with the others involved in the incident, is also being offered seasonal influenza vaccine. Normal seasonal flu vaccination is given to prevent the H7 virus from mixing with any human flu viruses that may be circulating.
Conjunctivitis causes red, sore, itchy eyes and the worker has no respiratory symptoms. To date, most human cases of H7 avian influenza have presented with conjunctivitis only.
The local Health Protection Agency has identified and followed up the poultry worker's household contacts and is providing guidance and advice, and preventative medication as appropriate.
As a precautionary measure the Health Protection Agency is taking nose and throat swabs and blood tests from the other poultry workers, and monitoring their health closely. As the poultry workers were involved in the H7 incident, they are already taking oseltamivir for prevention of illness.
Dr Jonathan Van Tam , a flu expert at the Health Protection Agency, said:
"It is important to remember that H7 avian flu remains largely a disease of birds. The virus does not transmit easily to humans, as evidenced by the small number of confirmed infections worldwide to date. Almost all human H7 infections documented so far have been associated with close contact with dead or dying poultry.
"The threat to human health posed by H7 avian influenza viruses remains very low despite the recent developments in Norfolk ."
Notes to editors
To speak with an HPA press officer, contact the Centre for Infections press office on 020 8327 6055/7098/7097/6690
The symptoms of H7 are generally mild. Most human cases have presented with conjunctivitis only (red, sore, itchy eyes). Some cases have had influenza-like illness with symptoms such as fever, cough, runny nose, headache and aching muscles, either with or without conjunctivitis.
A small number of H7N3 human infections has been associated with previous poultry outbreaks. Reported symptoms included conjunctivitis and mild flu-like illness.
Pathogenicity refers to a virus' capability to cause disease in poultry. Viruses of low pathogenicity in poultry, pose very little health risk to people. The only documented incidents when a low-pathogenic H7 virus has caused illness in humans have been three individual sporadic cases in Italy , USA and England causing conjunctivitis. The only documented human case in the UK was in 1996, when there was a single case of a female farmer who acquired H7 influenza and suffered conjunctivitis after cleaning out a poultry house.
A very large outbreak of highly-pathogenic H7N7 in the Netherlands in 2003 caused 88 cases of human disease with minor symptoms, mainly conjunctivitis (eye infection) and one death in a vet. An outbreak of highly pathogenic H7N3 avian influenza also occurred in British Columbia , Canada in 2004 causing two cases of conjunctivitis in humans.
If members of the public see a dead swan, goose or duck or three or more dead wild, or garden birds together in the same place, these should be reported to the Defra helpline on 08459 33 55 77.
For further information on human health implications visit the HPA website:
The general public can play their part by reporting any unusual wild bird deaths to the Defra helpline on 08459 335577.
__________________
LIN YUTANG:
Hope is like a road in the country;
there was never a road,
but when many people walk on it,
the road comes into existence.
More farms infected with bird flu Two more poultry farms around the one already affected near Dereham, Norfolk, have become infected with bird flu, said Defra.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that preliminary results indicated the farms were affected by the less serious H7N3 strain of avian flu, but further tests were being carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency.
A spokesman said: "The two free range flocks will be slaughtered on suspicion of an avian notifiable disease. A restricted zone has been put in place extending 1km from each of the infected premises.
"The State Veterinary Service is tracing movements and contacts, the necessary surveillance and all appropriate worker protection measures have been put in place."
Debby Reynolds, chief veterinary officer, said: "We are investigating whether there any links or movements between the two suspect farms and the confirmed infected premises.
"The working hypothesis remains that the most likely source of the virus is from another premises or from wild birds."
Earlier it was announced that all 35,000 chickens at the first Norfolk farm hit by bird flu outbreak had been slaughtered.
Officials reassured the public of the "extremely low" risk to human health after a poultry worker at the first farm contracted the virus in the form of conjunctivitis.
Letters were also being delivered to some 1,800 homes near the farm.
Both the Health Protection Agency and Norfolk County Council stressed the countryside was "open", despite the outbreak in which the worker is thought to have become infected via close contact with poultry.
Fears that chicken farm's 'safe' bird flu virus could mutate By David Sapsted, (Filed: 28/04/2006)
As ministry vets prepared to gas 35,000 chickens to curb an outbreak of bird flu, a prominent virologist warned the government not to be sanguine over this supposedly "safe" strain of the disease.
Prof Albert Osterhaus, a Dutch virologist, said that the H7 strain found in the flock just outside Dereham, Norfolk, had the potential to mutate into a form just as hazardous as the H5N1 strain, which has killed more than 100 people in Asia.
DEFRA workers at the contaminated farm in Hockering, Norfolk
He said he believed that an H7N7 outbreak in Holland in 2003 could have resulted in more fatalities had the Dutch authorities not acted swiftly to cull 30 million birds.
As it was, a Dutch vet, who was not given anti-viral drugs, died of the N7 strain after examining a flock of birds.
Dr Debby Reynolds, the chief veterinary officer, is waiting for the results of laboratory tests to learn how pathogenic the Norfolk strain of avian influenza is.
"This is most likely to be the H7 virus. It has a very low probability of infecting humans," she said in London. "Clearly, avian influenza and the H5N1 strain has generated a lot of concern and a lot of comment. There is no evidence that this is H5N1. This is most likely to be the H7 strain, which is potentially very serious for poultry."
However, Prof Osterhaus, who identified the virus behind the Sars disease, said from his research centre in Rotterdam: "You can't say the H7 virus is less dangerous than H5 until we know how pathogenic it has become. The H7 strain could become as dangerous as the H5N1 strain as it could mutate in a similar way. I do not know how highly pathogenic the strain on the Norfolk farm is. If you are lucky and it is a low pathogenic virus, culling the birds will suffice but if it is highly pathogenic any transfer of faeces on clothing, crates or even the wheels or vehicles will need to be traced.
"After the avian flu on the Dutch farm, we did screenings of wild birds and found the ancestors of the H7 virus in wild mallards. They carried a low pathogenic virus but when it got into flocks of poultry it was able to replicate and mutated quickly. It eventually became deadly. It does not mutate in wild birds so quickly because they do not live in such large flocks."
The chickens at Witford Lodge Farm in North Tuddenham, near Dereham, are expected to be gassed and then incinerated on the premises today.
Dennis Foreman, a director of Banham Poultry Ltd, which owns the farm, said that the number of chickens to have died from bird flu was "minimal".
"As a company we don't want this but, at the end of the day, it happened and we have got to deal with it professionally," he said. A one kilometre exclusion zone has been imposed around the farm, which is used to produce eggs for hatching elsewhere.
The infected chickens were brought from France in February. Dr Reynolds said there was a three-week incubation period of the virus and it was probable that the hens became infected after they arrived in Britain
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__________________
"The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation
Chickens at two more British farms are found to have bird flu
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
Published: 30 April 2006
Britain's defences against bird flu were last night exposed as ineffective, as chickens in two more farms in Norfolk were found to have a strain of the disease. The news came as an Independent on Sunday investigation revealed severe flaws in the Government's surveillance against the infection.
The two new infected farms are in the same area, near Dereham, as Whitford Lodge Farm, Hockering, where 35,000 chickens are being slaughtered after the disease was found there last week. A worker caught a mild form of the bird flu.
Their flocks, with 15,300 more birds, will be culled and a one-kilometre "restrictive zone" - limiting movements of poultry, eggs and poultry products - has been imposed around all three. Yesterday, even before last night's announcement, Japan banned poultry imports from Britain.
Dr Debby Reynolds, the Government's chief vet, said that yet more farms may be infected, adding that "we still cannot say that either of these two further farms are the index case" - the one where the infection started. The chickens at the two new farms, which have the same owner, are free range - heightening the chances that they will have caught the virus from wild birds. This will increase criticism of Dr Reynolds and ministers who repeatedly refused to order Britain's poultry indoors to minimise risk of infection.
The flu is a low-pathogenicity form of the H7N3 virus - not the virulent H5N1 - but experts say that it, too, could mutate to become deadly. The Government's defences - erected against H5N1 - should have caught this other strain if they had been effective.
Ministers and officials who boasted that Britain was "probably better prepared than any other nation" through "surveillance" and "early action" are facing the possibility of another foot-and-mouth style fiasco. Dr Reynolds admits the surveillance - testing wild birds for flu - failed to find any carrying the virus affecting the farms, despite the greatest bird flu monitoring exercise ever carried out in Britain.
The Independent on Sunday's investigation has established the testing itself may be to blame. Experts from Ohio State University and the University of Kalmar in Sweden say the Government's programme is turning up far too few cases of normal low pathogenicity flu, which is always in birds, to be credible.
The experts say samples must immediately be put in saline or preservative; the British tests fail to do this. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says its tests are valid, but plans a trial to see if the methods used abroad are better.
Britain's defences against bird flu were last night exposed as ineffective, as chickens in two more farms in Norfolk were found to have a strain of the disease. The news came as an Independent on Sunday investigation revealed severe flaws in the Government's surveillance against the infection.
The two new infected farms are in the same area, near Dereham, as Whitford Lodge Farm, Hockering, where 35,000 chickens are being slaughtered after the disease was found there last week. A worker caught a mild form of the bird flu.
Their flocks, with 15,300 more birds, will be culled and a one-kilometre "restrictive zone" - limiting movements of poultry, eggs and poultry products - has been imposed around all three. Yesterday, even before last night's announcement, Japan banned poultry imports from Britain.
Dr Debby Reynolds, the Government's chief vet, said that yet more farms may be infected, adding that "we still cannot say that either of these two further farms are the index case" - the one where the infection started. The chickens at the two new farms, which have the same owner, are free range - heightening the chances that they will have caught the virus from wild birds. This will increase criticism of Dr Reynolds and ministers who repeatedly refused to order Britain's poultry indoors to minimise risk of infection.
The flu is a low-pathogenicity form of the H7N3 virus - not the virulent H5N1 - but experts say that it, too, could mutate to become deadly. The Government's defences - erected against H5N1 - should have caught this other strain if they had been effective.
Ministers and officials who boasted that Britain was "probably better prepared than any other nation" through "surveillance" and "early action" are facing the possibility of another foot-and-mouth style fiasco. Dr Reynolds admits the surveillance - testing wild birds for flu - failed to find any carrying the virus affecting the farms, despite the greatest bird flu monitoring exercise ever carried out in Britain.
The Independent on Sunday's investigation has established the testing itself may be to blame. Experts from Ohio State University and the University of Kalmar in Sweden say the Government's programme is turning up far too few cases of normal low pathogenicity flu, which is always in birds, to be credible.
The experts say samples must immediately be put in saline or preservative; the British tests fail to do this. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says its tests are valid, but plans a trial to see if the methods used abroad are better.
Before we all get too comfy cozy with the idea that all is well, read the article here about H7N3 in the Fraser valley, BC. They had an H7N3 outbreak and mutiple strains evolved....very quickly. Some even had the multi amino acids at the HA cleavage site (not good). So lets hope the Brits get their testing techinique down pat real quick and figure out which tiger they have by the tail.
note there are other reports about H7 outbreaks in the references.
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__________________
"The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation
H7N3 is a subtype of the species Influenza A virus (sometimes called bird flu virus).
In North America, the presence of H7N3 was confirmed at several poultry farms in British Columbia in February 2004. As of April 2004, 18 farms had been quarantined to halt the spread of the virus. Two cases of humans infected with it have been confirmed in that region. Symptoms included conjunctivitis and mild influenza-like illness. Both fully recovered.
"The H7N3 strain was first detected in turkeys in Britain in 1963 and made one of its last known appearances in poultry in Canada in April and May 2004, according to the WHO and World Organisation for Animal Health. An outbreak of the less virulent H5N2 strain of bird flu in Taiwan in 2004 led to the culling of hundreds of thousands of fowl." [1]
"Taiwan found a highly pathogenic strain of avian flu, H7N3, in droppings left by a migratory bird and is carrying out tests to see whether the virus has spread to nearby poultry farms, the agriculture department said 14 November2005." [2]
For the first time since 1979, H7N3 was found in the UK in April 2006. It infected birds and one poultry worker (whose only symptom was conjunctivitis) in a Norfolk, England Witford Lodge Farm. "Antiviral Tamiflu was administered to poultry workers on the farm as a precautionary measure. [...] 35,000 chickens will be culled in the infected farm and a 1 kilometre exclusion zone has been placed."[3]
[edit]
Poultry workers free of bird flu Three poultry workers who showed signs of illness after a fellow worker tested positive for bird flu do not have the disease, health officials say.
The trio displayed symptoms of conjunctivitis after an avian flu outbreak at a farm in Norfolk.
It comes after another worker at the farm contracted the H7 strain of the flu in the form of the eye infection.
Bird flu - thought to be the H7 strain - has now been detected at three poultry farms near Norwich.
The farms have been named as Norfolk Road Farm and Mowles Manor Farm, both in North Tuddenham.
Both are approximately two miles away from Witford Lodge Farm, the scene of the original outbreak last week, where some 35,000 chickens were slaughtered.
Culling of chickens at Norfolk Road Farm has been taking place this morning, after preliminary tests indicated they had the H7 strain of bird flu.
The government said initial tests showed the farms were affected by a less serious strain than the deadly H5N1 which killed a swan in Fife.
Two free range flocks would be slaughtered, officials said.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said that preliminary results indicated the farms were affected by the H7N3 strain of avian flu. 'Low risk'
Officials have said risk to the public remained "extremely low."
"H7 avian flu remains largely a disease of birds," said Dr Jonathan Van Tam, a flu expert at the Health Protection Agency.
"The virus does not transmit easily to humans, as evidenced by the small number of confirmed infections worldwide to date." The three workers who were suspected of having conjunctivitis work at a slaughterhouse owned by Banham Poultry, which runs Witford Lodge Farm. They underwent tests and specimens were sent to the regional HPA laboratory but the results came back negative and their symptoms are not linked to bird flu, an HPA spokeswoman said.
We are investigating whether there any links or movements between the two suspect farms and the confirmed infected premises
Debby Reynolds Chief Veterinary Officer
The strain found at Witford Lodge Farm, which is in North Tuddenham about 13 miles (20km) west of Norwich, was also the H7 type.
It is virulent among chickens but less of a threat to humans than the H5N1 variant. Restricted zone
Discussing the latest outbreak, a Defra spokesman said: "The two free range flocks will be slaughtered on suspicion of an avian notifiable disease."
A restricted zone has been created, extending 1km from each of the infected premises.
The spokesman added: "The State Veterinary Service is tracing movements and contacts, the necessary surveillance and all appropriate worker protection measures have been put in place."
Debby Reynolds, chief veterinary officer, said: "We still can not say whether either of these two further farms are the index case; further premises may be involved.
"We are investigating whether there any links or movements between the two suspect farms and the confirmed infected premises."
She said the working hypothesis remained that the most likely source of the virus was from another premises or from wild birds.
A Defra spokeswoman said the two new farms which tested positive for avian flu had the same owner.
The spokeswoman said that one farm had 7,500 chickens and the other had 7,800 chickens.
Last month a swan in Cellardyke, Fife, tested positive for H5N1 - the only confirmed case in the UK so far. Dutch outbreak
An outbreak of an H7 variation, called H7N7, in the Netherlands led the Dutch government to order the slaughter of more than 30 million birds in 2003.
The 2003 outbreak in the Netherlands infected more than 80 people and led to the death of one vet.
The H5N1 virus has killed more than 100 people in Asia.
But neither strain poses a large-scale threat to humans as bird flu cannot pass easily from one person to another.
However, some experts fear the H5N1 virus could mutate and trigger a flu pandemic, potentially putting millions of human lives at risk.
The negavtive results on the three poultry workers with conjunctivitis symptoms suggests the UK can readily generate false negatives with human or bird samples.
to correct what I said in chat last night... here's a map. Looking at it now, I wonder if H7 picked up a bit of H5 genetic material from overflying H5 birds?
__________________
"The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation
Last edited by AlaskaDenise; July 27th, 2007 at 06:21 PM.
The head groom at a riding stables next to the mid-Norfolk farm at the centre of a bird flu outbreak fears she too has contracted the H7N3 strain of the disease.
A poultry worker at Whitford Lodge Farm, North Tuddenham, near Dereham has already been diagnosed with the H7N3 strain of the disease in the form of the eye infection conjunctivitis.
Today it emerged that a woman, who works at the neighbouring Kimblewick Equestrian Centre, Whitford Road, may also have been struck down by the same strain.
Emma Mooney, 25, pictured, is head groom at the stables and said her eyes started to become irritated on Friday afternoon. “At about 2.30pm my eyes started really itching; I just went to rub them like they were dry and didn't think anything of it,” she said.
“I left it until Friday night and phoned the helpline; it was out of hours so they gave me the number for NHS Direct.”
Ms Mooney said they were not even aware that bird flu had arrived in Norfolk and told her to go up to the hospital to have it checked out.
“I went up the hospital and spoke to a nurse who put a mask on my face so I couldn't breathe on anyone and then I was put in isolation,” said the mother, who was then seen by a doctor. “He didn't know bird flu was as close to the hospital as it was. They put some fluid in my eye and looked through a machine into my eye, but couldn't see that I had damaged it in any way.” She waited for news of her condition at the hospital for about an hour-and-a-half before being told to go home and to come back if they heard anything different.
“It's quite frightening really,” she said. “We're right next door and we weren't told anything. My boss Sarah woke up and there were reporters in her drive.”
Although she had been given anti-viral drugs, Ms Mooney said she was anxious to know if she had contracted the disease. “If I had a blood test or something to guarantee 100 per cent that there was nothing to worry about, but just someone saying don't worry about it, go home is not good enough,” she said.
“I've got a son who's 19-months- old. They are saying it can't be passed from person to person, but they put a mask on me and put me in an isolation room so can it? I'm a bit confused about what's going on.”
Ms Mooney, who lives in Swanton Morley with her partner Adrian Stubbs and son Harvey, said her eyes were sore from rubbing them so much, although not as bad as they were first of all.
The man with the conjunctivitis, who has not been named, has the low pathogenic H7N3 strain of avian flu which does not transmit easily from person to person. He reported his illness on Thursday and the people he lives with have been given advice by health officials.
Between 60 and 70 other people, including members of the State Veterinary Service and poultry workers, have been issued with anti-viral drugs as a precaution. Swabs and blood tests have also been taken from some and their health has been monitored.
Ü Are you worried you have contracted bird flu? Call Evening News reporter Peter Walsh on (01603) 772439 or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk
I fear, like this article, that the only info that is going to be available will be via word of mouth. I'm gaining a growing sense of "information containment" as things progress.
They need to be aware of the H7 in Holland - it passed to 50% of the contacts of people who were exposed to infected poultry. Read here and several articles here. There is also good coverage at EffectMeasure.
I won't rest easy until we see the sequences. And how long has the UK taken to release those?
I would the British peoplewould be up in arms after that sequence informaton.
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__________________
"The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation
Last edited by AlaskaDenise; May 1st, 2006 at 05:05 PM.
May 02, 2006 Vets track spread of bird flu strain
By Valerie Elliott
Blood samples from birds culled in Norfolk show they had the H7N3 virus for longer than was thought
GOVERNMENT vets were checking farms in Norfolk last night after it emerged that a bird flu virus has been present in Britain for at least a month.
The latest theory is that a free-range egg company, which kept 15,300 chickens outdoors on two farms, is now the likely source of the infection, probably after some contact with an infected wild bird.
More than 50,000 chickens have now been culled on Norfolk Road Farm and Mowles Manor Farm at North Tuddenham, owned by Geoffrey Dann and his son, Simon.
Blood samples from birds on their farm showed that they had been exposed to the H7N3 virus as long ago as four weeks.
This company is less than half a mile from Banhams chicken breeding farm at Whitford Lodge, where 35,000 birds were culled last week after the low pathogenic avian flu strain was confirmed in the county. Birds on the free range unit, however, suffered only a mild form of the flu and none died from the infection. They had to be culled because H7N3 flu is a notifiable disease.
It is still unclear how the virus was transported from the egg farm to the Banhams chicken farm, where it killed some 400 chickens and triggered a drop in egg production by other birds.
Such a reaction to avian flu is expected on intensive commercial units where there are large numbers of birds who live indoors at close quarters.
State vets have been unable to find a link between the egg and the chicken farms. An infected wild bird, or its faeces on a worker’s foot, or vehicle, are still thought to be the most likely routes for the infection.
Farmers around the country have also been reporting suspicious signs of sickness or a fall in egg production and the Veterinary Laboratory Agency, in Weybridge, Surrey, is testing numerous samples.
So far, however, all tests have been negative.
Officials at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are determined to ensure that the country’s £600 million-a-year chicken export trade is maintained. Ministers will today make representations to the Japanese Embassy and Hong Kong High Commission, in London, over their trade bans against Britain.
Japan has halted all trade in eggs, chicken and breeding birds from Britain, and Hong Kong has banned produce from Norfolk.
Such bans are in breach of international law, however, and can be imposed only if a highly pathogenic bird flu strain is present. So far, government vets have found only the less virulent H7N3 strain. [Hmmmmm.... All the more reason to keep the high-path stuff quiet, eh?]
- International quarantine measures, such as restricting air travel from countries with a serious influenza outbreak, would do little to halt the spread of a pandemic, a study by British scientists has found (Mark Henderson writes).
A strain of flu that passed easily from person to person would move around the world more quickly than it could be detected, making airport closures largely ineffective, according to computer simulations by the Health Protection Agency. For restrictions on air travel from infected countries to delay a pandemic, it would be necessary for almost all travel to be stopped immediately as soon as the virus emerges, scientists found.
The findings, published today in the open-access journal Public Library of Science Medicine, suggest that the costs of restricting international air travel in a pandemic are likely to outweight the benefits.
...the costs of restricting international air travel in a pandemic are likely to outweight the benefits.
So those lives that might be saved by slowing a pandemic long enough to get some vaccine to some people, aren't worth the costs?
Lest there be any doubt what your life is worth......it is not worth loosing profits for industries! The truly "disposable" economy - "single use" people.
Even more reason to educate and protect ourselves.
Gotta give our government credit - they did warn us and suggest buying tuna and powdered milk. That's more than some industries want to do!
.
__________________
"The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation
So those lives that might be saved by slowing a pandemic long enough to get some vaccine to some people, aren't worth the costs?
Lest there be any doubt what your life is worth......it is not worth loosing profits for industries! The truly "disposable" economy - "single use" people.
Even more reason to educate and protect ourselves.
Gotta give our government credit - they did warn us and suggest buying tuna and powdered milk. That's more than some industries want to do!
So those lives that might be saved by slowing a pandemic long enough to get some vaccine or additional preparedness (my addition outide of the quote to some people, aren't worth the costs? [/color]"
__________________ "Predictable is Preventable" by Safety Expert Dr. Gordon Graham.
Government scientists are carrying out a second round of tests at a smallholding outside Dereham to rule out bird flu infection.
Animal health experts from Defra returned to the premises in Paper Street in Yaxham on Tuesday after earlier tests on about 160 birds for the H7N3 virus proved inconclusive.
The department previously visited the smallholding on Sunday as part of routine tests on poultry keepers within the recently extended 3km surveillance zone, which was set up around the three infected North Tuddenham farms.
Smallholding owner Chris Garner did not want to comment on the tests on the mix of chickens, geese and guinea fowl, which are kept for friends and family.
A Defra spokesman said: "Both visits are purely routine and part of continuing surveillance work to make sure the area is clear of the virus.
"Some of the tests carried out during the visit on Sunday were inconclusive in that they were neither negative nor positive.
"They had to return to redo the tests but this is something which happens quite often when a large number of birds are tested."
Regional member of the National Farmer's Union poultry board Nigel Joice said he was pleased with Defra's attempts to pin down the source of the infection by tracking movements of and testing poultry but said it was slight concern that there was still no strong leads.
This week local Conservative MEP Geoffrey Van Orden visited the State Veterinary Service at Bury St Edmunds where the Local Disease Control Centre has been established.
He said: "Clearly the problem in the Dereham area has been dealt with very professionally and the necessary surveillance and protective measures have been put in place."
In response to the article claiming the UK's bird tests may be missing the avian flu virus, I would like to say that the British testing programme is intended to detect the incursion of H5N1 into the UK via wild bird populations (15 April, p 12). This is based upon the detection of viral nucleic acid using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Björn Olsen refers to surveillance for the "virus" itself in his programme surveying healthy wild birds. The survival of infectious virus may well be enhanced in aqueous solution but our laboratory testing is based upon the detection of viral RNA that is present even when infectious virus does not survive.
Studies are in progress to produce validated data on virus survival in different media, but unpublished data from experimental studies here at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency indicate good viability of viral RNA on dried swabs stored at 4 °C. Placing faecal material into aqueous solution may be detrimental to the stability of the RNA if the pH is not buffered to neutral values. The procedures used conform to international protocols endorsed by the European Union's wild bird surveillance programme.
We have not seen the validation data relating to the method used by Olsen but direct comparisons between "dried swabs" and the use of transport medium will be important. The survival properties of viruses in different environments and media are currently being studied at the VLA, and part of this will be stability of virus from faeces. From Graeme Laver
The survey you reported seems to have isolated fewer than expected avian influenza viruses from wild birds in the UK, and the way the samples were collected and stored could be to blame. On one of our trips to the Great Barrier Reef in the 1970s we collected 642 cloacal swabs from healthy shearwaters and terns, from which we isolated nine low-pathogenicity influenza viruses. Other surveys seem to have had a similar isolation rate.
We used dry swabs to collect the samples from the birds' cloacas. These were immediately put into tubes containing 2 millilitres of tissue culture growth medium and then snap frozen in liquid nitrogen. The samples were never allowed to dry out or stored at the temperature of a domestic freezer, which would have destroyed the virus, for sure.
Nowadays, cloacal samples are tested for virus using PCR to amplify RNA, so virus in the samples does not have to be kept "alive" unless viable virus is required for further experiments. If liquid nitrogen is not easily available, cloacal swabs for PCR can be put straight into ethanol, which destroys the virus but preserves the RNA.
I don't know if the refrigerated swabs that had dried out (as reported in your article) were still suitable for PCR analysis, but I suspect from the results that they were not. But why on earth do this? Putting the samples into ethanol is no big deal. Murrumbateman, New South Wales, Australia Debora MacKenzie writes: We asked the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which runs the VLA, whether it would evaluate different methods for preserving bird flu virus in field samples. DEFRA said it is "looking into the possibility of conducting a trial in this area".
From issue 2551 of New Scientist magazine, 13 May 2006, page 22
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