China confirms bird flu in remote far west [Qinghai]

[Theresa42]

China confirms bird flu in remote far west
Fri May 5, 2006 10:33 AM BST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Friday confirmed an outbreak of bird flu among wild birds in a remote area of far-western Qinghai province.

The outbreak was confirmed by the national bird flu laboratory on Wednesday, and the number of dead wild birds had risen to 123 by Thursday, the Ministry of Agriculture said on its Web site.

An outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in China's Qinghai Lake last May killed thousands of birds and that particular strain has since been found in affected places in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

China has reported at least 18 human infections of the H5N1 strain, 12 of which have been fatal. It has reported more than 30 outbreaks of bird flu in poultry across a dozen provinces over the past year.

Experts fear that bird flu could mutate into a form where it could pass easily among humans, potentially triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-05-05T093311Z_01_PEK211314_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BIRDFLU-CHINA.xml&archived=False

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: China confirms bird flu in remote far west [Qinghai]

....... the number of dead wild birds had risen to 123 by Thursday, ..........

Wouldn't you love to know what's in their neucleotide sequences? It will be interesting to see how quickly they release them.

.

[Theresa42]

China Reports Bird Flu Outbreak Among Wild Fowl

China Reports Bird Flu Outbreak Among Wild Fowl

BEIJING (AP)--The Chinese government on Friday reported an outbreak of bird flu in wild birds in remote western China in a further sign of the difficulties in controlling the virus' spread. The Ministry of Agriculture said that 125 migratory birds, all but two of them bar-headed geese, have died in the outbreak first detected Apr. 23 in Qinghai province.

A government laboratory tested samples of the dead fowl and confirmed Wednesday that the birds were infected with the deadly H5N1 virus, a ministry statement said. It is at least the second time H5N1 has turned up in Qinghai, a region of high-altitude plains and mountains that sits on a prime migration route for birds between Siberia and South Asia. The first outbreak, a year ago, was seen as a warning that the virus was poised to spread beyond China and Southeast Asia. In the year since, outbreaks have occurred as far away as Europe and Africa.

So far H5N1 has not evolved into a virus easily transmissible among humans. The virus has been detected among birds in more than 50 countries, while nine countries have reported human cases, 113 of them fatal, according to U.N. agencies. The worry among disease experts is that the farther the virus spreads, the greater the chances of contact between infected birds and humans and the greater the likelihood it will mutate into a more virulent form. "Since this outbreak is in wild birds, it will increase the sense of emergency," said Noureddin Mona, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's representative in Beijing.

"Wild birds are difficult to control. All countries have to be on alert." Unlike the first outbreak a year ago when China delayed allowing outside experts into Qinghai, authorities appeared to respond relatively quickly this time. Mona said FAO experts are scheduled to investigate the disease zone next week.

The Agriculture Ministry said that after herders and forestry officials first reported finding dead bar-headed geese on April 23 in Qinghai's Yushu county, the local government immediately dispatched a group of veterinary experts to the area. The area is lightly populated. The ministry said no homes were raising domesticated fowl - a factor that decreases the risks of further transmission.

Herders were told to take their livestock a few weeks early to summer grazing grounds, far away from the infected area, the ministry statement said. The government has also disinfected the area and set up observation posts to monitor the migratory fowl. In addition to bar-headed geese, a brown-headed gull and a ruddy shelduck were also found dead, the statement said.

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=34503

[Theresa42]

China confirms bird flu outbreak in northern province

China confirms bird flu outbreak in northern province
05/05/2006 -- 16:50(GMT+7)

Beijing (VNA) - The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture on May 5 confirmed an outbreak of bird flu among wild birds in China's northwestern Qinghai province.

The outbreak was confirmed by the national bird flu laboratory on May 3, and the number of dead wild birds had risen to 123 by May 4, the ministry said.

Seventeen dead wild geese were found in the wetlands in Yulin county, Yulin prefecture in Qinghai province on April 23, and samples from the dead birds were sent to the state bird flu laboratory for tests. On May 3, the laboratory confirmed that the birds died of the H5N1 bird flu virus.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Qinghai province have taken all necessary measures to monitor and sterilize the area, and to prevent human contact with the wild birds, according to China Daily newspaper.

http://www.vnagency.com.vn/NewsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=34&NEWS_ID=197863

[Joe Neubarth]

Re: China confirms bird flu in remote far west [Qinghai]

Obviously these were Bar Headed Geese that were not exposed the previous year. What this tells us is that Qinghai Lakes H5N1 (what I call Sichuan Sheet) is still endemic to China and that any unexposed birds that fly there will become exposed and die.

Meanwhile the news media continues to cover up the fact that this virus is being transmitted human to human to human after Sichuan Sheet reached Indonesia.

I believe there is ample evidence to confirm that it is h2h2h2h in Indonesia. It just does not transfer from human to human very well yet. Whatever genetic modification it is lacking to be able to do so could be gained today or tomorrow or the day after tomorrow (or maybe never).

Please remember the Australian Doctor working in the US Naval Lab in Indonesia who reported that in case after case the H5N1 virus that was killing people was not the same virus that was in the bird population of that vast country. In other words, people who were dying were not getting H5N1 from the birds. They had to be getting it from each other (or as somebody else speculated, their pet cats, which most of them do not have).