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Swiss report first bird flu case in 2 years
27 Mar 2008 11:31:52 GMT
Source: Reuters
ZURICH, March 27 (Reuters) - Switzerland reported the first case of H5N1 bird flu in the country in two years in a duck on Sempachersee lake, veterinary authorities said on Thursday.
The duck, the 33rd case of bird flu in Switzerland, showed no signs of illness, the Federal Veterinary Office said in a statement.
The other 32 discovered cases of bird flu were all reported in early 2006, on Lake Geneva and Lake Constance.
Experts fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide. (Reporting by Sam Cage; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
<TABLE class="georgia11 whiteBg" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=620 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=padlrt10>Switzerland detects first bird flu case in two years
</TD></TR><TR><TD class="marginbottom8 padlrt10">GENEVA - SWITZERLAND on Thursday reported its first case of bird flu in two years, after diagnosing a wild duck with the disease, said the Swiss federal veterinary department.
The H5N1 virus was detected in a wild duck on Lake Sempach, near Lucern, during a regular detection programme in which 200 specimens obtained from birds were tested.
The duck shows no symptoms of the disease, said the office, adding that the detected virus is almost identical with those detected in Europe last year.
Protective measures put in place since last October remain in place, and 'additional measures such as a ban on free-range poultry is not necessary at this time', said the office in a statement.
The risk of transmission to farmed poultry is small, indicated the office.
This case brings the total number of H5N1 cases detected in Switzerland to 33. Previous cases were detected in February and March 2006 in wild birds found dead in the Lake Leman and Lake Constance regions. Earlier this year, wild swans tested positive for the strain of bird flu in south-west England. -- AFP
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
AVIAN INFLUENZA (53): SWITZERLAND
*********************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Switzerland on Thursday [27 Mar 2008] reported its 1st case of bird
flu in 2 years, after diagnosing a wild duck with the H5N1 virus,
said the Swiss federal veterinary department.
The virus was detected in a wild duck on Lake Sempach, near Lucerne,
during a regular detection programme in which 200 specimens obtained
from birds were tested.
The duck shows no symptoms of the disease, said the office, adding
that the detected virus is almost identical with those detected in
Europe in 2007.
Protective measures put in place since October 2007 remain in place,
and "additional measures such as a ban on free-range poultry is not
necessary at this time", said the office in a statement.
The risk of transmission to farmed poultry is small, indicated the office.
This case brings the total number of H5N1 cases detected in Switzerland to 33.
Previous cases were detected in February and March 2006 in wild birds
found dead in the Lake Leman and Lake Constance regions.
Earlier in 2008, wild swans tested positive for the strain of bird
flu in southwest England.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall
Swiss find H5N1 in wild duck; India has new outbreak
Mar 27, 2008 (CIDRAP News) ? Animal health officials in Switzerland today said samples from an asymptomatic duck were positive for H5N1 avian influenza, as officials in India announced a poultry outbreak in another district in West Bengal state.
Switzerland's Federal Veterinary Office today said the virus was found in a duck on Sempachersee Lake, northwest of Lucerne in the central part of the country, according to a report from Reuters. Switzerland hasn't reported any infected birds in nearly 2 years, according to past reports from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Animal health officials said the wild duck was a European pochard, according to Swissinfo, a Swiss Broadcasting Corp. Web news service. Authorities said an analysis of the H5N1 virus showed that it resembled strains found in other European birds in 2007.
The infected duck brings the number of H5N1 findings in Swiss birds to 33, the veterinary office statement said, according to the two media sources. The other 32 birds were found on Lake Geneva and Lake Constance.
Elsewhere, district officials in India announced today that the H5N1 virus was responsible for an outbreak in poultry in West Bengal state's Jalpaiguri district, the Times of India reported. The findings in Jalpaiguri push the number of West Bengal districts affected by a second round of H5N1 outbreaks to three.
The virus struck 112 backyard poultry, the Times report said. Samples from the birds tested positive at the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory in Bhopal, a Jalpaiguri official named Banamali Roy told the Times.
In other developments, agriculture officials in Vietnam said yesterday they would examine vaccinated poultry in Hanoi and some of the country's provinces in the wake of reports of H5N1 outbreaks at farms that have participated in vaccination programs, Thanh Nien News reported today.
On Mar 17 and 18, animal health officials reported two H5N1 outbreaks in two districts in Quang Nam province in central Vietnam, according to the Thanh Nien report. One third of the birds in one of the districts, Ni Thanh, had been vaccinated on Mar 12, but veterinary officials said they could have had H5N1 before the vaccine generated antibodies to the virus.
Nguyen Thanh Sol, deputy chief of Vietnam's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, told Thanh Nien that though many provinces have taken part in vaccination and other programs, carelessness?especially among farmers?was responsible for avian flu outbreaks.
In Egypt, people who raise poultry in their backyards now seem to be heeding safety warnings about H5N1, such as advice to keep the birds in coops away from living areas, according to a report yesterday from the Associated Press (AP). The story said poultry have nearly vanished from the streets of the country's villages.
Egypt has had 47 human H5N1 cases and 20 deaths, the third highest toll after Indonesia and Vietnam, and the disease has struck women and children hardest, because they have traditionally been the primary caretakers of poultry.
"In the beginning, the people were just afraid for their chickens. Now they are afraid for themselves," Abeer Hussein Moussa, a resident of Tawfiqiya in Fayoum governorate, told the AP.
As more Egyptians stop raising birds at home, chicken production has transitioned mainly to large commercial farms, the AP reported. However, not all commercial farms conduct rigorous vaccination programs, and the government has shuttered 18 farms after finding birds infected with the H5N1 virus, the report said.
France raises bird flu risk level on Swiss case
28 Mar 2008 16:48:46 GMT
<!-- 28 Mar 2008 16:48:46 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove -->Source: Reuters
<!-- AN5.0 article title end --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="/bin/js/article.js"></SCRIPT></SPAN><INPUT id=CurrentSize type=hidden value=13 name=CurrentSize> <!-- France raises bird flu risk level on Swiss case --><!-- Reuters -->PARIS, March 28 (Reuters) - France's agriculture ministry raised the level of risk for bird flu to moderate from low on Friday, a day after Switzerland reported its first case for two years of the deadly H5N1 strain.
With effect from Sunday, birds in France cannot be assembled in high priority zones, and birds and poultry will have to be locked up to avoid contact with wild birds, the ministry said in a statement.
It will also be prohibited to transport birds used for hunting purposes in France, it said.
Veterinary authorities in Switzerland said on Thursday a duck from Sempachersee lake had been infected with H5N1. It was Switzerland's 33rd case of bird flu.
The other 32 discovered cases of bird flu were all reported in early 2006, on Lake Geneva and Lake Constance.
France, which raised its risk alert to "high" after some wild swans infected with the highly pathogenic virus were found dead in northeast France in July 2007, regularly adjusts its alert levels.
Experts fear the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person, leading to a pandemic that could kill millions worldwide.
(Reporting by Tamora Vidaillet; editing by Chris Johnson)
As to the proper taking of samples, perhaps a better rule of thumb might be to utilize cloacal and fecal techniques for Vietnam, Indonesian and Fujian strains, and use nasal swabs for Qinghai since its E627K PB2 mutation could be a primary cause for respiratory infection (rather than intestinal), and also be one of the causes of asymptomatic wildfowl. In other words, the nature of the virus and its replication characteristics should perhaps be the determing factor.
As to the proper taking of samples, perhaps a better rule of thumb might be to utilize cloacal and fecal techniques for Vietnam, Indonesian and Fujian strains, and use nasal swabs for Qinghai since its E627K PB2 mutation could be a primary cause for respiratory infection (rather than intestinal), and also be one of the causes of asymptomatic wildfowl. In other words, the nature of the virus and its replication characteristics should perhaps be the determing factor.
Actually, there are more problems for the Qinghai strain. Even under controled lab conditions, isolation of virus was limited to a single daily sample. Thus, if a bird was infected once a year, virus would only be isolated on a single day if 365 daily samples were collected from the same bird.
I think that all of the examples from asymptomatic birds were from testing of birds that had been killed.
Uvs Lake H5N1 Confirmed in Switzerland Recombinomics Commentary 13:44
March 27, 2008
The H5N1 virus was detected in a wild duck on Lake Sempach, near Lucern
The duck shows no symptoms of the disease, said the office, adding that the detected virus is almost identical with those detected in Europe last year.
The above comments describe the confirmation of H5N1 in an asymptomatic wild duck in Switzerland. The detection marks a significant improvement over earlier surveillance when H5N1 was only found in dead or dying wild birds.
The description of the isolate indicates it is the Uvs Lake strain, which was first reported in Europe in the summer of 2007. It had been previously found in Kuwait in early 2007, South Korea in late 2006, and at Uvs Lake in Mongolia in the summer of 2006.
This new version of the Qinghai strain has become dominant in Europe since the summer of 2007. All published sequences in central and western Europe since the summer of 2007 have been the Uvs Lake strain.
Recent reports from southern Russia indicate wild bird migration has begun earlier this year and is underway. Therefore, more reports of H5N1 in Europe are expected.
.
"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
Uvs Lake H5N1 in Asymptomatic Pochard Recombinomics Commentary 19:32
March 28, 2008
Animal health officials in Switzerland today said samples from an asymptomatic duck were positive for H5N1 avian influenza
Animal health officials said the wild duck was a European pochard, according to Swissinfo, a Swiss Broadcasting Corp. Web news service. Authorities said an analysis of the H5N1 virus showed that it resembled strains found in other European birds in 2007.
The above comments indicate earlier reports that the asymptomatic H5N1 positive duck in Switzerland was a European pochard. These data highlight the limitations of lab research on wild bird susceptibility to H5N1. Recent data suggested that a strong candidate for transport and transmission of H5N1 was mallards because they were asymptomatic and shed relatively high levels of the clade 2.2 virus isolated in Turkey in 2005.
Pochards were not considered likely sources because they developed symptoms that would limit transport by infected birds. However, the presence of H5N1 in an asymptomatic pochard contradicts that conclusion and highlights variables that may limit conclusions.
Although the failure of the H5N1 to grow to high levels in the intestines of 23 species of wild birds may explain the general failure to detect H5N1 in cloacal swabs or feces from wild birds, those levels may be linked to the strain of H5N1. Clade 1 grew to high levels in the intestines of asymptomatic waterfowl in Vietnam and much of the clade 2.3 detected in Asia is found in cloacal swabs or fecal samples.
However, as noted in the recent paper on wild birds, the clade 2.2 from Turkey in 2005 (Qinghai strain) did not grow to high levels, but clade 2.2.3 (Uvs Lake strain) was found in fecal samples collected from areas in South Korea frequented by wild birds. Thus, detection may be related to how samples are collected and tested, or to changes in the H5N1 itself.
The H5N1 that was in the pochard, as well as all recent outbreaks in central or western Europe has been the Uvs Lake strain, which may be more common in asymptomatic birds. In Germany, H5N1 was found in a healthy mute swan in the summer of 2007 or in England recently. Similarly, recent poultry outbreaks in Turkey have been linked to discarded tissues from hunter killed wild birds, which likely represents H5N1 in healthy wild birds.
Alternatively, the effect on the infected birds may be linked to immunity from earlier exposure to high or low path H5 or the dominance of the Uvs Lake strain may be linked to viral evolution leading to spread linked to asymptomatic infections.
Thus, identifying species involved in the transport and transmission of H5N1 based on lab testing with a limited number of H5N1 species may not be predictive. Lab experiments showing resistance in pigeons has not been supported by H5N1 from dead pigeons in a number of countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Unfortunately, these lab results may lead to lack of testing, as indicated by comments by heath agencies on testing of various species, including limited testing of pigeons.
.
"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
Information received on 31/03/2008 from Dr Heinzpeter Schwermer, Scientist, Monitoring, Swiss Federal Veterinary Office, LIEBEFELD BERNE, Switzerland
? Summary
Report type Immediate notification (Final report) Start date 22/02/2008
Date of first confirmation of the event 26/03/2008
Report date 31/03/2008
Date submitted to OIE 31/03/2008 Date event resolved 01/04/2008
Reason for notification Reoccurrence of a listed disease
Date of previous occurrence 06/2006
Causal agent Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus Serotype H5N1
Nature of diagnosis Laboratory (advanced)
This event pertains to the whole country
? New outbreaks Outbreak 1 - Oberkirch, Oberkirch, LUZERN Date of start of the outbreak 22/02/2008
Outbreak status Resolved (22/02/2008)
Epidemiological unit Not applicable
Affected animals: Species - Susceptible - Cases - Deaths - Destroyed - Slaughtered * Wild species - 6 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 Affected population: Two tufted ducks (Aythya fuligula), one common pochard (Aythya ferina), one mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and two great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) that were caught in a bird fyke on Lake Sempach.
These birds were sampled in the frame of the national programme for HPAI and released after sampling. The common pochard (Aythya ferina) that tested positive showed no clinical signs of the disease at the time of sampling. The other birds tested negative.
Until now, there was no indication of the presence of clinical infection in this region of Switzerland.
This region can be considered as one with the highest surveillance activity for avian influenza virus in Switzerland.
Since October 2007, 200 living birds have been sampled and tested negative in that region.
? Summary of outbreaks
Total outbreaks: 1
Outbreak statistics: Species - Apparent morbidity rate - Apparent mortality rate - Apparent case fatality rate - Proportion susceptible animals lost*
* Wild species - 16.67% - 0.00% - 0.00% - 0.00%
* Removed from the susceptible population through death, destruction and/or slaughter
? Epidemiology
Source of the outbreak(s) or origin of infection Unknown or inconclusive
? Epidemiological comments
There was no evidence for a suspicion of HPAI at the moment of sampling as neither clinical signs nor an increase in morbidity or mortality could be observed in the area (neither in wild birds, nor in backyard or farmed birds).
Monitoring samples are typically analysed in batches, explaining why the result was obtained only recently and notified with a delay of approximately one month. The sequence determined (303 BP) showed high homology to the viral sequences found in Eastern Europe in 2007. The obtained sequence at the hemagglutinin A cleavage site revealed that the H5N1 strain detected was highly pathogenic and the pathogenicity index could not be determined.
In the past five weeks after sampling, no increased morbidity or mortality was observed in wild or domestic birds in the area of Lake Sempach nor in other regions of Switzerland.
Proportionately to its wild bird population, Lake Sempach is the best monitored water place in Switzerland, as it is the home base of the Swiss Ornithological Station.
Nevertheless, measures were taken in line with the Swiss and European Union legislation and disease notification to the European Committee and to the OIE was done, since the information about this isolated, random finding might be of importance to the scientific community and to policy makers.
? Control measures
Measures applied Vaccination prohibited
No treatment of affected animals
Measures to be applied No other measures
? Diagnostic test results
Laboratory name and type Institut f?r Viruskrankheiten und Immunprophylaxe (IVI) (National laboratory)
Tests and results: Species - Test - Test date - Result
* Wild species - polymerase chain reaction (PCR) - 26/03/2008 - Positive
Until now, there was no indication of the presence of clinical infection in this region of Switzerland.
This region can be considered as one with the highest surveillance activity for avian influenza virus in Switzerland.
Since October 2007, 200 living birds have been sampled and tested negative in that region.
The EID report on wild birds indicated that H5N1 could be isoalted from lab infected birds for a one day period. Thus, collection of 200 samples over a six month period would not be expected to yeild more than one H5N1 isolate, even if all 200 birds were H5N1 infected during that 6 month time frame.
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