H5N1 Suspected In A Dead Wild Swan In Czech Republic: Czech ::
H5N1 Suspected In A Dead Wild Swan In Czech Republic: Czech Authorities Applying Precautionary Measures. Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
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| Dangerous H5N1 bird flu strain confirmed in dead swan | Posted on : 2007-06-28 Author : DPA
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USACHPPM Health Information Operations- Weekly Update::
21 June – Forbes reported that the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which is dangerous for humans, has been confirmed at a poultry farm in the centre of the Czech
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Prague - A dead swan found by a lake in the south-eastern Czech Republic has been confirmed to carry the H5N1 bird flu strain, which is deadly to humans, Jaroslav Salava of the State Veterinary Administration told reporters Thursday. The case had not surprised veterinarians because the area's vast lakes attract scores of migrating wild birds, he said. "We consider this area a high risk," Salava added.
The first Czech case in a wild bird this year was detected after two H5N1 outbreaks were confirmed in commercial poultry flocks in the country's eastern region since last Thursday.
The dead swan was found on the edge of a lake in a popular holiday area. Reports said that holidaymakers considered leaving the lakes.
"Those fears are completely unfounded," said Salava, adding that people did not need to take any precautions. However, they should not touch dead birds, he said.
The administration plans to impose bans on moving and exhibiting domestic birds in two zones around the lakes and on hunting wild birds. Bird and poultry markets, exhibitions and competitions are also to be banned across the Czech Republic.
Commercial flocks found infected with H5N1 and poultry raised by the residents of adjacent villages were culled.
Veterinarians have so far spared some 80 privately-owned parrots owned in Norin, where some broiler chickens were found infected Wednesday. The pet birds are now in a quarantine, reports said.
Last week, a pet parakeet of 20 years fell victim to a slaughtering spree in the village of Tisova, where turkeys were sick with the virus. The agriculture minister then hurried to give the distraught owner a new pet bird.
Prior to the latest string of cases, 14 wild swans were found infected with the H5N1 virus in the country's southern regions last year.
Since Sunday bird flu has also been detected in dead swans in the German states of Bavaria and Saxony.
Some 190 people worldwide have died of bird flu since 2003, mainly through coming into close contact with infected poultry, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, which could spark a global pandemic and kill millions of people.
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http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/printstory.php?news=77426
Czech officials step up bird flu battle
Web posted at: 6/29/2007 9:39:22
Source ::: AFP
PRAGUE • Some 28,000 chickens at a Czech farm where the H5N1 strain of bird flu was found have been slaughtered, officials said yesterday, a week after the virus was found in turkeys in the same region.
"There was no problem. Everything went smoothly," Ales Cernohorsky, the deputy chief of the local fire brigade which was tasked with the culling, told reporters.
The affected poultry farm in Norin, in the centre of the Czech Republic, is located about 4km from the Tisova farm where 6,000 turkeys were slaughtered last week.
In the southeast, meanwhile, a wild swan found dead on Wednesday was confirmed yesterday to have had the H5N1 strain, which is potentially lethal to humans, bringing to 14 the number of such infected birds in the country, the veterinary services said.
A cordon was thrown up around the site, near the town of Lednice, said Jaroslav Salva, director of veterinary services in the eastern city of Brno.
Czech authorities suspect the infection at Norin could have been transferred on the shoes of a worker or on a car tyre between the two poultry farms, which belong to the same cooperative, ZOD Zalsi.
The cooperative owns other farms in the area, in the villages of Dvorisko, Zarecka Lhota and Loucky.
"Strict controls are being followed in all the villages in the region," Zbynek Semerad, a spokesman for the Czech veterinary services, said.
He said the outbreak of H5N1 was "the most serious animal infection" in the Czech Republic since an episode of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001.
Czech authorities attributed the presence of bird flu-the first time it had been detected in Czech domestic poultry-to litters contaminated by wild birds.
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Commentary at
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/06280703/H5N1_Czech_Lednice.html
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Immediate notification report
Report reference: , Ref OIE: 5654, Report Date: 29/06/2007 , Country: Czech Republic
Report Summary
Disease Highly pathogenic avian influenza Animal type Terrestrial
Food-Borne Virus Diseases::
Influenza H5N1 virus confirmed in wild birds in Dorset show the vaccine enables ducks and geese to fight H5N1, the highly lethal strain of bird flu,
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Causal Agent Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus Serotype(s) H5N1
Clinical Signs No Reason Reoccurrence of a listed disease
Date of confirmation of Event 28/06/2007 Date of Start of Event 26/06/2007
Date of report 29/06/2007 Diagnosis Laboratory (basic), Laboratory (advanced)
Date of last occurrence 06/2006 Number of reported outbreaks Submitted= 1, Draft= 0
Name of Sender of the report Mr Josef Vitásek Address Slezska 7, CZ-120 56 Praha 2 PRAGUE
Position Director of the Department of Animal Health and Welfare Telephone (420) 227 010 144
Fax (420) 227 010 195 Email j.vitasek@svscr.cz
Entered by Mr Josef Vitásek
Outbreak (this report - submitted)
Province District Sub-district Unit Type Location Latitude Longitude Start End
JIHOMORAVSKÝ Breclav Not applicable Lednice 48,7843 16,8295 26/06/2007
Species Measuring units Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Wild species Animals ... 1 1 0 0
Affected Population a mute swan found dead on a pond; the carcass was sent to the National Reference Laboratory
Outbreak summary: Total outbreaks = 1 (Submitted)
Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Wild species 1 1 0 0
Epidemiology
Epidemiological comments Source of Infection • Unknown or inconclusive
Control Measures
Applied • Screening
• Control of wildlife reservoirs
• Zoning
To be applied • No Planned Control Measures
Animals treated No
Vaccination Prohibited Yes
Printed on: Fri Jun 29 15:55:27 Paris, Madrid (heure d'été) 2007 Page 1/3
Country / Zone
Country or zone a zone or compartment
Diagnostic test results
Laboratory Type Name of Laboratory Species Test Type Date Results Provided Result
National laboratory State Veterinary Institute (SVI), Prague Wild species gene sequencing 28/06/2007 Positive
Future Reporting
What further reports will be submitted in relation to this event?
There are 1outbreaks that are still recorded as unresolved. It is not possible to declare this event resolved until these individual outbreaks are resolved.
Immediate notification report. Report reference: , Ref OIE: 5654, Report Date: 29/06/2007 , Country: Czech Republic
Printed on: Fri Jun 29 15:55:28 Paris, Madrid (heure d'été) 2007 Page 2/3
Outbreak map
Immediate
http://www.oie.int/wahid-prod/reports/en_imm_0000005654_20070629_155527.pdf
Swan in Czech dies of dangerous H5N1 bird flu
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| www.chinaview.cn (http://www.chinaview.cn/index.htm) http://imgs.xinhuanet.com/icon/2006english/2007korea/space.gif 2007-06-29 06:10:17 |
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PRAGUE, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The dead swan that was recently found in Lednice, south Moravia area of the Czech republic, died of dangerous H5N1 strain of bird flu, regional veterinary administration head Jaroslav Salava confirmed on Thursday.
Veterinaries have marked two 1-km zones around the pond where the swan was found and around the other ponds in Lednice, where safety measures will be applied.
The Lednice ponds, along with the nearby Musov lakes, rank among the most risky areas with a large movement of wild birds.
There is no information about a clinical manifestation of the illness, according to Salava.
Two cases of dangerous H5N1 strain of bird flu had already been uncovered at two poultry farms in east Bohemia area this month.
The first case of bird flu in the Czech Republic was found in March 2006 after which 13 cases of the disease have been registered. In all cases birds have been infected by the H5N1 virus, which also poses danger to human beings.
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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-06/29/content_6305523.htm
Bird flu hits Germany and Czech Republic
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By Ahmed ElAmin
28/06/2007 - The deadly form of bird flu is spreading again in Europe, with Germany and the Czech Republic both reporting outbreaks of H5N1.
The outbreaks are occuring despite the EU's stepped up efforts to try and prevent the virus from affecting the bloc's poultry (javascript:KeywordSearch('KEYWORDS=poultry&period=all&inner=1');) supply. Some experts are now saying the new outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 (javascript:KeywordSearch('KEYWORDS=H5N1&period=all&inner=1');) form of the disease indicate it might be in the process of becoming endemic in Europe.
Such a conclusion could serve to again raise consumer fears about the extent of the disease in their foods, putting pressure on processors to be careful about where they source their supplies
In the Czech Republic the deadly H5N1 form of the disease has infected broilers, which were to be culled by today. The bird flu virus was found in 60 out of 27,800 broilers bred in Norin, according to local press reports.
An outbreak also occured at a turkey farm in the region, where 6,000 birds were culled. Officials also reported discovering the virus in a dead swan found in Lednice, south Moravia.
The Czech Republic was hit with its first bird flu case in March 2006. Since then the country has registered another 13 cases of H5N1 infection of swans. The current outbreak was the first infection of domestic birds in the country.
Last weekend Germany confirmed that H5N1 was found in six wild birds found dead near Nuremberg, and then reported on Tuesday that three wild swans in the east of the country were also infected.
In April 2006 Germany recorded one incidence of the virus on a farm, and had to cull about 21,000 poultry. Germany last reported H5N1 in August last year after officials detetected it in a swan at a zoo in Dresden.
Earlier this year outbreaks in Hungary (javascript:KeywordSearch('KEYWORDS=Hungary&period=all&inner=1');) led the government to shut down poultry sales from the affected regions.
Meanwhile experts at a meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) this week in Rome warned that avian flu seems to be entrenched as new outbreaks appear.
Joseph Domenech, the FAO's chief veterinary officer, said the response to the virus has improved significantly over the past three years, but it remains entrenched in several countries and will continue to spread.
He said that except in Egypt and Indonesia, human H5N1 cases have been very sporadic.
"This achievement is the most important demonstration of the effects of worldwide efforts to contain the H5N1 virus," he said.
In the 15 countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East where the virus has cropped up in the past six months, it was rapidly detected and eliminated or controlled, Domenech said.
He also stressed that there should be absolutely no reason for complacency.
"Recent H5N1 outbreaks in Bangladesh, Ghana, Togo, the Czech Republic and Germany are a clear reminder that the virus still succeeds in spreading to new or previously already infected countries," Domenech said. "What makes the battle against avian influenza so difficult are the many high risk poultry production and marketing practices that still continue in many countries."
A potential human influenza pandemic can not be ruled out as long as the virus continues to exist in poultry, he added.
At a conference last week in Toronto, international experts also warned that the persistent outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 virus in some regions indicates that it may become endemic.
In Europe and the Russian Federation, "the reemergence of the virus in a number of countries does suggest we are moving toward endemicity" even though some countries have deployed vaccinations against the disease, Ian Brown, a scientist at the UK's Veterinary Laboratory Agency, told the conference.
Vaccinating poultry and ducks to contain avian flu has been controversial. It reduces birds' clinical symptoms, keeping them alive and preserving their economic value-though not necessarily their utility as a trade good, because some countries refuse to import vaccinated chicken.
It also decreases viral shedding, slowing disease transmission, but it does not block infection entirely, potentially allowing the virus to spread silently, the experts said.
According to scientists at the conference, vaccination may be driving the virus to evolve. Samples gathered in northern Vietnam in December 2005 were found to be more virulent than earlier samples, but less likely to be controlled by vaccines that once contained the virus successfully, said David Suarez of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory.
Farmers and poultry producers have suffered losses amounting to billions of dollars, the FAO estimates.
Last month two people have been infected with a milder form of the H5N1 virus after an outbreak on a farm in North Wales.
The H5N1 virus has been responsible for the death of about 182 people in Asia and four in Turkey, since 2003. It was also the virus that infected a turkey flock at the Bernard Matthews' plant in Suffolk, the UK earlier this year, resulting in the culling of 159,000 birds.
The European Commission this year tightened current restrictions to be put on processed and raw meats from member states in the event of an outbreak.
The new measures, which will come into affect on 1 July this year, were made due to a number of scares throughout the bloc during the year.
Initial restrictions imposed on areas found to house infected poultry will be amended further, tightening movements on meat in and out of the region. Under earlier proposals, the EU directive called on officials to ensure the establishment of a 3 km quarantine zone around the infected area.
A further 10 km surveillance zone in which animals must remain indoors and not moved to any location other than the slaughterhouse is also in place.
While the regulators have consistently advised the public that the risk of H5N1 being transmitted from poultry to humans is "extremely low", consumers have tended to react to outbreaks by lowering their consumption of the meat.
Outbreaks last year in Europe led to to a decline in consumption and exports. Some EU members were forced to stockpile supplies, leading to a glut in the market.
http://www.foodqualitynews.com/news/ng.asp?n=77755-h-n-poultry-hungary
Commentary at
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/06280703/H5N1_Czech_Lednice.htmlCommentary
H5N1 Confirmed in Lednice Czech Republic
Recombinomics Commentary
June 28, 2007
A dead swan found by a lake in the south-eastern Czech Republic has been confirmed to carry the H5N1 bird flu strain, which is deadly to humans, Jaroslav Salava of the State Veterinary Administration told reporters Thursday. The case had not surprised veterinarians because the area's vast lakes attract scores of migrating wild birds, he said. "We consider this area a high risk," Salava added.
The first Czech case in a wild bird this year was detected after two H5N1 outbreaks were confirmed in commercial poultry flocks in the country's eastern region since last Thursday.
The dead swan was found on the edge of a lake in a popular holiday area.
The above comments confirm Qinghai H5N1 in a dead swan in Lednice, South Moravia, near the Czech/Slovakia/Austrian border. It is not near farms, but is a popular site for wild birds. However, migration in June in the Czech Republic is limited, and most of the positive birds in Nuremberg (http://www.recombinomics.com/News/06230702/H5N1_Germany_WB.html) in Bavaria and Frohburg in Saxony (http://www.recombinomics.com/News/06260702/H5N1_WB_Saxony.html) were in mute swans, which are non-migratory.
The H5N1 confirmation in south-eastern Czech Republic extends the region for confirmed H5N1 cases, which are in Bavaria and Saxony (http://www.recombinomics.com/News/06260703/H5N1_WB_Multi.html) in Germany, and northern and southern areas in the Czech Republic. These data provide more evidence for endemic H5N1 in wild birds in western Europe.
Thus far, only dead or dying wild birds have been positive, raising additional concerns over the sensitivity of the surveillance program.
More information on the sequences from these isolates, as well as the status of dead birds at Litomysl (http://www.recombinomics.com/News/06240704/H5N1_Czech_WB.html) and 250 dead seagulls near Nocad (http://www.recombinomics.com/News/06280702/H5N1_Czech_More.html), adjacent to the border with Poland, would be useful.
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Dangerous H5N1 bird flu strain confirmed in dead swan (Czech)