Thursday, 11 April 2013

Bird flu news


H7N9 Bird Flu Cases Rise To 33, Deaths Reach Nine in China; KFC Sales Slump



10 April, 2013

Five new cases of the deadly bird flu H7N9 were found in China yesterday, increasing the total in the country to 33, the state-run Shanghai Daily Newspaper reported today. Nine people have died to date.

The government expressed confidence yesterday that the outbreak was under control. “Overall, the outbreak is at a stage where it can be prevented and contained,” Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as telling state television.

Eastern Chinese cities that have been hardest hit have been closing live poultry markets and taking other precautions to limit the spread of the new virus. China was the epicenter of the SARS epidemic in 2003 which killed several hundred people worldwide.

H7N9 has already been hurting the poultry industry. Shares in Yum!, which runs the big KFC chain, lost more than 2% in afterhours trading after the company said same-store KFC sales in China in March fell 16% amid consumer worries about the flu.

Shanghai has had 15 H7N9 cases so far, more than any other city.



Thailand stock up antiviral bird flu drugs
Thailand has stocked up some four million doses of antiviral drugs, as part of the Ministry of Public Health's high alert against deadly bird flu of all strains, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.


11 April, 2013



Public Health Minister Dr. Pradit Sinthawanarong told reporters on Wednesday that his ministry has also closely coordinated with experts of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives' Department of Livestocks Development, the Geneva-based World Health Organisation (WHO) and Thailand MOPH-US CDC Collaboration (TUC) to monitor the updated situation although there have been no bird flu cases reported in Thailand for over seven years.

Dr. Pradit acknowledged that his ministry's moves are in response to latest reports that current outbreaks of the new deadly H7N9 avian flu in China have killed three more people, while the H5N1 strain has re-emerged in neighbouring Cambodia and Vietnam, with eight fatalities in Cambodia alone so far.

Dr. Pradit said there has been no evidence that both the H7N9 and the H5N1 avian influenza of the A-strain, spreading in China, Vietnam and Cambodia, has transmited from human to human, insisting that two antiviral drugs, including oseltamivir and zanamivir, remain effective for bird flu patients.

According to updated reports, there have been three more H7N9 fatalities in China, bringing the death toll from the H7N9 virus in the country to nine, from a total of 21 patients so far.

Vietnam, meanwhile, has recorded one H5N1 patient, a four year-old boy, while the same viral strain has killed eight people in Cambodia lately.-- BERNAMA




New bird-flu outbreak on Western Cape ostrich farm
A TYPE of bird flu has been detected on an ostrich farm near Oudtshoorn, Western Cape agriculture MEC Gerrit van Rensburg said on Tuesday.


11 April, 2013



"The tests indicated that the causative organism is a H7N1 virus," he said. "The pathogenicity of this virus is still unknown, but samples have been submitted to determine the type."

About 50,000 ostriches have been culled in South Africa since the H5N2 bird-flu virus was detected in the Klein Karoo in April 2011. The industry's biggest buyer, the European Union, imposed an export ban that resulted in losses of more than R1bn. Several farmers culled their entire flocks and laid off all their workers.

The source of the latest infection was not yet clear, but the provincial department had started an "intensive epidemiological investigation", according to Mr van Rensburg.

As a precaution, the MEC has prohibited all movement of ostriches and ostrich products within a 3km radius of the farm where the outbreak occurred. All ostriches in this zone are being quarantined, sampled and tested.

The department’s planned ostrich auction for Wednesday has also been postponed, and the measures will remain in place until further notice.

Mr van Rensburg said the impact of the latest outbreak on the industry’s export hopes would be clearer once the results of the follow-up tests were known.

Ostrich producers have been told to limit the movement of their animals within the area and to report any sick or dead birds to the state veterinarian.

The Cape Argus reported on Tuesday that there was also a new threat from thieves who plucked feathers from live birds at night, with the Western Cape government’s research farm in Oudtshoorn reportedly among the main targets.

Researcher Stefan Engelbrecht told the newspaper the farm was first hit by feather thieves about a month ago and again recently. About 70 birds were plucked and four were bludgeoned to death.

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