Dead Swans - 5HN1 Bird Flu Update News blog: Avian Influenza Resources

Mar 29: Relenza wins US approval: Relenza (zanamivir), an inhaled antiviral by GlaxoSmithKline, today was granted federal approval for preventing flu in people 5 and older, and is said to be effective in both preventing and treating influenza A and B, and thus could be effective for the treatment of avian influenza, which is a type A. It is not intended as a substitute for flu vaccine (for normal seasonal flus). In related news, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers from the Mayo Clinic have evaluated a bird flu vaccine being developed as having an efficacy that is "poor to moderate at best." According to the article, a dosage 12 times higher than a normal flu shot proected only 54% of the test subjects. Dr. Fauci of the US NIAID, which is developing this vaccine, acknowledged that "we have a long way to go," and still in the early stages.

Mar 29: Czech swan: Czech authorities have confirmed H5N1 in a dead swan found near the town of Hluboka nad Vltavou in the south of the country. A second dead swan from the region is being tested for H5N1 in Prague by the State Veterinary Office.

Mar 23: US buys more Relenza and Tamiflu: The US Dep't of Health and Human Services ordered 2.2 million more treatment courses of Relenza and 3.8 million courses of Tamiflu. The Stategic National Stockpile will then have a total of 26 million treatment courses of these antivirals, and the goal is to have enough to treat 25% of the US population, according to HHS Secretary Leavitt.

Mar 20: WHO on Egypt: The World Health Organization today published its situation update on Egypt, where new human cases have been reported, but not yet added to the WHO tally.

Mar 19: Israel flu concerns: Hundreds of dead birds including poultry in southern Israel in two communal farms of Ein Hashlosha kibbutz in the Negev. This southern area borders the area in Egypt where H5N1 has already been found. The area has been quarantined, and tests are ongoing, while imports of meat and poultry from Israel to Gaza have been banned.

Mar 19: Egypt human case: Egyptian authorities today announced its second human case, in a 28 year old man from an unrelated family, but the same governorate (Qalubia) as its first case, a woman who was hospitalized Mar 16 and died the next day. The current patient appears to be recovering. The US Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU-3) in Cairo has confirmed the latest case as H5N1, although the WHO has not announced the confirmation, pending further collaborative test results. Also two more children with fever in Shebeen el-Kom are beign tested for H5N1.

Mar 17: Pakistan: We recently (Mar 7) reported the rumor of possible bird flu in Pakistan. Pakistani officials now confirm that there is a possibility that the bird flu outbreak in dometic chickens in late February (Feb 27) was due to H5N1. In that case nearly 700 birds had died, and more than 20,000 were subsequently culled. New samples have been sent to laboraties in the UK (at the EU's Reference Lab for Avian Influenza) for testing, and so far H5 has been confirmed, which means that it is likely the H5N1 strain.

Mar 17: Netherlands: Voluntary vaccinations of dometic poultry authorized by the EU has begun in the Netherlands, where an outbreak of a different (not H5N1) variant of the bird flu occurred in 2003, when a culling of over 30 million birds was applied as a control strategy. However, some countries such as Japan that important poultry do not accept vaccinated meat products.

Mar 16: Roche Tamiflu Update: The manufacturer of Tamiflu just published their most recent update on Tamiflu for Influenza Preparedness. Roche is announcing the increase of production toward a goal of 400 million treatments annually by the end of this year, with the help of external production partners (15 contractors).

Mar 16: Denmark: Denmark reported H5N1 bird flu in wild fowl.

Mar 16: India testing, Asia: Indian health officials are testing whether an outbreak in backyard poultry in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state was H5N1 bird flu. Control efforts include the culling of at least 70,000 birds. Last month, India reported its first bird flu outbreak in Maharashtra, where more than 100 people with feverwere tested for bird flu, and all tested negative (no disease), with dengue listed as the possible source of the fever there. In other news, Myanmar (in Mandalay) and Afghanistan (Kabul and Jalabad) have recently confirmed H5N1, and Malaysia has confirmed more cases in domestic and wild birds.

Mar 15: Azerbaijan dog: Bird flu was confirmed in a stray dog that died from Azerbaijan. This is the first dog confirmed to be infected with H5N1 in Europe, and only the third european case of mammalian infection after cats in Germany and Austria, and stone marten (related to weasel) in Germany.

Mar 15: Sweden ducks: Sweden confirmed H5N1 bird flu in wild ducks in two wild ducks from its east coast.

Mar 14: Azerbaijan confirmation: The Azeri government said that H5N1 bird flu was the case in 3 of the suspected human cases reported earlier, although in-depth tests are still ongoing in London-based laboratories, while special WHO testing equipment will also soon be brought directly to Azerbaijan. The victims were members of the same family who were said to have kept poultry. Culling of birds as a control measure have included 15,000 birds so far.

Mar 13: Azerbaijan cluster: A total of 11 human samples from Azerbaijan are being tested by the WHO for H5N1 infection. The people are all from the Daikyand settlement in Salyan Rayon in the east, an area near wetlands that attract migratory birds. There have been two possible deaths (a third was ruled not to be bird flu), and a third boy remains critical, whereas the other patients have recovered and have since been discharged. More info, read here.

Mar 12: H5N1 Cameroon: A dead wild duck in Cameroon has been confirmed with H5N1 bird flu by a Paris laboratory, making this the fourth African country affected.

Mar 11: Indonesia: An additional

Mar 10: Why dead swans?: I found a great short article from Slate.com that is like a FAQ on why we are seeing so many dead swans.

Why are Swans Dropping Like Flies? (article)

Mar 10: Africa, Australia UN efforts: Dr. Nabarro of the UN declared a bird flu crisis in the region of West Africa. Currently H5N1 has been confirmed in birds in Niger and Nigeria. Socioeconomic factors in the region make it especially vulnerable, from the lack of funds to compensate farmers for culled stock, to the general practice of keeping backyard birds free, rather than in coops because of costs. Many migratory birds converge on Africa, and those with paths crossing the northern regions may bring the virus to the US via Alaska. In related news, Kenya and Australia have increased virus surveillance efforts, with birds now being tested in Nairobi and Mombasa, as well as an extra $1.2 million allocated for similar efforts in Australia.

Mar 10: Europe mammalian case update: A mammal called a stone marten, similar to a weasel, was found infected with the bird flu on the German island of Ruegen, where infected birds and cats were discovered recently. These mark the first and thus far the only cases of infection in mammals in Europe. In related news, a bird-flu infected cat from Austria has apparently fought off the virus, suggesting that cats may be more resistant to H5N1 than chickens. This animal previously tested positive for H5N1 twice, but now tests negative, with no trace of the virus remaining.

Note that in Sep 2004, research demonstrated that cats which were experimentally infected with H5N1 became severly ill, and were also demonstrated to be able to spread the disease to other cats. This was the first case of influenza A being demonstrated to infect cats.

Mar 9: US bird flu landfall in Fall or Summer?: The UN's bird flu chief Dr. David Nabarro reported that H5N1 bird flu is likely to reach the United States on the order of 6 to 12 months. A sooner arrival is also possible. The US has announced plans to increase testing of dead birds, especially in the area of Alaska, where different migratory routes of birds from different areas converge, and is thus a possible first-emergence locale. The testing goal is between 75000-100,000 live and dead birds.

Mar 9: Disneyland dead swan?: Disneyland Paris was accused of hiding a dead swan. Disneyland has accused the local unions of manufacturing the scare to push their agenda in current wage negotiations. However it's only a matter of time until infected birds show up everywhere, including Disneylands around the world-- It makes me wonder if they will start a massive innoculation program for resident birds on their huge theme park properties around the world. They should be able to afford it...

Mar 8: China, human case: In addition to the case two days ago, China's Ministry of Health has reported another death due to bird flu, a 9 year old girl from the southeastern province of Zhejiang. The case was not yet confirmed to be H5N1, and the cause was not confirmed, although the girl was said to have recently visited a home where chickens had died during her visit, suggesting she may have contracvted the virus from infected domestic poultry.

Mar 7: Pakistan rumors: I ran across one obscure article from the Pak Tribune, and the two writers are claiming that bird flu has reached the areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, on its obrder with India. The article mentions the possibility of thousands of dead poultry with a government currently denying such an event, although the an investigative team has been dispatched to these areas. Read the article here. The country had other bird flu outbreaks in the past, and we'll keep an eye out on the situation there to confirm whether the outbreak is real, and if so whether it is H5N1.

Mar 7: Dutch poultry vaccination update: The Dutch have delayed a vaccination drive for poultry against bird flu until next week. Approval for the plan was recently granted by the EU on Feb 22. The goal is to complete a vaccination of up to 8 million free range and backyard poultry. The drive will be voluntary, and the government will not be covering the cost of vaccination. In 2003, there was another bird flu (although not the deadly H5N1) outbreak in the Netherlands which resulted in a cullign of 30 million birds. There is some concern among organic farmers who wish to export eggs labeled as organic, but fear vaccination will render the labeling as non-organic, especially in the major export market of Germany.

Mar 6: New Human cases: A ninth person has died from bird flu in China, and a case of an ill family with two child deaths in Azerbaijan are being investigated for the possibility of H5N1 as the cause-- H5N1 has already been discovered in this country in wild birds, but these would be the first human cases. The Chinese case was from the province of Guangdong, and the bordering Hong Kong has introduced new bans on poultry imports from the affected area.

Mar 6: France update: H5N1 has been detected in a wild dead swan in southern France (Camargue wetlands). Both France and Poland are continuing hygiene practices in affected areas.

Mar 6: Austria Cats, Serbia dead swans: Austria's agriculture minister for the province of Styria announced that H5N1 has been confirmed in three cats in the region, making it the second country after Germany with the virus reported in cats, the first mammalian case in Europe. Also bird flu has been confirmed in migratory dead swans in Serbia and Montenegro (a single country), as well as wild ducks in Sweden, however these cases have not yet been confirmed to be the deadly H5N1 strain.

The infected cats in Austria were three of 170 housed at an animal shelter that also had taken in several H5N1-infected birds. All of the cats from the sheltered have been removed and are under close observation and quarantine.

Mar 6: Poland Dead Swans: Poland has confirmed H5N1 bird flu virus in dead swans from Torun. Also EU veterinary officials will meet tomorrow and the following day regarding the H5N1 situation.

Mar 3: Poultry sales decline: Poultry sales in affected countries are drastically falling, and have already collapsed in Greece, and are down 20-30% in France, where two-for-one offers are now common. Poultry shelves in Italy have also largely been replaced by other meat products such as beef. The Italian government has pumped €300M into the crippled industry already.

Mar 3: Germany pets order: Pet cats have now been ordered indoors in affected areas, and both cats and dogs must be leashed when outdoors. Animal shelters have been receiving high volumes of worried phone calls, and they are fearing a mass deluge of abandoned pets. The possibility of human infection from a cat is unknown, but health officials describe it as highly unlikely.

Mar 3:Serbia is currently conducting tests on a dead swan that apparently died of bird flu to determine if it carried the H5N1 strain. This swan was found in Sombor, close to the Croatian border. Also in Iraq, and additional fatal human case is being studied to determine if the death was due to H5N1.

Mar 2: France: Food safety agency AFSSA confimed 11 more cases of H5N1 in wild birds from the region of Ain.

Mar 2: Tokyo Tamiflu: Researchers in Japan have announced they may have developed a new method for mass-producing the antiviral drug Tamiflu in a process that does not include the production bottleneck of requiring natural (egg) ingredients.

Mar 1, Germany cats: H5N1 virus was confirmed in a dead cat from the Baltic Sea island Ruegen, an area where bird flu has already been confirmed in dead wild birds. This is not the first case of H5N1 in cats. In 2003, tigers and leopards in a Thailand zoo contracted the virus from eating raw chickens, as well as in a leopard and tiger in a Bangkok zoo in 2004. Although tests have indicated that cats can theoretically transmit the virus to other cats, there is currently no evidence of an outbreak in cat populations, nor are there yet any confirmed cases of cat-to-human transmission.

Mar 1: France poultry: H5N1 was confirmed in the previous bird flu outbreak at a turkey farm in France. 43 countries have introduced a block of trade in poultry from France, which is the world's fourth largest poultry exporter.

Feb 27, Niger: Italian researchers confirmed H5N1 from domestic ducks in Niger in Magaria, which is near the border with Nigeria. These two countries, along with Egypt make it three African countries with H5N1. There is some worry that the virus has already spread widely throughout the country, but that the lack of resources has made a true picture of the situation difficult. The OIE is also expecting bird flu to soon show in Nigeria's other neighboring countries of Benin, Cameroon, and Chad. The spread of the bird flu into Africa's enormous wild bird population will have unknown consequences, and the reporting and quarantining of domestic birds may be hampered by a lack of funds to compensate farmers, who may then choose to resist reporting possible outbreaks among their stock.

Feb26, Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, Russia: A dead swan is being investigated in the laboratory for the possible infection by H5N1, according to Zaur Totkov, the chief veterinarian of this northern Russian republic.

Feb 26, France Poultry: Bird flu has been discovered in the Turkey industry in the eastern part of France as thousands of birds have died here-- tests are underway to determine if the strain is H5N1, and if so it would mark the first entry of the virus into domestic poultry industry of Europe. Recently there has also been the discovery of 50 dead swans and ducks in lakes in the Dombes region, where there is now a 10-day travel ban. It is still unknown if the wild birds died of H5N1. President Jacques Chirac ate pieces of chicken on television at a farm fair to reassure resident of the safety of the poultry supply. This is the first EU farm to be affected by an outbreak.

Feb 25, Poland: The polish state of Woj. Zachodniopomorske has tightened border control in areas bordering Germany where bird flu was found in a dead swan and a dead duck in the city of Schwedt

Feb 25, Germany: Dead swans in Mecklenburg were confirmed to harbor H5N1. The total count of infected animals in Germany is over 100.

Feb 21, Hungary confirmed: Hungarian authorities announced that three dead swans were confirmed to have been infected with H5N1. More tests are in progress.

Feb 23, Slovakia: The Slovakian government confirmed its tests showed H5N1 in a dead peregrine and grebe and near Bartislava, the capital city.

Feb 17, Egypt: The Egyptian government announced that H5N1 was found in chickens in Cairo (4), Giza (2), and Minya(1). Tests are ongoing in people, but no human cases have been confirmed. Hunting season has been cancelled, and tests of wild birds are also ongoing.

Feb 14, Germany: Dead swans from the Baltic island of Ruegen were confirmed to have been infected by H5N1.

Feb 13, Slovenia: H5N1 was confirmed in dead swans found near its border with Austria.

Feb 13, Greece: The Agriculture Ministry of Greece announced that H5N1 was confirmed in a dead goose from Skyros, an island in the Aegean. They also confirmed that no cases of the virus have been discovered in domestic poultry.

Feb 11, Greece: Three dead swans confirmed with H5N1.

Jan 23, mutation: According to Maria Cheng of the WHO, UK scientists have discovered a mutation in the H5N1 from a patient in Turkey. Whether or not this mutation affects the tranmissibility of the virus, or the path towards a cluster of mutations affect transmissibility is unknown.

(November 10, 05): WHO, Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently meeting in Geneva, and on the agenda is the possibility of a human H5N1 bird flu pandemic. The WHO views the possibility of a human outbreak as nearly inevitrable, and the World Bank began a $1 Billion fund drive for this contingency. The UN's David Navarro recently estimated 150 million deaths from such a human outbreak, although the WHO attempted to contrast this figure with its own estimate of approximately 7.5 million deaths.

(October 28, '05): North American meeting: North American government health officials from Canada, Mexico, and the US met in Ottawa, Canada, to discuss measures for dealing with the future arrival of bird flu to the Americas. There was particular emphasis on balancing caution with the possibility that a human epidemic may not occur. Mexico proposed the shifting of antiviral medications to other countries such as India or Brazil.

(October 16, '05): Romania: The destruction of local poultry as a safety measure commenced as the UK's Veterinary Laboratory Agency in Weybridge confirmed H5N1 bird flu in Romania. More measures are soon to come, according to officials.

(October 14): Romania: The culling of thousands of birds in Romania has been expanded to include the village of Maliuc. Over 17000 birds in Ceamurlia de Jos have already been culled, and twenty thousand people have been inoculated with a flu vaccine. locations filming.

(October 13, '05), Turkey: H5N1 virus has been confirmed by an EU laboratory in domestic poultry in Turkey, and the European Commission has called an emergency meeting. This virus has also been confirmed in Romania. The viral strain in Turkey is very similar to that found in a wild bird in central asia "a few months ago." The strain of the Romanian case has not been confirmed and is being investigated currently. Turkey has begun the culling of over 8000 turkeys and chickens in the area, and the local village is under quarantine, although there is some concern that residents are hiding their poultry from the culling program.

(Aug 26, '05): New antisleep drug: There's new research on drugs that seem to alleviate the symptoms of sleep deprivation in rats. They were tested in cognitive tasks after sleep deprivations, but after the drug, their scores improved. If safe, and if in humans it is effective as implied by the research here, I think they'll have a blockbuster. It's kind of scary, isn't it? I'll bet it's not as good as it sounds on paper, but I'll keep my eye on it. While we're talking pharmaceuticals, Roche just donated 3 million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu to the World Health Organization. In case you haven't been keeping up in this offtopic area, it's the one drug known to be effective against bird flu.

(Aug 18, '05): Mongolia H5N1: 774 samples from dead migratory birds (by the Wildlifie Conservation Society) found dead at two lakes in Mongolia were tested by the USDA's poultry research laboratory, who today announced that some of the birds died of the pathogenic avian flu variant H5N1. This follows recent confirmations of avian influenza in Russia and Kazakhstan.

(Apr 13, '05): Here I was reading the news lately and worrying about the Marburg virus (hemorrhagic filovirus, like Ebola), and there is an even more worrying threat. It seems that a particularly dangerous form of the flu was accidentally distributed worldwide to thousands of laboratories as part of a lab certification kit. Now, here's what you need to know about the flu. Sure, there are new varieties arising each year (necessitating a new flu shot), but these are generally minor variants on a basic theme, the theme being two proteins that in combination identify the virus to our immune system. If you've read about avian flu, you may have heard the phrase H5N1, or H2N2 for the current news item from the lab test kit. The H and N are these two proteins, and the numbers are their subtype.

The thing is, all human flus only come from certain combinations. In humans, we only have had H #1-3 and N #1-2. The H2N2 combination has not been seen since 1968 (epidemic was in 1957), which means if the laboratory samples get out "into the wild" and cause an epidemic, most of the world is going to get very, very sick. Pretty scary, although the CDC/WHO seems to be trying to put out the appearance of calm. We'll see, hopefully all will end well.

The even scarier thing are the bird flus. As just mentioned above, human flus only have three H's, #1-3. Birds have about fifteen, which means there are twelve subtypes (and hundreds of specific types when considering N#s) that are totally unfamiliar to the human species. So far, it is known that only four of these have ever jumped to humans: H5N1, H7N3, H7N7, and H9N2. The last three of these simply cause mild symptoms. But H5N1 has been pathongenic, and if its deadliness jumped into a human flu (one that we could pass to each other), it would be bad. Very bad. "The end of the world as we know it" may describe it. This is what is known as an "avian flu pandemic". We're talking a 60-90% mortality rate (for those who have contracted the diesase), if we look at recent bird-to-human infections. How bad is that? You've heard about the terrible killer flu of 1918 which killed 20-40 million? Its mortality rate was only 2.5%. I believe the treatments would be either trying to make a vaccine from scratch (would take too long), or a very expensive (about $9/pill) flu anti-viral called Tamiflu which doesn't work unless you take it within 48 hours of symptoms. Nonetheless, it's the best thing available now, and several nations are thinking of stockpiling it (NY Times), you can read more here.

Anyways, where was I... OK: that lab that distributed that 1957 epidemic flu... You can read more about it here. The avian flu jumping to a human-transmissible form is a disaster I think of in the vague future much like we worried about nukes in the 80's. The 1957 strain is something on the other hand that I'll be reading in the news very carefully for the immediate few weeks to come.

(Feb 18, '05): Recent studies suggest Coffee cuts cancer risk: Apparently an experimental trial in Japan shows that increasing amounts of daily coffee may protect against liver cancer, in a linear fashion up to the maximum observed in the study (5 cups a day). Looks like I won't be having liver cancer then with the Turkish coffee that I drink-- yup, filters (even espresso) are for wimps :) Another study shows that decaf consumption cuts colorectal cancer risk, but not the caffeinated version. Odd, perhaps the caffeine is somehow offsetting this particular benefit. Read more at Forbes.

(Jan 11, '05): Flu vaccine surplus: After severely restricting the flu vaccine during the peak season, the United States now finds it has a flu vaccine surplus, so much so that we may need to throw away doses. Anyways, go get your shots if you haven't done so already :)

Mar 29: Relenza wins US approval: Relenza (zanamivir), an inhaled antiviral by GlaxoSmithKline, today was granted federal approval for preventing flu in people 5 and older, and is said to be effective in both preventing and treating influenza A and B, and thus could be effective for the treatment of avian influenza, which is a type A. It is not intended as a substitute for flu vaccine (for normal seasonal flus). In related news, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers from the Mayo Clinic have evaluated a bird flu vaccine being developed as having an efficacy that is "poor to moderate at best." According to the article, a dosage 12 times higher than a normal flu shot proected only 54% of the test subjects. Dr. Fauci of the US NIAID, which is developing this vaccine, acknowledged that "we have a long way to go," and still in the early stages. Mar 29: Czech swan: Czech authorities have confirmed H5N1 in a dead swan found near the town of Hluboka nad Vltavou in the south of the country. A second dead swan from the region is being tested for H5N1 in Prague by the State Veterinary Office. Mar 23: US buys more Relenza and Tamiflu: The US Dep't of Health and Human Services ordered 2.2 million more treatment courses of Relenza and 3.8 million courses of Tamiflu. The Stategic National Stockpile will then have a total of 26 million treatment courses of these antivirals, and the goal is to have enough to treat 25% of the US population, according to HHS Secretary Leavitt. Mar 20: WHO on Egypt: The World Health Organization today published its situation update on Egypt, where new human cases have been reported, but not yet added to the WHO tally. Mar 19: Israel flu concerns: Hundreds of dead birds including poultry in southern Israel in two communal farms of Ein Hashlosha kibbutz in the Negev. This southern area borders the area in Egypt where H5N1 has already been found. The area has been quarantined, and tests are ongoing, while imports of meat and poultry from Israel to Gaza have been banned. Mar 19: Egypt human case: Egyptian authorities today announced its second human case, in a 28 year old man from an unrelated family, but the same governorate (Qalubia) as its first case, a woman who was hospitalized Mar 16 and died the next day. The current patient appears to be recovering. The US Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU-3) in Cairo has confirmed the latest case as H5N1, although the WHO has not announced the confirmation, pending further collaborative test results. Also two more children with fever in Shebeen el-Kom are beign tested for H5N1. Mar 17: Pakistan: We recently (Mar 7) reported the rumor of possible bird flu in Pakistan. Pakistani officials now confirm that there is a possibility that the bird flu outbreak in dometic chickens in late February (Feb 27) was due to H5N1. In that case nearly 700 birds had died, and more than 20,000 were subsequently culled. New samples have been sent to laboraties in the UK (at the EU's Reference Lab for Avian Influenza) for testing, and so far H5 has been confirmed, which means that it is likely the H5N1 strain. Mar 17: Netherlands: Voluntary vaccinations of dometic poultry authorized by the EU has begun in the Netherlands, where an outbreak of a different (not H5N1) variant of the bird flu occurred in 2003, when a culling of over 30 million birds was applied as a control strategy. However, some countries such as Japan that important poultry do not accept vaccinated meat products. Mar 16: Roche Tamiflu Update: The manufacturer of Tamiflu just published their most recent update on Tamiflu for Influenza Preparedness. Roche is announcing the increase of production toward a goal of 400 million treatments annually by the end of this year, with the help of external production partners (15 contractors). Mar 16: Denmark: Denmark reported H5N1 bird flu in wild fowl. Mar 16: India testing, Asia: Indian health officials are testing whether an outbreak in backyard poultry in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state was H5N1 bird flu. Control efforts include the culling of at least 70,000 birds. Last month, India reported its first bird flu outbreak in Maharashtra, where more than 100 people with feverwere tested for bird flu, and all tested negative (no disease), with dengue listed as the possible source of the fever there. In other news, Myanmar (in Mandalay) and Afghanistan (Kabul and Jalabad) have recently confirmed H5N1, and Malaysia has confirmed more cases in domestic and wild birds. Mar 15: Azerbaijan dog: Bird flu was confirmed in a stray dog that died from Azerbaijan. This is the first dog confirmed to be infected with H5N1 in Europe, and only the third european case of mammalian infection after cats in Germany and Austria, and stone marten (related to weasel) in Germany. Mar 15: Sweden ducks: Sweden confirmed H5N1 bird flu in wild ducks in two wild ducks from its east coast. Mar 14: Azerbaijan confirmation: The Azeri government said that H5N1 bird flu was the case in 3 of the suspected human cases reported earlier, although in-depth tests are still ongoing in London-based laboratories, while special WHO testing equipment will also soon be brought directly to Azerbaijan. The victims were members of the same family who were said to have kept poultry. Culling of birds as a control measure have included 15,000 birds so far. Mar 13: Azerbaijan cluster: A total of 11 human samples from Azerbaijan are being tested by the WHO for H5N1 infection. The people are all from the Daikyand settlement in Salyan Rayon in the east, an area near wetlands that attract migratory birds. There have been two possible deaths (a third was ruled not to be bird flu), and a third boy remains critical, whereas the other patients have recovered and have since been discharged. More info, read here. Mar 12: H5N1 Cameroon: A dead wild duck in Cameroon has been confirmed with H5N1 bird flu by a Paris laboratory, making this the fourth African country affected. Mar 11: Indonesia: An additional Mar 10: Why dead swans?: I found a great short article from Slate.com that is like a FAQ on why we are seeing so many dead swans. Why are Swans Dropping Like Flies? (article) Mar 10: Africa, Australia UN efforts: Dr. Nabarro of the UN declared a bird flu crisis in the region of West Africa. Currently H5N1 has been confirmed in birds in Niger and Nigeria. Socioeconomic factors in the region make it especially vulnerable, from the lack of funds to compensate farmers for culled stock, to the general practice of keeping backyard birds free, rather than in coops because of costs. Many migratory birds converge on Africa, and those with paths crossing the northern regions may bring the virus to the US via Alaska. In related news, Kenya and Australia have increased virus surveillance efforts, with birds now being tested in Nairobi and Mombasa, as well as an extra $1.2 million allocated for similar efforts in Australia. Mar 10: Europe mammalian case update: A mammal called a stone marten, similar to a weasel, was found infected with the bird flu on the German island of Ruegen, where infected birds and cats were discovered recently. These mark the first and thus far the only cases of infection in mammals in Europe. In related news, a bird-flu infected cat from Austria has apparently fought off the virus, suggesting that cats may be more resistant to H5N1 than chickens. This animal previously tested positive for H5N1 twice, but now tests negative, with no trace of the virus remaining. Note that in Sep 2004, research demonstrated that cats which were experimentally infected with H5N1 became severly ill, and were also demonstrated to be able to spread the disease to other cats. This was the first case of influenza A being demonstrated to infect cats. Mar 9: US bird flu landfall in Fall or Summer?: The UN's bird flu chief Dr. David Nabarro reported that H5N1 bird flu is likely to reach the United States on the order of 6 to 12 months. A sooner arrival is also possible. The US has announced plans to increase testing of dead birds, especially in the area of Alaska, where different migratory routes of birds from different areas converge, and is thus a possible first-emergence locale. The testing goal is between 75000-100,000 live and dead birds. Mar 9: Disneyland dead swan?: Disneyland Paris was accused of hiding a dead swan. Disneyland has accused the local unions of manufacturing the scare to push their agenda in current wage negotiations. However it's only a matter of time until infected birds show up everywhere, including Disneylands around the world-- It makes me wonder if they will start a massive innoculation program for resident birds on their huge theme park properties around the world. They should be able to afford it... Mar 8: China, human case: In addition to the case two days ago, China's Ministry of Health has reported another death due to bird flu, a 9 year old girl from the southeastern province of Zhejiang. The case was not yet confirmed to be H5N1, and the cause was not confirmed, although the girl was said to have recently visited a home where chickens had died during her visit, suggesting she may have contracvted the virus from infected domestic poultry. Mar 7: Pakistan rumors: I ran across one obscure article from the Pak Tribune, and the two writers are claiming that bird flu has reached the areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, on its obrder with India. The article mentions the possibility of thousands of dead poultry with a government currently denying such an event, although the an investigative team has been dispatched to these areas. Read the article here. The country had other bird flu outbreaks in the past, and we'll keep an eye out on the situation there to confirm whether the outbreak is real, and if so whether it is H5N1. Mar 7: Dutch poultry vaccination update: The Dutch have delayed a vaccination drive for poultry against bird flu until next week. Approval for the plan was recently granted by the EU on Feb 22. The goal is to complete a vaccination of up to 8 million free range and backyard poultry. The drive will be voluntary, and the government will not be covering the cost of vaccination. In 2003, there was another bird flu (although not the deadly H5N1) outbreak in the Netherlands which resulted in a cullign of 30 million birds. There is some concern among organic farmers who wish to export eggs labeled as organic, but fear vaccination will render the labeling as non-organic, especially in the major export market of Germany. Mar 6: New Human cases: A ninth person has died from bird flu in China, and a case of an ill family with two child deaths in Azerbaijan are being investigated for the possibility of H5N1 as the cause-- H5N1 has already been discovered in this country in wild birds, but these would be the first human cases. The Chinese case was from the province of Guangdong, and the bordering Hong Kong has introduced new bans on poultry imports from the affected area. Mar 6: France update: H5N1 has been detected in a wild dead swan in southern France (Camargue wetlands). Both France and Poland are continuing hygiene practices in affected areas. Mar 6: Austria Cats, Serbia dead swans: Austria's agriculture minister for the province of Styria announced that H5N1 has been confirmed in three cats in the region, making it the second country after Germany with the virus reported in cats, the first mammalian case in Europe. Also bird flu has been confirmed in migratory dead swans in Serbia and Montenegro (a single country), as well as wild ducks in Sweden, however these cases have not yet been confirmed to be the deadly H5N1 strain. The infected cats in Austria were three of 170 housed at an animal shelter that also had taken in several H5N1-infected birds. All of the cats from the sheltered have been removed and are under close observation and quarantine. Mar 6: Poland Dead Swans: Poland has confirmed H5N1 bird flu virus in dead swans from Torun. Also EU veterinary officials will meet tomorrow and the following day regarding the H5N1 situation. Mar 3: Poultry sales decline: Poultry sales in affected countries are drastically falling, and have already collapsed in Greece, and are down 20-30% in France, where two-for-one offers are now common. Poultry shelves in Italy have also largely been replaced by other meat products such as beef. The Italian government has pumped €300M into the crippled industry already. Mar 3: Germany pets order: Pet cats have now been ordered indoors in affected areas, and both cats and dogs must be leashed when outdoors. Animal shelters have been receiving high volumes of worried phone calls, and they are fearing a mass deluge of abandoned pets. The possibility of human infection from a cat is unknown, but health officials describe it as highly unlikely. Mar 3:Serbia is currently conducting tests on a dead swan that apparently died of bird flu to determine if it carried the H5N1 strain. This swan was found in Sombor, close to the Croatian border. Also in Iraq, and additional fatal human case is being studied to determine if the death was due to H5N1. Mar 2: France: Food safety agency AFSSA confimed 11 more cases of H5N1 in wild birds from the region of Ain. Mar 2: Tokyo Tamiflu: Researchers in Japan have announced they may have developed a new method for mass-producing the antiviral drug Tamiflu in a process that does not include the production bottleneck of requiring natural (egg) ingredients. Mar 1, Germany cats: H5N1 virus was confirmed in a dead cat from the Baltic Sea island Ruegen, an area where bird flu has already been confirmed in dead wild birds. This is not the first case of H5N1 in cats. In 2003, tigers and leopards in a Thailand zoo contracted the virus from eating raw chickens, as well as in a leopard and tiger in a Bangkok zoo in 2004. Although tests have indicated that cats can theoretically transmit the virus to other cats, there is currently no evidence of an outbreak in cat populations, nor are there yet any confirmed cases of cat-to-human transmission. Mar 1: France poultry: H5N1 was confirmed in the previous bird flu outbreak at a turkey farm in France. 43 countries have introduced a block of trade in poultry from France, which is the world's fourth largest poultry exporter. Feb 27, Niger: Italian researchers confirmed H5N1 from domestic ducks in Niger in Magaria, which is near the border with Nigeria. These two countries, along with Egypt make it three African countries with H5N1. There is some worry that the virus has already spread widely throughout the country, but that the lack of resources has made a true picture of the situation difficult. The OIE is also expecting bird flu to soon show in Nigeria's other neighboring countries of Benin, Cameroon, and Chad. The spread of the bird flu into Africa's enormous wild bird population will have unknown consequences, and the reporting and quarantining of domestic birds may be hampered by a lack of funds to compensate farmers, who may then choose to resist reporting possible outbreaks among their stock. Feb26, Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, Russia: A dead swan is being investigated in the laboratory for the possible infection by H5N1, according to Zaur Totkov, the chief veterinarian of this northern Russian republic. Feb 26, France Poultry: Bird flu has been discovered in the Turkey industry in the eastern part of France as thousands of birds have died here-- tests are underway to determine if the strain is H5N1, and if so it would mark the first entry of the virus into domestic poultry industry of Europe. Recently there has also been the discovery of 50 dead swans and ducks in lakes in the Dombes region, where there is now a 10-day travel ban. It is still unknown if the wild birds died of H5N1. President Jacques Chirac ate pieces of chicken on television at a farm fair to reassure resident of the safety of the poultry supply. This is the first EU farm to be affected by an outbreak. Feb 25, Poland: The polish state of Woj. Zachodniopomorske has tightened border control in areas bordering Germany where bird flu was found in a dead swan and a dead duck in the city of Schwedt Feb 25, Germany: Dead swans in Mecklenburg were confirmed to harbor H5N1. The total count of infected animals in Germany is over 100. Feb 21, Hungary confirmed: Hungarian authorities announced that three dead swans were confirmed to have been infected with H5N1. More tests are in progress. Feb 23, Slovakia: The Slovakian government confirmed its tests showed H5N1 in a dead peregrine and grebe and near Bartislava, the capital city. Feb 17, Egypt: The Egyptian government announced that H5N1 was found in chickens in Cairo (4), Giza (2), and Minya(1). Tests are ongoing in people, but no human cases have been confirmed. Hunting season has been cancelled, and tests of wild birds are also ongoing. Feb 14, Germany: Dead swans from the Baltic island of Ruegen were confirmed to have been infected by H5N1. Feb 13, Slovenia: H5N1 was confirmed in dead swans found near its border with Austria. Feb 13, Greece: The Agriculture Ministry of Greece announced that H5N1 was confirmed in a dead goose from Skyros, an island in the Aegean. They also confirmed that no cases of the virus have been discovered in domestic poultry. Feb 11, Greece: Three dead swans confirmed with H5N1. Jan 23, mutation: According to Maria Cheng of the WHO, UK scientists have discovered a mutation in the H5N1 from a patient in Turkey. Whether or not this mutation affects the tranmissibility of the virus, or the path towards a cluster of mutations affect transmissibility is unknown. (November 10, 05): WHO, Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently meeting in Geneva, and on the agenda is the possibility of a human H5N1 bird flu pandemic. The WHO views the possibility of a human outbreak as nearly inevitrable, and the World Bank began a $1 Billion fund drive for this contingency. The UN's David Navarro recently estimated 150 million deaths from such a human outbreak, although the WHO attempted to contrast this figure with its own estimate of approximately 7.5 million deaths. (October 28, '05): North American meeting: North American government health officials from Canada, Mexico, and the US met in Ottawa, Canada, to discuss measures for dealing with the future arrival of bird flu to the Americas. There was particular emphasis on balancing caution with the possibility that a human epidemic may not occur. Mexico proposed the shifting of antiviral medications to other countries such as India or Brazil. (October 16, '05): Romania: The destruction of local poultry as a safety measure commenced as the UK's Veterinary Laboratory Agency in Weybridge confirmed H5N1 bird flu in Romania. More measures are soon to come, according to officials. (October 14): Romania: The culling of thousands of birds in Romania has been expanded to include the village of Maliuc. Over 17000 birds in Ceamurlia de Jos have already been culled, and twenty thousand people have been inoculated with a flu vaccine. locations filming. (October 13, '05), Turkey: H5N1 virus has been confirmed by an EU laboratory in domestic poultry in Turkey, and the European Commission has called an emergency meeting. This virus has also been confirmed in Romania. The viral strain in Turkey is very similar to that found in a wild bird in central asia "a few months ago." The strain of the Romanian case has not been confirmed and is being investigated currently. Turkey has begun the culling of over 8000 turkeys and chickens in the area, and the local village is under quarantine, although there is some concern that residents are hiding their poultry from the culling program. (Aug 26, '05): New antisleep drug: There's new research on drugs that seem to alleviate the symptoms of sleep deprivation in rats. They were tested in cognitive tasks after sleep deprivations, but after the drug, their scores improved. If safe, and if in humans it is effective as implied by the research here, I think they'll have a blockbuster. It's kind of scary, isn't it? I'll bet it's not as good as it sounds on paper, but I'll keep my eye on it. While we're talking pharmaceuticals, Roche just donated 3 million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu to the World Health Organization. In case you haven't been keeping up in this offtopic area, it's the one drug known to be effective against bird flu. (Aug 18, '05): Mongolia H5N1: 774 samples from dead migratory birds (by the Wildlifie Conservation Society) found dead at two lakes in Mongolia were tested by the USDA's poultry research laboratory, who today announced that some of the birds died of the pathogenic avian flu variant H5N1. This follows recent confirmations of avian influenza in Russia and Kazakhstan. (Apr 13, '05): Here I was reading the news lately and worrying about the Marburg virus (hemorrhagic filovirus, like Ebola), and there is an even more worrying threat. It seems that a particularly dangerous form of the flu was accidentally distributed worldwide to thousands of laboratories as part of a lab certification kit. Now, here's what you need to know about the flu. Sure, there are new varieties arising each year (necessitating a new flu shot), but these are generally minor variants on a basic theme, the theme being two proteins that in combination identify the virus to our immune system. If you've read about avian flu, you may have heard the phrase H5N1, or H2N2 for the current news item from the lab test kit. The H and N are these two proteins, and the numbers are their subtype. The thing is, all human flus only come from certain combinations. In humans, we only have had H #1-3 and N #1-2. The H2N2 combination has not been seen since 1968 (epidemic was in 1957), which means if the laboratory samples get out "into the wild" and cause an epidemic, most of the world is going to get very, very sick. Pretty scary, although the CDC/WHO seems to be trying to put out the appearance of calm. We'll see, hopefully all will end well. The even scarier thing are the bird flus. As just mentioned above, human flus only have three H's, #1-3. Birds have about fifteen, which means there are twelve subtypes (and hundreds of specific types when considering N#s) that are totally unfamiliar to the human species. So far, it is known that only four of these have ever jumped to humans: H5N1, H7N3, H7N7, and H9N2. The last three of these simply cause mild symptoms. But H5N1 has been pathongenic, and if its deadliness jumped into a human flu (one that we could pass to each other), it would be bad. Very bad. "The end of the world as we know it" may describe it. This is what is known as an "avian flu pandemic". We're talking a 60-90% mortality rate (for those who have contracted the diesase), if we look at recent bird-to-human infections. How bad is that? You've heard about the terrible killer flu of 1918 which killed 20-40 million? Its mortality rate was only 2.5%. I believe the treatments would be either trying to make a vaccine from scratch (would take too long), or a very expensive (about $9/pill) flu anti-viral called Tamiflu which doesn't work unless you take it within 48 hours of symptoms. Nonetheless, it's the best thing available now, and several nations are thinking of stockpiling it (NY Times), you can read more here. Anyways, where was I... OK: that lab that distributed that 1957 epidemic flu... You can read more about it here. The avian flu jumping to a human-transmissible form is a disaster I think of in the vague future much like we worried about nukes in the 80's. The 1957 strain is something on the other hand that I'll be reading in the news very carefully for the immediate few weeks to come. (Feb 18, '05): Recent studies suggest Coffee cuts cancer risk: Apparently an experimental trial in Japan shows that increasing amounts of daily coffee may protect against liver cancer, in a linear fashion up to the maximum observed in the study (5 cups a day). Looks like I won't be having liver cancer then with the Turkish coffee that I drink-- yup, filters (even espresso) are for wimps :) Another study shows that decaf consumption cuts colorectal cancer risk, but not the caffeinated version. Odd, perhaps the caffeine is somehow offsetting this particular benefit. Read more at Forbes. (Jan 11, '05): Flu vaccine surplus: After severely restricting the flu vaccine during the peak season, the United States now finds it has a flu vaccine surplus, so much so that we may need to throw away doses. Anyways, go get your shots if you haven't done so already :)
	Avian (bird) cases of confirmed H5N1 (Mar 20 2006): Asia Cambodia China Indonesia India Japan Laos Malaysia Mongolia Myanmar South Korea Taiwan Thailand Vietnam European Union Austria Czech Republic Denmark? * France Germany (5 of 16 states) Greece Hungary Italy Poland Slovakia Slovenia Sweden Europe, other: Azerbaijan Bosnia Bulgaria Croatia Kazakhstan Romania Russia Serbia Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Middle East* Afghanistan Cyprus Egypt Iraq Iran Israel Pakistan? North America Africa Cameroon Egypt Niger *Nigeria South America Other		Important Links: US NIAID Flu FAQ: United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases US CDC Avian Flu Page: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Avian Influenza: Current Situation page Pandemicflu.gov This is the official US Government website for info of pandemic flu and avian flu. Includes detailed N. American map of migratory wild birds. WHO Avian Flu "Full Coverage" Mainpage: The World Health Organization site also has regularly updated reports on cumulative human cases, advice on the use of oseltamvir (Tamiflu), and country focus articles. Subpages include: FAQ Timeline Fact Sheet Country-based situation updates ProMedMail email archive: The International Society for Infectious Diseases provides daily updates on a variety of diseases, including avian influenza Medlineplus.gov: Search results for topics on bird flu. See also the main search page for further articles in other categories such as News, Animal Diseases, and the Encyclopedia. FAO Avian Flu Page The United Nations Food and Agriculure Organization information on food safety and animal health Articles of Interest: UpToDate.com Avian Flu Topic Review: Click on Avian Influenza. Uptodate is a subscriber service for physicians providing them with current state-of-the-art summaries of medical topics. This article is free-- it's a huge, in-depth resource on avian flu (H5N1, H9N2, H7). Highly recommended. Why are Swans dropping like flies? Slate.com Wikipedia H5N1 user-compiled pages with some good information Roche Update Mar 16, Tamiflu for Influenza Prepardeness From the Swiss company that manufactures Tamiflu National Geographic: The Next Killer Flu Multimedia presentation from October 2005 Deadswans.com FAQs Coming soon. Technical Resources: Highwire Press (Stanford): the largest free full-text resource from Stanford University. PubMed.gov: Enter "avian influenza" or "H5N1" into the search box to see articles. Select the search box pulldown (default is pubmed) to search in other domains such as genome. Taylor & Francis: Enter "avian influenza" or "H5N1" into the search box to see aricles. Genomic database, sequence of A/Goose/Guangdong/1/96(H5N1) from NIH's National Center for Biotechnology Information. See the Pubmed.gov search above for similar articles.


	Human cases of confirmed H5N1 (Mar 20, 2006): * deaths in parentheses * so far bird-to-human transmission * confirmed cases of human to human transmission: 3 * Mar 13 source: WHO * Cases unconfirmed by WHO marked by "?" Total Human cases : 177 (98) Asia Cambodia: 4 (4) China: 15 (10) Indonesia: 29 (22) Thailand: 22 (14) Vietnam: 93 (42) Eastern Europe Turkey: 12 (4) Western Europe Middle East Iraq: 2 (2) North America Africa Egypt: 2? (1)? South America Other	Mammalian (animal) cases of confirmed H5N1 (Mar 20, 2006): * No mammalian outbreaks have been reported Asia China: pigs Thailand: leopard (2), tiger(149), clouded leopard (1) Vietnam: civet) Eastern Europe Azerbaijan (dog) Western Europe Germany: domestic cat (1), stone marten (1) Austria: domestic cat (3) Middle East North America Africa South America Other * sources: WHO (tigers, cat)



		what Tamiflu looks like