Experts sound warning over flu dangers in China, India

Terra Daily: Scientists sounded warnings Wednesday over H7N9 bird flu in China and the H1N1 strain of swine flu in India that have jointly claimed more than 1,700 lives. H7N9 virus presents a high risk of becoming pandemic if China fails to close loopholes in its live poultry trade, researchers reported in the journal Nature.

A different team, writing in the US journal Cell Host and Microbe, said a strain of H1N1 "swine" flu in India may have acquired mutations enabling it to spread more readily. Looking at H7N9, epidemiologists led by Yi Guan at the University of Hong Kong sought to understand why this dangerous strain emerged in China in 2013, faded away and then rebounded in 2014.

The reason lies in the live poultry sector, they found, with China's eastern province of Zhejiang a springboard for spreading the virus south- and eastward. In the 2014 outbreak, H7N9 mixed with other flu viruses, helping to create new strains, the team said.

Their evidence came from throat and faecal swabs taken from chickens at live markets in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces from October 2013 to July 2014. No H7N9 was found among ducks. Further proof came from analysis of flu virus samples taken from patients at hospitals in the southern city of Shenzhen, in Guangdong province across from Hong Kong...

An electron micrograph of H7N9 from the Centers for Disease Control

Swiss tourist dies of swine flu in India as toll mounts

Terra Daily via AFP: A Swiss tourist died Thursday of swine flu while visiting India, a local health official said, as the country grapples with an outbreak that has killed more than 400 people since the start of 2015. The 70-year-old woman fell ill while visiting the western state of Rajasthan, a popular tourist destination that has been particularly hard hit by the latest outbreak.

"She died in hospital. She tested positive for the H1N1 virus," the chief medical officer for the Rajasthani city of Jodhpur Y. S. Rathore told AFP, referring to the swine flu virus.

The woman, whose full name has not been given, was visiting the state with a large tour group when she complained of flu-like symptoms and was admitted to a private hospital, where she was placed on a ventilator.

The postmortem report into her death will be completed later Thursday, Jodhpur police commissioner Ashok Rathore told AFP. No one at the Swiss embassy could immediately be reached for comment.

India's health ministry said Wednesday that 407 people had died of swine flu since the start of the year, more than half of them in the first 10 days of this month. More than 5,000 cases of the disease have been detected, the ministry said. The government said it was reviewing procedures to prevent the disease from spreading further, including vaccinating medical staff working with affected patients....

Hong Kong culls 19,000 birds amid avian flu alert

Seed Daily via AFP: Hong Kong culled thousands of chickens Wednesday after the potentially deadly H7N9 bird flu virus was discovered in poultry imported from China, days after a woman was admitted to hospital with the disease. Authorities found the virus in samples taken from 120 chickens imported from the nearby Chinese city of Huizhou and slaughtered nearly 19,000 birds, including 11,800 chickens.

"The rapid testing showed... that this batch of chickens carries the H7N9 virus," the city's health minister Ko Wing-man said Wednesday. Televised images showed authorities beginning
the cull Wednesday morning, with health officials in white hazmat suits dumping chickens into green plastic bins.

The bins were then pumped with carbon dioxide to kill the birds, a spokeswoman for the city's agriculture department told AFP. The carcasses were sent to landfills for disposal after the operation was completed at around 5:30 pm. Poultry imports from the mainland have been banned for three weeks....

A food market in Hong Kong, shot by Greg Willis Greg Willis, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license 

With 15 children dead, CDC declares flu epidemic

Liz Neporent in ABC News via Good Morning America: Fifteen children have died from complications of the flu so far this season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted, as it officially declared the illness an epidemic. The number of states reporting a high amount of “influenza-like” illness activity has increased from 13 to 22 since last week’s report from the agency, with outbreaks in every region of the country.

Hospitalizations also climbed this week with seniors and kids younger than 4 accounting for the highest rate of hospitalizations. At least six Tennessee children have died from the flu this year, the state's Department of Health reported. Tennessee is under the widespread outbreak category, as of Monday, according to the CDC. So far, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital has seen 442 children with the flu just this month.

While this year’s strain of the virus is especially severe, ABC News chief health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser said, flu can always be deadly for children, the elderly and anyone with a compromised immune system. “Every year about a hundred children die from the flu,” he said today on “Good Morning America.”

About 90 percent of flu cases so far this year have been the H3N2 subtype, the CDC reported. Flu strains are named for molecule types surrounding the outside of the virus particle, said Dr. Pritish Tosh, an infectious diseases physician with the Mayo Clinic and a member of the Mayo vaccine research group....

An influenza virus particle, from the CDC

Egypt authorities report 10th bird flu death in 2014

Press TV (Ireland): Egyptian health authorities have reported the country's 10th death this year from bird flu as well as the first case of infection with the virus’s H5N1 strain in Cairo. The fatality was reported on Monday. Health Ministry spokesman, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, said it occurred last week in the southern province of Aswan.

A 42-year-old man was also diagnosed with bird flu and quarantined on December 26 in the capital, Cairo. He is the 25th case of bird flu in the country this year, but the first infection reported in Cairo. Bird flu first appeared in Egypt in 2006.

Mainly in Southeast Asia, the H5N1 strain has killed over 400 people since first appearing in 2003. A separate strain, H7N9 has also killed over 170 people since it first emerged in 2013.  Also on Monday, Chinese state media reported that a man had died from the H7N9 strain in eastern China....

Plucking poultry at the Tomb of Nakht, Western Thebes, 15th century BCE. It's a bit outdated -- but there are no copyright issues!

Two more British Columbia farms affected by avian flu outbreak

Jane Deacon in the Toronto Sun via the QMI Agency: Two more Fraser Valley, B.C., poultry farms have been hit by the avian flu outbreak, bringing the total number of affected birds to 155,000.

Despite efforts to reduce the spread of the disease, health officials say more farms could be affected in the days ahead. There are now seven farms affected.

"Since this is highly contagious and can spread rapidly, we might see more at-risk farms come up," said Dr. Harpreet Kochhar, chief veterinary officer with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

Eight countries, including the U.S., have temporarily closed their borders to B.C. and Canadian poultry products since the virus was confirmed last week...

A microscopic view of H5N1, from the US Centers for Disease Control

Second bird flu outbreak found on Dutch farm

Seed Daily via AFP: Dutch officials have detected a second case of bird flu on a southern Netherlands farm, officials said Thursday, but could not yet say whether the strain was of a highly contagious variety discovered earlier this week.

The latest outbreak was detected in three barns containing 43,000 chickens on a farm at Ter Aar, just east of The Hague, the Dutch food and safety watchdog NVWA said. The outbreak was of the H5 strain, but "it is not clear whether it was of the highly pathogenic variety or not," added the Dutch economic affairs ministry in a letter sent to parliament on Thursday. "The earliest results are expected by the end of tomorrow (Friday)," it said.

The powerful Dutch poultry industry has now been paralysed for a second time this week with a nationwide ban on the transport of all poultry and related products since 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) on Thursday. The ban will last up to 72 hours.

Authorities have also thrown a 10 kilometre (6.2 mile) cordon around the farm, with four other farms also being tested for avian influenza. The chickens are being destroyed and the farm disinfected, the NVWA added....

A rooster in the grass, shot by fir0002 | flagstaffotos.com.au, Wikimedia Commons, under the GFDL 1.2 license

Netherlands bans poultry transport after discovering bird flu

Seed Daily via AFP: Dutch officials on Sunday banned the transport of poultry in the Netherlands after the discovery of a highly infectious strain of bird flu which could jump to humans.

The "highly pathogenic" form of avian influenza discovered at a farm in the centre of the country is very dangerous to birds and "contamination can occur from animals to humans," the Dutch government said in a statement. About 150,000 chickens at the farm in Hekendorp are to be destroyed by Dutch health authorities, which for the moment have not identified the exact strain of flu.

Avian influenza is fatal for chickens, and poses a health threat to humans, who can become sickened by handling infected poultry. The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 40
0 people, mainly in Southeast Asia, since first appearing in 2003. Another strain of bird flu, H7N9, has claimed more than 170 lives since emerging in 2013.

The Dutch transport ban is to last a maximum of 72 hours and includes moving poultry, eggs and bird manure....

A poultry farm in Hungary, shot by Civertan, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons 3.0 license

Japan culls 112,000 chickens after bird flu outbreak

Seed Daily via AFP: Japan has finished slaughtering 112,000 chickens after confirming its first bird flu infections for three years, with authorities stepping up efforts to swiftly contain the latest outbreak, officials said Tuesday.

Workers on Sunday started culling 56,000 chickens kept at a poultry farm in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, where DNA tests confirmed the H5 strain of the virus after owners reported sudden deaths in the flock on Saturday, a Kumamoto prefectural government official said.

Another 56,000 birds were slaughtered at a separate farm run by the same owner after it was identified as a location of possible infections, the official said. "We finished the slaughtering operation late Monday and are now preventing the virus from spreading to other areas," the official said, adding that no further infections had been reported by Tuesday morning.

It was the first confirmed outbreak of bird flu in Japan in three years. Scientists say there have been no cases of the disease being contracted by people who have eaten poultry or eggs....

Preparations begin for mass production of H7N9 vaccine

Global Times (China): China has prepared the H7N9 vaccine seeds for mass production in case human-to-human transmission occurs, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) said Monday.

China has manufactured some vaccine products and they could be used on high-risk groups, Zhong Nanshan, NPC deputy and member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at a press conference at the annual parliamentary session.  Zhong, a pulmonologist, is the lead scientist who helped China battle SARS in 2003.

"China did a good job in 2009 when about 100 million people were vaccinated for the H1N1 virus," said Zhong, while stressing the effectiveness of vaccines when it comes to inter-human transmission.

In February, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center announced that they have developed a genetically engineered vaccine for the H7N9 bird flu virus and have now entered the clinical trial application phase.

H7N9 cases were reported in several places in China and it has a mortality rate of 30 percent, Zhong said, adding that if the virus transmutes, it could lead to a larger outbreak....

A scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control transfers a sample of H7N9. Photo by James Gathany of the CDC

Vietnam reports second bird flu death in 2014

New Vision via AFP: Vietnam has recorded its second death from bird flu in 2014, a health official said Thursday, as regional concerns over a potential resurgence of the deadly virus grow. A 60-year-old woman from southern Dong Thap province died on January 28 and tested positive for the H5N1 virus the following day, provincial medical department director Nguyen Ngoc An told AFP.

It follows the death of a 52-year-old man from the southern Binh Phuoc province on January 18. Demand for poultry in Vietnam tends to increase at the end of January as families celebrate the Tet lunar new year festival.

The H5N1 virus has caused 649 confirmed flu cases in humans since it re-emerged in 2003, resulting in 385 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It typically spreads from birds to humans through direct contact. But experts fear it could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans, with the potential to trigger a pandemic.

Vietnam has recorded one of the highest fatality rates from bird flu in Southeast Asia.It has claimed 63 lives so far, including one in 2013, according to the WHO. The WHO figures do not include the two recent deaths in Vietnam....

A map of a 2009 outbreak of H1N1 in Vietnam, created by Zuanzuanfuwa, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Canada reports first H5N1 bird flu death in North America

Terra Daily via AFP: Canada announced Wednesday the first H5N1 avian flu death in North America, of a patient who had just returned from China, and said it was urgently contacting airline passengers on the victim's flights. It was also the first known instance of someone in North America contracting the illness, Canada Health Minister Rona Ambrose told a press conference, stressing it was an "isolated case."

The victim, who had recently returned from a trip to Beijing and had been otherwise completely healthy, was from the western plains province of Alberta, officials said, adding they were withholding the person's gender and other identifying details to protect the family's privacy.

"I am here to confirm North America's first human case of H5N1, also known as avian flu," Ambrose said, confirming the patient died on January 3. "I want to reassure the public this is an isolated case and the risk of H5N1 to Canadians is very low. There is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission," the minister added.

The virus is contracted directly from birds, mainly poultry. The illness it causes in humans is severe and 60 percent of human cases are fatal....

A colorized electronmicrograph of H5N1, from the CDC

China reports first H7N9 bird flu death this year

Terra Daily via AFP: China has reported its first death from the H7N9 bird flu virus in 2014 after a significant drop-off in fatalities following an outbreak last year.

A patient in the southern province of Guangdong died of the disease on Monday, the provincial health authority said on its website Tuesday.

Official statistics compiled by China's health ministry show that by the end of October last year there had been 136 H7N9 cases and 45 deaths in the outbreak which began in February.

The ministry separately announced another three cases and one death for the month of November, while provincial governments have reported additional cases.

The latest death appears to be the first in mainland China since November. A Hong Kong man infected with the strain died late last month, the city's first such fatality....

A papparazzi photo of H7N9, or is it an electron micrograph from the CDC

H1N1 flu claims five lives in Canada's Alberta province

Terra Daily via AFP: An H1N1 flu outbreak in Alberta has sickened nearly 1,000 people and killed five, the Canadian province's health minister said Friday, urging everyone to get vaccinated. "Over the past few weeks, we have seen a surge in the number of influenza cases across Alberta. Many of those affected are healthy young adults," Health Minister Fred Horne said in a statement.

In total, 965 cases of the flu have been confirmed by health authorities in the province, with just more than 250 requiring hospitalization, he explained. "Sadly, five Albertans admitted to the ICU have died," Horne said, emphasizing that the age and health of the patients was unusual. "It is concerning that we are seeing younger, working-age adults being hospitalized," he said.

So far, only around one in five residents have gotten flu shots, which, Horne emphasized, are needed to protect "you, your friends, family, co-workers and everyone you come into contact with. "That includes vulnerable Albertans for whom the flu can mean serious illness or even death," he stressed...

A CDC image of the swine flue virus

Hong Kong quarantines 19 people over second bird flu case

Terra Daily via AFP: Hong Kong on Saturday quarantined an additional 19 people after the city confirmed its second human case of the deadly H7N9 bird flu, less than five days after it confirmed its first, officials said.

The 19 people were close contacts of the second carrier of H7N9 in the city -- an 80-year-old Hong Kong man who had been living in the neighbouring mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The man developed a fever and was found to be infected with the virus on Friday after he was admitted to the city's Tuen Mun hospital on Tuesday due to underlying medical conditions. "Nineteen close contacts of the patient have been quarantined," a government statement released late Saturday said.

Out of the 19 quarantined, 13 had stayed in the same cubicle with the elderly man at the city's Tuen Mun hospital, five were his family members, and one other was the taxi driver who drove him from the border to the hospital, the statement said....

A CDC image of the H7N9 virus

First likely case of H7N9 bird flu spread by humans reported

Terra Daily via AFP: Chinese scientists on Wednesday reported the first likely case of direct person-to-person transmission of the H7N9 bird flu virus that has killed over 40 people since March.

The development was "worrying" and should be closely watched, the team wrote in the British online journal bmj.com, but stressed that the virus, believed to jump from birds to people, was still inadept at spreading among humans.

"People should not panic," epidemiologist Chang-jun Bao of the hard-hit Jiangsu province's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told AFP of the report that he co-authored. "The transmissibility of this novel virus... was not so effective."

Scientists have long feared the virus would mutate into a form that transmits easily from person to person. In the new study, Bao and a team report on the case of a 60-year-old man who died in hospital after contracting the H7N9 virus, which he apparently transmitted to his daughter. The 32-year-old woman, who had nursed her father for over a week, also died in hospital...

Dutch authorities to cull poultry after avian influenza outbreak

Reuters: Health authorities will cull 11,000 chickens at a farm in the Netherlands after an outbreak of a mild form of avian influenza, the Dutch Economic Affairs Ministry said on Saturday.

The chickens were believed to have the low pathogenic H7 strain, the ministry said in a statement. They would be culled as a precaution because the strain can mutate into a form that is fatal for poultry.

Authorities imposed a one-kilometer safety perimeter around the farm banning transports of poultry, eggs and other farm products. Testing would also be carried at 11 other farms in the area, it said.

In recent years several cases of the low pathogenic bird flu strain have been reported in the Netherlands....

New avian flu readily transmits in key animal model

Declan Butler in Nature: A study on the novel H7N9 avian influenza that has killed 36 people in China finds that the virus is transmissible between ferrets. According to the authors, the findings suggest that H7N9 could become capable of passing from person to person — although thus far the virus has not shown any signs of doing so.

The researchers, from China, Canada and the United States, inoculated six ferrets and four pigs with H7N9 isolated from a fatal human case in Shanghai. All the animals became infected. Counting humans, that makes three mammalian species that can be infected with H7N9. Tests on other species, including companion animals such as cats and dogs, could give a better idea of the host range of the virus.

The H7N9 virus carries mutations that enable it to infect mammals, including humans, more easily than the related H5N1 avian flu can. There has been an unexplained lull in new cases since 7 May, but experts fear that it is only temporary.

Infections in other mammal species could provide the virus with opportunities to mutate and to adapt further. Pigs can be co-infected with avian and human flu, allowing the viruses to swap genes to create new strains, although extensive sampling in China has found no pigs harbouring H7N9....

An electron micrograph of H7N9 from the Centers for Disease Control

Bird flu costs China industry $6.5 billion, according to state media

AFP: China's human H7N9 bird flu outbreak has cost the country's poultry industry more than 40 billion yuan ($6.5 billion) as consumers shun chicken, government officials said, according to state media.

The sector has been losing an average of one billion yuan a day since the end of March, the Beijing Times said on Monday, citing Li Xirong, head of the National Animal Husbandry Service.

H7N9 avian influenza has infected 130 people in China, killing 35, since it was found in humans for the first time, according to latest official data.

Poultry sales have tumbled and prices plunged, Li said, causing major financial problems and job losses as a result.

Another agriculture ministry official, Wang Zongli, said government agencies should set a good example for the public by treating "poultry products in a correct way", the report added....

KFC China sales crash 36% in April on bird flu fears

Seed Daily via AFP: Sales of fast food giant KFC in China slumped an estimated 36 percent last month, according to parent Yum! Brands, as consumers shunned chicken due to the H7N9 bird flu outbreak in humans.

For Yum overall, which includes other restaurant chains such as Pizza Hut, Chinese same-store sales -- a measure of turnover in established outlets -- fell an estimated 29 percent in April, according to an exchange filing on Friday.

An outbreak of H7N9 avian influenza, found in humans for the first time, has killed 33 people in China since the government began reporting figures in late March, according to the official news agency Xinhua. Chinese cities have shut live poultry markets in response.

"Beginning the first week of April, publicity surrounding avian flu in China has had a significant, negative impact on KFC sales," Yum said. China is a key market for Yum, which has more than 4,200 KFC restaurants in the country...

Image shot by 陳炬燵, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license