Cambodia-Plans Outlined to Prevent Spread of H5N1

Plans Outlined to Prevent Spread of H5N1

By Colin Meyn and Khy Sovuthy - January 31, 2013

Government officials met Tuesday in Phnom Penh to outline a strategy to prevent the spread of bird flu as millions prepare to travel from the provinces—where five cases of the virus have been reported in the past two weeks—to attend the late King Father No­ro­dom Sihanouk’s cremation in Phnom Penh.

The meeting was attended by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organi­za­tion and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

“These are poor people coming from provinces. There is some likelihood they will bring their own food and own poultry,” Son­ny Krishnan, spokesman for the WHO in Cambodia, said of the es­ti­mated 1.5 million people who are expected to arrive for the cremation on February 4.

“We are advising them that if you have to cook chicken, cook it well. We do hope animal health people will do inspections on the movement of poultry,” Mr. Krish­nan said.

The WHO on Tuesday confirmed that four people have died in the past two weeks from the H5N1 virus, also called bird flu, and that they all became infected from contact with live poultry. An 8-month-old boy from Phnom Penh’s Pur Sen­chey district survived infection from the normally lethal virus.

The WHO noted that in all ca­s­es, chickens were reported as be­ing sick or dying in the area, and that no entomological link be­tween the five reported cases had been found.

“Although the [H5N1] virus currently does not easily spread among humans, if the virus changes it could easily be spread like seasonal influenza. Hence, early recognition of cases is im­portant,” the WHO said.

Ly Sovann, deputy director of the CDC, said that, along with the Health Ministry, a number of steps are being taken to mitigate the threat of bird flu in the coming days.

Government ministries and partner NGOs will increase surveillance of people and poultry so that cases of bird flu can be identified and treated sooner. Aware­ness of the disease will be raised through broadcast campaigns on radio and television and the capacity of health workers will be im­proved through refresher training on how to identify and treat bird flu at district-level hospitals.

Mr. Krishnan said that in Phnom Penh, the Health Min­istry along with the Red Cross would distribute brochures to people coming into the city on how to protect themselves from the virus.

Dr. Sin Somuny, director of MediCam, an umbrella organization of health NGOs, said that the Agriculture Ministry’s ability to control the movement of chickens and ducks would be crucial to en­suring that infected chickens are not imported from Vietnam and brought into Phnom Penh during the cremation and ahead of Chi­nese New Year, which starts February 10.

“The Ministry of Agriculture should put up more measures at checkpoints where chickens can be imported. They need to identify infected chickens before they are brought in and kill people,” he said.

Dr. Philippe Buchy, head of the Pasteur Institute’s virology department in Phnom Penh, said that out­breaks of bird flu are often seen during festivals, when demand for chicken rises sharply.

“High risk of transmission [of the H5N1 virus] comes before Chinese New Year, Khmer New Year and Pchum Ben, when there is a huge demand for chicken,” he said, adding that stockpiling of chic­ken in Phnom Penh in preparation for the huge crowds coming to the city for the late King Fa­ther’s cremation may pose an add­ed risk of transmission.

“There is no bird flu epidemic that occurs because of the season —because it is hot or cold. It happens because of festivities,” he said.

In the past week, thousands of chickens and ducks have been slaughtered and the remains burned by the Ministry of Agri­culture in the areas where cases of bird flu have been reported.

In Takeo province’s Prey Kab­bas district, where a 17-year-old girl died of bird flu on January 21, 4,743 ducks and chickens have been burned by local authorities, said That Bunly, a district official with the Ministry of Agriculture’s Ani­mal Health Department.  http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/plans-outlined-to-prevent-spread-of-h5n1-8722/

Volume 19, Number 2—February 2013

Dispatch

Influenza A(H5N1) Virus Surveillance at Live Poultry Markets, Cambodia, 2011

Article Contents

• The Study
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgment
• References
• Figure 1
• Figure 2
• Table
• Suggested Citation

Srey Viseth Horm, San Sorn, Lotfi Allal, and Philippe Buchy 

Author affiliations: Author affiliations: Institut Pasteur, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (S.V. Horm, S. Sorn, P. Buchy); Ministry of Agriculture, Phnom Penh (S. Sorn); Food and Agriculture Organization, Phnom Penh (L. Allal)

Suggested citation for this article

AbstractIn Cambodia, influenza A(H5N1) virus surveillance at live poultry markets (LPMs) relies on virus isolation from poultry specimens; however, virus is rarely detected by this method. We tested 502 environmental LPM samples: 90 were positive by PCR, 10 by virus isolation. Virus circulation could be better monitored by environmental sampling of LPMs.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus was first detected in 2004 in Cambodia. Since then, outbreaks of subtype H5N1 infection among poultry have been regularly detected, and 21 human cases associated with 19 deaths have been recorded (1).

In Cambodia, where poultry vaccination is not allowed, illegal poultry trade has been a repeated source of reintroduction of the virus (2–4). Surveillance for subtype H5N1 virus at live poultry markets (LPMs) has been conducted in Cambodia by inoculating cloacal or throat swab specimens from poultry into embryonated chicken eggs; however, virus has rarely been detected by this method (S. Sorn, unpub. data). After outbreaks of subtype H5N1 virus in poultry, the viral genome can be detected for >1 week in environmental samples from the outbreak area; thus, environmental surfaces are potential sources of virus transmission to humans and animals (5,6). LPMs have also been reported as sources of virus involved in human subtype H5N1 infection (7–9).

Birds sold at LPMs can originate http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/2/12-1201_article.htm?s_cid=eid-gDev-email

Norovirus GII.4 Sydney hits Va, Maryland...

and the rest of the world..

WVEC.com

Posted on January 30, 2013 at 4:14 PM

HAMPTON ROADS-- As if severe flu season isn’t enough, Virginia is being hit with a new strain of norovirus, sometimes called “stomach flu.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this strain is highly contagious.  It spreads easily in schools, nursing homes and other enclosed areas. 

Despite being referred to as stomach flu, norovirus is not really the flu, which is a respiratory infection.  Norovirus inflames the stomach and intestines which causes stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. 

Some people may also have a low-grade fever, chills, headache, body aches and fatigue.  These symptoms can show up suddenly from one to three days after you are exposed to the virus.

To avoid infection Wash your hands frequently to stop the viruses from spreading.  Help children wash their hands thoroughly.  Also wash fruits and vegetables carefully and cook shellfish before eating.  

When somebody does become sick make sure you disinfect areas in the home and at work.

If you do come down with “stomach flu,” you should drink plenty of liquids to avoid dehydration.  You should usually feel better after two or three days.   

This norovirus strain is called the Sydney strain because it started in Australia and has caused outbreaks around the world. http://www.wvec.com/news/New-norovirus-strain-hits-Virginia-189079411.html

...BALTIMORE (WJZ) — We’re still coping with flu season but now there’s another outbreak of a highly contagious illness. A dangerous strain of norovirus is spreading fast.

Meghan McCorkell has the warning from doctors.

Doctors are seeing more cases of norovirus come in and they say this year’s strain is particularly aggressive.

We’re in the middle of one of the worst flu seasons.

“You’re just so weak and every part of your body hurts and aches,” said flu patient Joe Gleba.

Another illness is spreading fast. More than 140 outbreaks of a dangerous new strain of norovirus have now been reported in the U.S.

“It’s very contagious. There are multiple epidemics of it. Other than cleaning the areas, there’s not a whole lot people can do about it,” said Dr. Gary Simon, George Washington University Hospital...

video

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/01/28/a-dangerous-strain-of-norovirus-spreads-through-maryland/

Sydney 2012 norovirus strain continues to spread globally

Published on January 30, 2013 at 9:15 AM 

By Helen Albert, Senior medwireNews Reporter

A new strain of norovirus known as Sydney 2012 has caused a significant number of acute outbreaks of the infection during the 2012-2013 winter season and continues to spread worldwide.

Writing in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA, Eyal Leshem (CDC, Atlanta, Georgia, USA) and colleagues report that the GII.4 Sydney 2012 strain of the virus has taken over as the most dominant strain in the US this season, being responsible for 53% of all reported cases in the September-December 2012 period.

This strain of norovirus was also responsible for 50%-80% of norovirus cases reported in the UK in the last 3 weeks of 2012 and the first week of 2013, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

Globally, norovirus activity increased significantly at the end of 2012, as reported by Janko van Beek (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, the Netherlands) and colleagues in Eurosurveillance earlier this month. They, and other researchers around the world, believe the increased activity is linked to the emergence of the GII.4 Sydney 2012 strain in Australia in March 2012.

Since it was first discovered, the Sydney 2012 strain has been observed in France, New Zealand, and Japan, as well as in the UK and USA.

Over the past 10 years, a new GII.4 strain of norovirus has typically emerged every 2-3 years, often accompanied by an increase in the number of reported infections. However, this is not always the case as there was no significant increase in the number of cases of the infection when the New Orleans strain emerged in the US in 2009.

Mid January figures released by the HPA show that the number of norovirus cases in the UK between week 27 in 2012 and week 1 in 2013 was 56% higher than in the same period last year, rising from 2828 cases in 2011-2012 to 4407 in 2012-2013.

David Brown (HPA, London, UK) told the press: "It is always difficult to predict the norovirus season and this year is no different."

He added: "Noroviruses mutate rapidly and new strains are constantly emerging. At the start of the season it is normal for outbreaks to be caused by a range of different strains. However as the season progresses particular strains are more successful and become dominant."

Lesham and team say that continued surveillance is needed to "enable further assessment of the public health implications of the new GII.4 Sydney strain, including any association with increased severity or level of activity in the ongoing 2012-13 winter norovirus season."

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20130130/Sydney-2012-norovirus-strain-continues-to-spread-globally.aspxhttp://www.news-medical.net/news/20130130/Sydney-2012-norovirus-strain-continues-to-spread-globally.aspx

This year has won 4 human lives and avian flu hit in 4 Provinces

• News
 
• Top news
 

 2013-01-30 19:31

The (Cambodia ‧ Phnom Penh information) before the Spring Festival, the avian flu attacked four provinces and cities in Cambodia, five cases of H5N1 avian influenza in 20 days, four people were killed.

The Health Ministry said that the Cambodian domestic avian flu pandemic risk persists, call for people to enhance self-protection, to avoid contact with birds to avoid infection.

Takeo Province village is a serious public chickens large number of deaths after the occurrence of avian influenza, the working group of the Ministry of Health immediately went to the avian flu settlements inspections and testing samples for virus testing, but no detectable abnormalities circumstances, a temporary source of the avian influenza virus is unknown.

Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization yesterday morning jointly issued a circular pointed out that continued last week found three people after two people died of bird flu, the Ministry of Health has discovered two new cases of avian flu have died ineffective treatment, bringing this year's avian flu deaths toll to four people.

Informed introduction, a case in real Habitat Province Gong Bixi County 17 girls, on January 13 with fever, cough, runny nose and vomiting and other symptoms, treatment at a local private hospital invalid on the 17th sent to Phnom Penh Kun Tepa take the hospital for treatment.Although doctors heart treatment, but still invalid rescue the girls' lives, her death on the 28th.

Another case is the the Gong Bu Province, Xiangshui the 9-year-old girls, fever and cough on the 19th. Therapy at a local private hospital, kun the Tepa flowers Children's Hospital in Phnom Penh, was sent on the 27th the treatment ineffective died on the 28th of this month.

Last year only informed three

Earlier three cases were Phnom Penh Municipal the Bodhisattva Senzhi District 8-month-old baby boy, the Takeo province slope ceremony gaba County's 15-year-old girl, and the the the real ranking Province Gong Bixi County's 35-year-old man, in addition to eight month-old baby boy has recovered, while the rest have died.

According After an investigation, the five patients before the onset had contact with sick or dead chickens and eating chicken.

Last year, Cambodia informed three H5N1 avian influenza, all died this year alone, an outbreak of avian flu cases far more than last year. Since 2005, Cambodia outbreak of 26 cases of avian flu, 23 of which treatment died.

Minister of Health of Mongolia Wenxing said the H5N1 strain of avian flu is threatening the health of the people of Cambodia, especially the children who are most threatened. The Monte Wunsing remind parents to take care of their own children, to keep them away from sick or dead poultry. Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, send their children to the nearest health clinic for treatment and to inform health officials about whether they had contact with sick or dead poultry.

Infectious disease of domestic avian flu and prevention measures to the Centers for Disease Control website ( http://www.cdcmoh.gov.kh ) introduced under inquiry, or call toll-free 115 hotline If you are not able to dial a simple code phone numbers, please dial 012488981,089669567 contact.  http://www.sinchew-i.com/cambodia/node/30019?tid=4

No comment

Two More Children Die From Bird Flu

By Denise Hruby and Khy Sovuthy - January 30, 2013

Two more children died Monday from avian influenza which has spread across four provinces in the past two weeks, bringing the death toll to four and the number of cases to five since January 21, health officials said.

A 1-year-old girl from Kom­pong Speu province’s Kong Pisei district and an 8-year-old girl from Kampot province’s Toek Chhou district died Monday while receiving treatment at the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Phnom Penh, said Dr. Denis Laurent, the hospital’s deputy director.

The two deaths come just one week after a 15-year-old girl from Ta­keo province’s Prey Kabass dis­trict and a 35-year-old man from Kampong Speu province’s Kong Pisei district also died in Phnom Penh hospitals from the H5N1 virus.

Among the five recorded cases to date, an 8-month-old boy from Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district’s Choam Chao commune, who first showed symptoms on January 8, is the only victim to survive.

“We now have three deaths at [Kantha Bopha]; the first was a [15-year-old] girl. Today, a 17-month-old infant girl and another girl, 8 years old, died,” Dr. Lau­rent said, declining to elaborate on the outbreak.

Despite the sudden spate of new cases—just three people were diagnosed with avian influenza throughout the whole of 2012—the World Health Organization said there was no immediate danger, as long as people paid at­tention to hygiene standards.

“It’s not really dangerous because there is no evidence yet that people visiting live poultry markets can get sick,” WHO communications officer Sonny Krish­nan said. “But in 2005, we also had four cases in two or three weeks, and I don’t think we can draw any conclusions yet.”

According to Mr. Krishnan, an increase in the amount of poultry being traded in the run-up to the Chinese Lunar New Year on Feb­ruary 10 as well as the current relatively cold weather, which is weak­ening people’s immune system, are some of the possible reasons for the recent rise in cases.

“If there’s increased demand [for poultry], there’s a higher risk for infection,” he said, explaining that the virus—which has killed more than 330 people worldwide —is transmitted from one chicken to the other before eventually infecting humans.

Mr. Krishnan said that an emergency meeting would be held to­day with Health Ministry officials to increase the number of notices on television and radio educating people about avian influenza.

Minister of Health Mam Bun Heng declined to comment on the outbreak.

Last year in Vietnam, a new strain of avian influenza developed in the country in July, though the new strain was never found in humans. According to the WHO, two people died and four cases of H5N1 were recorded in Vietnam throughout 2012.

Dr. Philippe Buchy, head of the Pasteur Institute’s virology depart­ment in Phnom Penh, which has tested the recent cases, urged people to stay away from live poultry and only buy chicken or ducks if they have been properly processed.

“This is a very basic recommendation: Don’t buy live poultry, be­cause it is never safe in a country where the virus is circulating,” he said, adding that most Cambo­dians slaughter and pluck chickens them­selves and are unlikely to come across processed meat.

He also said there was abso­lutely no way of predicting wheth­er further cases would be confirmed in the country.

Ma Savath, governor of Kong Pisei district, where two cases have occurred so far, said that officials were still trying to find a possible link between the five cases. http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-more-children-die-from-bird-flu-8549/

Bird flu spreads in Cambodia

The deaths of four Cambodians from avian flu have health experts worried. Just four weeks into the year, the toll is Cambodia's second highest since avian flu was first detected here in 2005.

Sonny Inbaraj Krishnan, the WHO's communications officer, said Wednesday, January 30, that the organization remained concerned at the deaths from H5N1, which is better known as avian flu.

"These are the first cases globally this year," he said.

Avian flu was first reported in Cambodia in 2005 when four people died. The highest annual toll was in 2011 when eight Cambodians died.

H5N1 is extremely dangerous once it jumps from poultry to humans. Worldwide it has killed 364 people out of 615 infected since 1997.

The virus has already claimed four lives in Cambodia this year

Although there have been no proven cases of human-to-human transmission, Krishnan said, experts fear H5N1 could undergo a recombination and re-assortment with another influenza virus.

"And that could give rise to a new virus that is transmittable between humans," he said.

Children at risk

Seventeen of Cambodia's 26 confirmed infections have occurred in children, the Ministry of Health said Tuesday. The victims who died on Monday were a 1-year-old girl and an 8-year-old girl. Earlier this month the disease claimed a 15-year-old girl and a 35-year-old man. The fifth person infected, a baby, recovered.

In response, the authorities have sent teams to the villages where the victims lived, culled thousands of chickens and ducks, and sprayed disinfectant.

Minister of Health Mam Bunheng said parents must tell their children to wash their hands and keep them away from areas where poultry live.

"If [children] have difficulty breathing, they should be brought to medical attention at the nearest health facilities and attending physicians be made aware of any exposure to sick or dead poultry," Mam Bunheng said.

The WHO's Krishnan said health teams have monitored the condition of people who came in contact with the victims, adding that all had tested negative for the virus. The government has also boosted the number of television and radio spots warning of avian flu and telling people how to protect themselves, and staff at health clinics in the affected provinces will receive refresher training on avian flu in February.

Population influx

However, two imminent events will add to the challenges of containing the spread of the disease.

The first is the February 4 cremation of Norodom Sihanouk, the country's revered former king, in Phnom Penh. The government expects that more than a million people will travel to the capital to pay their respects. Many will bring food, including live poultry.

The avian flu cannot yet be transferred from human to human

The other is Chinese New Year on February 10. In preparation for the festival, large numbers of chickens and ducks are usually transported ahead of that date to markets in the cities and towns.

Either event could promote the spread of the disease. On Tuesday, government and UN health experts met to work out how best to prevent that. Krishnan said officials would hand out information leaflets to people coming to the capital to warn them of the risks and advise them how to avoid contracting the disease. That includes not eating birds that have died from illness, and cooking poultry thoroughly.

Most of the efforts underway are designed to ensure that people do not get infected with avian flu in the first place. Once they do, the chances of recovery are slim - not least due to the country's weak healthcare system. In total, 23 Cambodians out of 26 infected to date with avian flu have died - a fatality rate close on 90 percent, and well above the global figure of nearly 60 percent.

Krishnan said part of the problem is that Cambodians typically first seek medication at their local pharmacy or private clinic. That costs precious days. Given that H5N1 can kill in around a week, by the time patients arrive at hospital "the chances are slim that they will survive."..http://www.dw.de/bird-flu-spreads-in-cambodia/a-16559672

Phnom Penh Embassy closed for kings funeral

The US Embassy will be closed from Friday, February 1, through Monday, February 4.

Released on January 30, 2013

The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh will be closed from Friday, February 1, to Monday, February 4, for the King Father’s cremation and associated activities.  An influx of over three million people into Phnom Penh is expected during this four-day period, with many activities centered in the Wat Phnom area.  Due to the increase in population and government-mandated road closures, movement around the city will be heavily restricted.  The U.S. Embassy advises all U.S. citizens to exercise caution while traveling in and around Phnom Penh, and strongly recommends avoiding large crowds.  The Embassy will reopen Tuesday, February 5.

http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/embassy_will_be_closed.html

no mention of H5N1 

Police bodyguard for UN workers in anti-polio drive shot dead in Pakistan

Published on Tuesday 29 January 2013 21:13

Gunmen on a motorcycle have shot dead a police officer protecting polio workers during a UN-backed vaccination campaign in Pakistan.

The attack took place as dozens of polio workers – including several women – were going door-to-door to vaccinate children in Gullu Dheri village of Swabi district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“The polio workers were terrified and immediately went back to their homes after the attack,” a police spokesman said. “The anti-polio drive in that village has been suspended.”

Elsewhere in the north-west, a man wounded a polio worker with an axe. He was marking houses in Machi village to indicate where vaccines had been administered and the attacker became angry after his door was marked.

The attacks occurred on the second day of a three-day campaign against polio that was launched by the provincial government. No one claimed responsibility for the shooting in Gullu Dheri, but suspicion fell on militants.

Some Islamists oppose the vaccination campaign, accuse health workers of acting as spies for the US and claim the polio vaccine is intended to make Muslim children sterile.

Suspicion of vaccination 
campaigns heightened considerably after a Pakistani doctor helped in the US hunt for Osama bin Laden. http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/international/police-bodyguard-for-un-workers-in-anti-polio-drive-shot-dead-in-pakistan-1-5364002

Swine flu kills 25 people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

  

TEL AVIV, 29 January 2013 (IRIN) - Health officials in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) are calling on residents to get vaccinated against the H1N1 virus (“swine flu”) after 25 deaths in recent weeks.

Over 700 infections of H1N1 have been reported in the West Bank and 20 in the Gaza Strip, and officials say the number of recent H1N1-related deaths is almost certainly underreported.

“The virus has claimed 25 lives to date, three of them in Gaza, and we are in the midst of vaccinating,” Asad Ramlawi, general director of primary health care at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, told IRIN.

He said 25,000 people had been vaccinated as part of a regular programme over the last few months, and an additional 25,000 have been vaccinated since the outbreak.

“Right now we are targeting patients at risk of heart disease, diabetes, blood diseases and of course, pregnant women. We are seeing a good response to our efforts to raise awareness [of the importance of] getting vaccinated,” he said, saying they had good stocks of the vaccine in reserve.

Young children, babies and infants under five, old people and pregnant women are considered to be at the highest risk of contracting H1N1, an infection caused by an influenza virus believed originally to have infected the lungs of pigs.

The latest surge of cases was detected in the West Bank in early December 2012 but the first cases in Gaza came to light in mid-January, with reported deaths in the Jenin, Qalqilya and Hebron regions, according to Palestinian health officials.

In the 2009 pandemic, dozens of Palestinians died from H1N1.

And elsewhere in the region?

In Israel, a twenty-eight-year old woman died on Monday night of H1N1 at a hospital in Beer Sheba.

Previously, the only reported H1N1 death was of a three-year-old boy in the city of Petach Tikva in mid-January, the first reported in the country since the winter of 2009- 2010 when 96 Israelis died.

Since then, a large-scale vaccination campaign has been carried out. Four unvaccinated women have been hospitalized with H1N1 in the past few weeks.

Israeli Ministry of Health spokeswoman Einav Shimron- Greenbaum told IRIN H1N1 in Israel is “at a medium level as of now; we are aware of the reported deaths in the PA [Palestinian Authority] and are monitoring the situation, as we are with worldwide reports of the situation.”

Nine confirmed deaths were reported in Yemen in the last two months; three deaths in Iraq; two in Jordan; and 20 non-fatal infections in Tunisia.

In 2009 the World Health Organization declared that the H1N1 strain of the flu virus had become pandemic. It went on to cause the deaths of at least 18,500 people before the pandemic was declared over in August 2010.

According to statistics, about 500 people die from the common flu every year in Israel.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/97349/Swine-flu-kills-25-in-OPT-in-past-few-weeks

Genetics may explain severe flu in Chinese people

11:47a.m. EST January 29, 2013

People with this genetic predisposition to severe flu should be treated more aggressively than others, a researcher says.LONDON — A genetic variant commonly found in Chinese people may help explain why some got seriously ill with swine flu, a discovery scientists say could help pinpoint why flu viruses hit some populations particularly hard and change how they are treated.

Less than 1% of Caucasians are thought to have the gene alteration, which has previously been linked to severe influenza. Yet about 25% of Chinese people have the gene variant, which is also common in Japanese and Korean people.

British and Chinese researchers analyzed 83 patients admitted to a Beijing hospital during the 2009-2010 swine flu pandemic. Of those with serious complications like pneumonia, respiratory or kidney failure, 69% had the genetic alteration. Among patients with mild illness, only 25% did.

"It doesn't mean you should panic if you have this gene variant," said Andrew McMichael, director of the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford University, one of the study's authors. "Most people who have it won't run into any trouble at all."

He suggested people with this genetic predisposition to severe flu should be treated earlier and more aggressively than others.

McMichael estimated that people with the genetic variant were five to six times more likely to get severely ill once they're infected. The gene alteration doesn't make people more likely to catch the flu, since that depends on other factors like environmental exposure and previous immunity.

McMichael said the gene variant might give people the same susceptibility to get severely ill from other ailments including dengue, SARS and other flus. But it could also provide them with better immunity if they recover.

The research was published online Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

Some experts said it was an intriguing finding that shows a patient's response to a virus may determine how sick they will become.

"The bug in someone who gets severely ill is not any different than the one that infects someone who has mild illness," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, who did not participate in the study. "It's the host that does all the damage to themselves."

If people carried the genetic variant, Osterholm said, their immune systems were more likely to kick into overdrive if they caught the flu, causing problems like organ damage or blocking their airways.

Scientists have long recognized that diseases don't strike all populations equally. Caucasian people are more likely to get the crippling Guillain-Barre syndrome after vaccinations and flu epidemics are often more fatal in indigenous populations in Australia and Canada. Records are too limited to know if previous flu outbreaks have been more lethal in Asia.

Osterholm warned that the genetic variant wasn't limited to people of Chinese descent. "A lot of other populations have the same genes that respond immunologically like this," he said.

Osterholm thought that different flu strains would likely trigger different responses in people and just because Chinese people may have been more vulnerable to severe disease with swine flu doesn't mean they would have the same reaction with other flus.

Others said genetic screening might one day be included in national flu plans.

"Further work needs to be done to justify that, but maybe in the future we would be able to say that if you're of a certain ethnicity, you are more at risk and should be prioritized for vaccination or antivirals," said Peter Openshaw, director of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College London. "It's possible we could one day do a genetic test before treating someone with flu to see what the best treatment would be." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/29/chinese-people-flu/1874045/

Health: low mortality rate "bird flu" in Egypt 63%

Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - 18:27

The Ministry of Health and Population, the number of deaths bird flu virus decreased in Egypt by 63%, and by comparing the number of deaths from the disease in the period from January 2012 to January 2013, which amounted to 6 cases only the latest of a lady in Beheira, died last Saturday, in the same period from the previous year. ministry statement said, that the total number of deaths from bird flu, since it emerged in Egypt in 2006 and so far reached 61 cases.

http://www1.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=926891&SecID=97

Hundreds of chickens and ducks In Cilacap Sudden Death

 

By Donald Banjarnahor on Tuesday, 29 January 2013

 - Hundreds of poultry breeds of chickens and ducks in the village Mulyadadi, District Majenang, Cilacap, Central Java, reportedly died suddenly since Friday (25/01/2013) last week.

"Sudden death in poultry occurred in the hamlet Purwodadi. We have reported this incident to the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (Dinpertanak) Cilacap, "said the chief Mulyadadi Sangidun as quoted from Reuters on Tuesday (01/29/2013).

According to him, Dinpertanak Cilacap has deployed a team to assess the number of birds that died suddenly and disinvektan spraying the cage in order to anticipate the possibility of bird flu (avian influenza-AI).

Meanwhile, Chairman of Farmers Group "Mukti Tani" Village Mulyadadi, Marijan said the number of birds that died suddenly in this village is in the range of 500 fish.

"Dead birds looked healthy in the morning but the afternoon off, so does that look healthy on the afternoon of the next day off. There are no signs that the bird will die. In fact, sometimes being fed birds, sudden death, "he said.

According to him, cases of sudden death in birds breeds of chickens and ducks for the first time this happened in Hamlet Purwodadi.

"Usually only occurs in chickens and most often affected Newcastle. This time not only sudden death in chickens, but also ducks, "he said.

Head of the Technical Unit Dinpertanak Majenang Region Darta Mulyana said Dinpertanak Cilacap has sought to anticipate the possibility of the spread of bird flu virus.

"Do not let happen transmission of the virus from birds to humans, even from human to human," he said.

Therefore, he urged people to burn the carcasses of poultry that died suddenly before it was buried in a hole with a depth of 1 meter.

"Arson is an effort to destroy the virus because the virus is exposed to heat up to 100 degrees Celsius will die. Once burned, dead birds were buried in a hole with a depth of 1 meter, "he said.  http://www.bisnis-jateng.com/index.php/2013/01/flu-burung-ratusan-unggas-di-cilacap-mati-mendadak/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

China -HONG KONG -dead bird confirmed H5N1

Mouse Island children's playground, Hoi Wing Road, Tuen Mun' Biological Hazard in China on Tuesday, 29 January, 2013 at 11:11 (11:11 AM) UTC.

Description An intensive surveillance system is in place for all poultry farms, poultry markets and pet bird shops in Hong Kong. The H5N1 infected wild bird was detected in our ongoing surveillance program on wild birds. No spread of disease was evident. The date of closure of the event is the date of end of the outbreak which is the date the bird was found (i.e. 25 January 2013). http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=BH-20130129-38039-CHN

Dead gull infected with bird flu

news.gov.hk Tuesday 29th January, 2013

A dead bird found in Tuen Mun has tested positive for the H5 avian influenza virus, the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department said today.Further confirmatory tests are being conducted.The sick black-headed gull was found in Mouse Island Children's Playground on January 25. It died the next day.The Leisure & Cultural Services Department has stepped up cleaning and disinfection of the venue.It has also inspected a chicken farm lo...

http://www.hongkongnews.net/index.php/sid/212206943/scat/b82693edf38ebff8