PureInsight | October 10, 2005
[PureInsight.org] A summary of various domestic Chinese news reports has revealed that since May 2005, over a thousand migratory birds in Niannaisuoma Village, Quanji Town, Gangcha County, Qinqhai Province, have died from the Asian H5N1 virus. Since then, outbreaks of this epidemic have successively been discovered in Eastern Asia, Northern Asia and Central Asia. The threat of this avian flu has reached certain areas of the former Soviet Union and beyond.
Avian flu spreads into Russia
According to a news source from August 10th, since the first case of avian flu was found in Russia on July 21st, the numbers of wild birds and poultry that have died from avian flu has reached 8,347. More recently, 2,764 wild birds and poultry died from avian flu.
Migratory birds in Mongolia were hit by avian flu
On August 19, 2005, the Mongolian National Emergency Management Agency announced that, since the end of July when Mongolia discovered that migratory birds were infected with avian flu, the number of birds deaths has reached around 180. The bureau person in charge confirmed that the birds that died at the end of July had been infected with a highly pathogenic strain of the H5N1 virus. These bird deaths occurred near lakes in Bulgan, Hovsgol and Khentii Aimag.
The city of Konosu in Japan was the site an outbreak of avian flu
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Aug 18, 2005 that an outbreak of a mild form of avian flu was reported in Konosu near Tokyo. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that chickens at a farm in Konosu near Tokyo had tested positive for avian flu. "The virus detected is of the H5 variety but is considered to be a weaker type because no mass deaths occurred at the farm." The local government has decided to kill the 98,300 chickens on the farm and ban the movement of chickens and eggs within 5 kilometers of the site.
An outbreak of H5N2 avian flu was reported on one farm elsewhere in Japan in June. The H5N2 avian flu virus has not been known to infect humans nor is it transmitted among humans. Japan had several poultry outbreaks of the H5N1 early in 2004 but no large-scale epidemic was found.
Avian flu has broken out in seven regions of the Russian Federation
On August 19th, the Russian Federal Monitoring Service for the Protection of
Consumer Rights and Well-being announced that the H5N1 virus had reached the southern Kalmykija Republic bordering the Caspian Sea. The Kalmykija Republic is the seventh region of the Russian Federation to be hit by the virus
A number of wild birds died at a preserve in the southern Kalmukia Republic, and a few domestic geese also died. Russia's chief epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko commented to the media on August 18th that as early as last Saturday, Kalmukia Republic had found dead poultry.
The other six regions hit by the avian flu virus are Novosibirsk, Tiyumen, Omsk, Kurgan, Chelyabinsk and Altai, which are located in Siberia and the region of the Urals. Kalmukia, cited above, does not border on those six regions, thousands miles away.
Up to August 19th, 40 villages in Russia were verified as having had avian flu infections. In 78 additional villages where dead poultry was found the deaths are suspected to have been caused by the virus. In the most recent few days, no great numbers of deaths of domestic poultry were reported in those six regions of Siberia and the Urals. To date, about 120 thousand domestic poultry were slaughtered in these affected federal entities.
After the H5N1 avian flu broke out in thirteen villages in the Novosibirsk region of Russia, the authorities decided on a large-scale slaughter of domestic poultry on August 2nd.
Kazakhstan Avian Flu Outbreak
According to information from August 11th, over ten thousand domestic poultry and wild birds died from avian flu in Russia. Kazakhstan also verified that a local avian flu outbreak was caused by the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, which can be transmitted to humans. In the past 48 hrs, the deaths of poultry in Russia increased rapidly, but no human has so far been infected. Since the end of July, farms in Pavlodar and North Kazakhstan, two provinces that are north of Kazakstan bordering Russia reported outbreaks of the disease. Now, the provinces of Aqmola and Karaganda that border the two provinces mentioned earlier have also discovered avian flu outbreaks.
According to an Urumqi Evening News report from August 19th, "an outbreak of avian influenza type A subtype H5 Asian version of virus was reported in geese on a farm in the village of Golubovka, Irtysh district, Pavlodar province." At least 400 domestic geese died and an additional 2,400 geese were destroyed. One farm worker was suspected of being infected.
Large poultry farm in Siberia quarantined
"Russian officials have quarantined a large poultry farm in Siberia because of a suspected outbreak of avian flu," reported the Washington Post on August 20th. If confirmed, it would be the first major occurrence of the lethal virus among birds in Russia, and international health officials expressed concern that the disease had spread closer to Western Europe.
About 142,000 birds are being monitored at a commercial farm in the Omsk region of Siberia, 1,400 miles east of Moscow. According to Interfax, Russian officials said if the presence of avian flu were confirmed at the Omsk farm, all the poultry there would be killed.
The report issued by officials stated about 11,000 birds have died of the disease in Russia and an additional 127,000 have been slaughtered on small farms. Up to 40 Russian villages have been hit by avian flu and 78 are under watch, according to the Federal Veterinarian and Plant Health Oversight Service.
The avian flu epidemic in Russia might spread to Europe
A high-rank official from the Russian Veterinarians and Plant Quarantine Bureau warned that the migratory birds carrying H5N1 might bring the virus to Western Europe.
This anonymous official said if the migratory birds from China that carry the virus would meet up in Russia with those birds flying to Europe the virus will spread to Holland, France and other EU countries.
He added that North America is also not a safe place; some migratory birds may fly from Russia to North America.
According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, the avian flu that necessitated the slaughter of millions of domestic poultry and has caused the death of close to 60 people has been approaching Europe. Migratory birds from Siberia brought the avian flu virus to the industrial area along the Ural Mountains. There has been no report of human infection so far. This is the first time Europe is faced with the avian flu threat.
Europe guards against the invasion of avian flu
Rome's Fiumicino International Airport has begun implementing precautionary measures involving passengers and merchandise originating from regions affected by avian flu to guard against the [spread of] avian flu.
"Passengers arriving at this Rome airport from China or Russia may be immediately hospitalized in an infectious diseases clinic if they shows signs of respiratory problems," airport authorities said in a statement. The new measures also foresee the "destruction by incineration of any poultry-based food found in the luggage of passengers traveling from risk areas," the text said.
Germany's Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast said, "emergency orders have been prepared which would require German farmers to bring their birds indoors in mid-September." German border control officials had already been instructed to intensify checks to prevent birds being imported. In addition, the authorities also requested hunters to assist in watching wild birds to look for development of any avian flu symptoms.
Threat to humans
The WHO reported on Aug. 18th that recent evidence indicates that the spread of the H5N1 virus has been observed at certain regions in Russia and Kazakhstan "The expanding geographical presence of the virus is of concern as it creates further opportunities for human exposure," the agency said.
To date, the known evidence shows that H5N1 is a deadly virus that can infect humans and can be transmited among humans. The H5N1 virus has killed close to 60 people in Southeast Asia since late 2003. The WHO voiced concern about the possible spread of the H5N1 avian flu in Russia and Kazakhstan.
The report stated further that it is confirmed that H5N1 is the causative agent for recent mass deaths of migratory birds in Russia and Kazakhstan; however, there have been no human infections reported since the virus was detected.
"Each additional human case increases opportunities for the virus to improve its transmissibility, through either adaptive mutation or re-combining. The emergence of an H5N1 strain that is readily transmitted among humans would mark the start of a pandemic," the report said.
International officials fear that, in September, migrating birds escaping the Russian winter might carry avian influenza across the Black Sea and into southeastern Europe and North Africa, which will increase the probability for infections in those regions.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/8/23/33576.html
