Bird flu found in UK, Netherlands but authorities say little risk to humans

[Buster's Uncle]

Bird flu found in UK, Netherlands but authorities say little risk to humans
Reuters
By Anthony Deutsch, Costas Pitas and Sybille de La Hamaide  3 minutes ago



AMSTERDAM/LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Bird flu was found on a duck farm in England on Monday days after it was discovered in Dutch chickens, forcing authorities to destroy poultry and restrict exports, although it was not the strain known to be deadly to humans.

Health officials said the outbreak may have been brought to Europe by wild birds migrating from Asia where millions of South Korean farm birds have had to be destroyed.

"The public health risk is very low and there is no risk to the food chain," said a spokeswoman at Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Bird flu was also found on farms in Germany earlier this month. Authorities have yet to determine conclusively whether there is a link between the German, Dutch and British outbreaks, or whether they are related to outbreaks in Asia.

The German and Dutch outbreaks are of the H5N8 strain, which is highly contagious in birds. H5N8 has never been found in humans, unlike H5N1, which has killed 400 people mostly in Asia and the Middle East since 2003.

British authorities said the flu found there was also not H5N1, although they had not yet determined whether it was H5N8.

Deadly H5N1 is still found in a handful of countries after a global outbreak that peaked in 2005-2009. On Monday, the Egyptian health ministry said a 19-year-old woman had died of it, the second person known to have died of the disease this year in Egypt.

In Britain, authorities imposed a restricted zone for 10 km around the farm in Yorkshire where bird flu was found and announced all 6,000 ducks there would be destroyed.

In the Netherlands, 150,000 chickens were to be destroyed. The discovery near the village of Hekendorp triggered a three-day ban on shipments of all poultry products out of the country, the world's largest egg exporter. A 10-km exclusion radius imposed around the infected farm will be sealed for 30 days.

The European Union hailed the Dutch and British responses: "We can say that all the protocols were followed and we can only praise the behavior of the authorities of the two member states," said a European Commission spokesman.

The Dutch government said on Monday that two nearby farms were found to be free of infection.

The Netherlands, with a population of less than 17 million, is the world's second largest exporter of agricultural products after the United States, selling $79 billion euros ($99 billion) of agricultural goods abroad last year. The 700 Dutch poultry farms house 98 million chickens and export 6 billion eggs a year.

All 300 petting zoos in the Netherlands were also closed until Wednesday.

"People can spread this flu as well as animals," said the Association of Petting Zoos. "People can't infect other people, but they can infect chickens."


MIGRATING BIRDS SUSPECTED

The H5N8 strain of bird flu was reported in Germany on Nov. 4 on a farm in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The Dutch hens began to show symptoms of H5N8 on Friday and blood tests confirmed the infection on Saturday.

European officials said past outbreaks on the continent had always been brought by migrating birds, the main suspicion in the latest cases although not yet proved.

"Every time Europe has been contaminated to date it has been through migrating birds," the head of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), Director General Bernard Vallat, told Reuters in an interview. "It is hard to protect farms from wild birds. They are often attracted by food and other birds."

Elke Reinking, spokeswoman for Germany's state animal disease institute, said that while links to Asian infections were suspected there was still "no conclusive evidence".

The institute is investigating whether the viruses in the Netherlands and Germany are of the same type as in Korea or a new variant.

Even short-term restrictions on trade could hit the thriving Dutch agricultural export businesses, with the export of eggs alone worth around 3.2 million euros a day, figures from Statistics Netherlands showed.

Between 2003 and 2006, around 30 million hens were culled in the Netherlands after an outbreak of another bird flu strain, H5N7.

(1 US dollar = 0.7990 euro)

(Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski in Brussels, Thomas Escritt in Amsterdam and Hans-Edzard Busemann in Berlin; Editing by Peter Graff and Giles Elgood)


http://news.yahoo.com/bird-flu-found-uk-netherlands-authorities-little-risk-151255601.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Bird flu not found in farms near outbreak site, say Dutch officials
Reuters
By Anthony Deutsch  3 hours ago



A logo is seen at the entrance of a poultry farm, where a highly contagious strain of bird flu was found by Dutch authorities, in Hekendorp November 17, 2014. REUTERS/Marco De Swart



AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A highly contagious form of bird flu has not spread to two farms close to an outbreak site in central Netherlands, Dutch authorities said on Monday, as health safety officials continued to cull 150,000 birds at the infected egg producing farm.

The discovery at the weekend near the village of Hekendorp, in the central Netherlands, triggered a three-day ban on shipments of all poultry products out of the country - the world's largest egg exporter - and a 10-km exclusion radius was set up around the infected farm, to be sealed for 30 days.

"No new infections were discovered at two farms near this one and the European Commission has expressed satisfaction with our response," Economic Affairs Ministry spokesman Jan van Diepen said on Monday.

The Netherlands, a tiny trading nation with a population of less than 17 million, is the world's second largest exporter of agricultural products after the United States, sending 79 billion euros ($99 billion) of agricultural goods abroad in 2013. It is also the largest exporter of poultry meat in the European Union, according to figures from the International Poultry Council.

A 72-hour transportation ban was in place at nearly 700 Dutch poultry farms across the country and the European Union said it was considering urgent interim measures to prevent a wider European outbreak.



An expert wearing a protection suit arrives at a poultry farm, where a highly contagious strain of bird flu was found by Dutch authorities, in Hekendorp November 17, 2014. REUTERS/Marco De Swart


Between them, Dutch poultry farms sell more than 6 billion eggs abroad every year. Germany is the biggest recipient, receiving 75 percent of all Dutch exports.

The Dutch outbreak was of the same H5N8 variety found at a German farm, but officials said they had not yet traced the origin of the infection and could not say if they were related.

Britain on Monday also reported a case of the disease on a duck-breeding farm in northern England, which could be linked.

The Dutch hens began to show symptoms of H5N8 on Friday and blood tests confirmed the infection on Saturday.

Unlike H5N1, which has killed dozens of people in Asia in recent years, the H5N8 variety found in the Netherlands has not been detected in humans.

An outbreak in South Korea resulted in the slaughter of millions of farm birds. Cases of H5N8 have also been reported in China and Japan, although the strain was first reported in Europe, on a German farm, in early November.

Between 2003 and 2006, around 30 million hens were culled after an outbreak of bird flu in the Netherlands.

The H5N8 strain of bird flu was reported in Germany on Nov. 4 on a farm in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern..

All 300 petting zoos in the Netherlands were also closed until Wednesday.

"People can spread this flu as well as animals," said the Association of Petting Zoos. "People can't infect other people, but they can infect chickens."

(Additional reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Sophie Walker)


http://news.yahoo.com/bird-flu-not-found-farms-near-outbreak-dutch-121932795.html

[Buster's Uncle]

'Contagious' bird flu outbreaks on Dutch, British farms
AFP
By Nicolas Delaunay  58 minutes ago



Specialists wearing protective clothing prepare to enter a duck farm where a case of bird flu has been identified in Yorkshire, north east England, on November 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Oli Scarff)



Hekendorp (Netherlands) (AFP) - Dutch officials were on Monday checking poultry farms for a highly infectious strain of bird flu following outbreaks of similar strains of the virus in Britain and Germany.

Public health authorities on Sunday banned the transport of poultry throughout the Netherlands after the discovery in the village of Hekendorp of a "highly pathogenic" form of avian influenza that is very dangerous to birds and can contaminate humans.

The destruction of around 150,000 hens at the egg farm in Hekendorp, near Utrecht, should be completed on Monday, said Lex Denden of the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).

The European Commission on Monday praised the Dutch and British response to the outbreaks amid warnings that the disease could spread further.

"We can only praise the behaviour of the authorities of the two member states," said Commission spokesman Enrico Brivio.



Ducks are pictured at a duck breeding farm where a case of bird flu has been identified in Nafferton in Yorkshire, north east England, on November 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Oli Scarff)


- Same strain -

A duck breeding farm in northern England was closed off on Monday after an outbreak of bird flu, although officials said the risk to public health was "very low".

An estimated 6,000 ducks on the farm will be culled and a 10-kilometre (six-mile) restriction zone has been put around the site near Driffield in Yorkshire.

Renowned virologist and bird flu expert Ron Fouchier said that British authorities had told European authorities that their virus is the same H5N8 strain as found in Germany earlier this month and now in the Netherlands.

"The UK virus is also similar to the German one, that would mean that it's the H5N8 strain,” Fouchier told AFP.

An EU source told reporters that it is "most likely the same strain in all three places," the Netherlands, Britain and Germany.



Around 150,000 chickens were to be culled at this farm in Hekendorp, the Netherlands, after a strain of bird flu was identified (AFP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)


The source said "more outbreaks would not be surprising" in countries such as France, Spain and Italy as the "disease might have come from swans migrating from north to south."


- Health risk to humans -

Dutch food authority spokesman Denden told AFP they were checking 16 farms in around a 10-kilometre (six-mile) radius from the infected farm.

He said that two farms in the immediate vicinity of the infected farm had already been given the all-clear.

Roadblocks have been set up around one kilometre from the village to prevent people not on official business from entering.



Police stand outside a duck farm where a case of bird flu has been identified in Nafferton in Yorkshire, north east England, on November 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Oli Scarff)


The atmosphere in the village was quiet on Monday, with police and black barriers screening off the infected farm amid fears of further outbreaks in Europe's biggest egg and poultry exporter.

Officials have identified the flu as being the H5N8 strain, previously detected only in Asia.

Several hundred thousand birds, mainly ducks, have been culled over the last two months because of a South Korean outbreak.

Some strains of avian influenza are fatal for chickens, and pose a health threat to humans, who can fall sick after handling infected poultry.

But Dutch authorities have said human infection can only occur following "intense and direct contact" with infected birds.



Heavy vehicles are seen parked outside the poultry farm in the village of Hekendorp, where a a strain of bird flu was identified, on November 16, 2014 (AFP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)


Virologist Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam told AFP it was a mystery how the virus had reached the Netherlands.

"We have no idea where it's coming from," he said, noting that the flu had "popped up, out of nowhere, in farms without any poultry trade record with Asia".

Fouchier said that the infection likely came through wild waterbirds, such as ducks, geese or swans, that had migrated from Asia and left droppings near the Dutch farm.

"We can't really talk about a major return of the virus since it's a different strain than in 2005-06," he said.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 400 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.


- Countrywide ban -

According to Dutch media, the H7N7 strain of avian flu severely hit the Netherlands in 2003 with health authorities destroying some 30 million birds in an effort to quash an outbreak.

There are some 95 million chickens kept on Dutch poultry farms and egg exports totalled some 10.6 billion euros ($13.2 billion) in 2011, according to the latest Dutch statistics.


http://news.yahoo.com/dutch-check-other-farms-bird-flu-outbreak-094506745.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Bird flu on British farm may be linked to Dutch, German cases
Reuters
By Costas Pitas  3 hours ago



Ducks in cages are seen at a duck farm in Nafferton, northern England November 17, 2014. REUTERS/Phil Noble



LONDON (Reuters) - Bird flu found on a duck farm in northern England might be linked to a highly contagious strain of the disease found this weekend at a poultry farm in the central Netherlands, as well as a case early this month in Germany.

The head of the World Animal Health Organization told Reuters on Monday that the outbreaks could be linked as the virus is most often transmitted through wild birds.

British authorities said the strain was serious for poultry but only a minimal danger to humans and was not the deadly H5N1.

A 10-kilometre (6-mile) restriction zone has been placed around the farm in Yorkshire and all 6,000 ducks on the site will be killed.

"The public health risk is very low and there is no risk to the food chain," a spokeswoman at Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.



Experts wearing protective suits are seen at a duck farm in Nafferton, northern England November 17, 2014. REUTERS/Phil Noble


Britain last saw a case of H5N1 in birds in 2008 and, although there have been reported cases since, none have been the dangerous H5 or H7 strains, according to Britain's National Health Service.

Wendy Barclay, a professor specializing in flu virology at Imperial College in London, noted that while bird flu viruses can be very dangerous for poultry, previous outbreaks of H5 strains in Britain have never infected people.

South Korea culled more than 6 percent of its poultry in March to stop the disease spreading.

China and Japan have also reported cases of H5N8 this year.

(Additional reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Louise Ireland)


http://news.yahoo.com/bird-flu-found-british-duck-farm-restriction-zone-074119084.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Dutch authorities identify highly contagious bird flu strain
Reuters
By Thomas Escritt  7 hours ago



An expert wearing a protection suit arrives at a poultry farm, where a highly contagious strain of bird flu was found by Dutch authorities, in Hekendorp November 17, 2014. REUTERS/Marco De Swart



AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch authorities said on Sunday they had found a highly contagious strain of bird flu at a poultry farm in the central Netherlands and set about destroying 150,000 chickens.

The strain, H5N8, has never been detected in humans, but an outbreak in South Korea meant millions of farm birds had to be slaughtered to contain the outbreak. Cases have also been reported in China and Japan, although the strain was first reported in Europe, on a German farm, in early November.

The Netherlands imposed a 72-hour ban on transportation of poultry products, including birds, eggs, dung and used straw to and from poultry farms across the country, which is the world's leading egg exporter.

The European Commission said it expected to adopt urgent interim protective measures on Monday to contain the outbreak, including a ban on selling poultry products from the affected areas to EU and third countries.

Between them, Dutch poultry farms sell more than 6 billion eggs abroad every year, though it is not known how many of the 697 farms are exporters. Germany is the largest destination, at 75 percent of all exports, figures published by Rabobank showed. The Netherlands is also a leading poultry exporter.

Agricultural inspectors started destroying the 150,000 chickens at the farm in the village of Hekendorp, and banned poultry transport across the whole of the Netherlands.

The H5N8 strain of bird flu was reported in Germany on Nov. 4 on a farm in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern after it caused widespread destruction in Asia.

"It's a highly pathogenic strain for birds," said Dutch Economics Ministry spokesman Jan van Diepen. "For people it's not that dangerous: you'd only get it if you were in very close contact with the birds."

The farm at Hekendorp sold eggs rather than poultry, another spokesman said.

Produce from the farm was sold primarily in the Netherlands, the farm's owner Piet Wiltenburg said, with some also exported to Germany. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with that produce," he told Reuters.

Some 10,000 chickens were destroyed in March after bird flu was found at a farm in the eastern Dutch province of Gelderland,

but the country has not had cases of any of the highly contagious H5 or H7 strains of bird flu in the past 10 years, according to data from the World Organisation for Animal Health.

Earlier outbreaks in Europe and Asia have infected humans, prompting fears of a bird flu epidemic.

The transportation ban will remain in force for 30 days for the 16 poultry farms within a 10 kilometer radius of the site of the outbreak, and all of them will be subject to enhanced security measures for visitors and regularly checked for signs of bird flu.

The Commission's decision to ban the selling of poultry products from the affected areas identified by the Dutch authorities to other countries is a standard procedure in the case of bird flu outbreaks, it said.

In September, Russia reported the first cases of H5N1, another dangerous strain, in nearly two years.

(This story has been refiled to corrects the figure in the lead to 150,000)

(Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Eric Walsh)


http://news.yahoo.com/dutch-authorities-identify-highly-contagious-bird-flu-strain-092335586.html

[Buster's Uncle]

German, Dutch, UK bird flu outbreaks could be linked: OIE chief
Reuters  5 hours ago



PARIS (Reuters) - Bird flu outbreaks in the past two weeks in Germany, the Netherlands and Britain could be linked as the virus is most often transmitted through wild birds, the head of the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) told Reuters on Monday.

"Some migrating birds can travel thousands of kilometres," Bernard Vallat told Reuters. "(The virus) could appear anywhere at any time."

However, Vallat stressed that although the H5N8 strain found in Germany earlier this month and in the Netherlands over the weekend can cause severe damage to poultry flocks, it had never been detected in humans.

The H5N8 strain hit Asia severely but had never been reported in Europe before it was detected at a German turkey farm.

It was still unclear whether the outbreak at a duck-breeding farm in northern England involved the H5N8 strain but Britain's chief veterinary officer said it was not the deadly H5N1 strain, which can be transmitted to humans and has caused the death of hundreds of people.

(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide, Editing by Gus Trompiz and Mark John)


http://news.yahoo.com/german-dutch-uk-bird-flu-outbreaks-could-linked-094433554.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Bird flu is back: here's what you need to know
Vox
Updated by Julia Belluz on November 17, 2014, 2:50 p.m. ET@juliaoftoronto[email protected]



Ducks in a shed on a farm near Yorkshire, England where a strain of bird flu has been confirmed.  Anna Gowthorpe/Getty Images



1European health officials have been killing off thousands of birds to contain outbreaks of bird flu in several countries that may or may not be related.

2Health officials are concerned because any time there's an outbreak in animals, there's the possibility that the virus could infect humans, leading to a flu pandemic.
 
3But you don't need to worry just yet: it seems the outbreaks don't involve H5N1, the bird-flu strain that is most dangerous for humans.


What's going on in Europe?

On Sunday November 16, a case of bird flu was found on a duck-breeding farm near Yorkshire, England. Confirmation of the particular virus strain will come later this week, but officials so far said it's not the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain that can kill humans.

The news from England came just as Dutch officials announced that they had detected H5N8 bird flu at a poultry farm in the village of Hekendord. This strain is highly contagious and lethal to birds, but has never been found in humans. Earlier this month, on November 4, the same H5N8 strain was found at a farm in northeastern Germany.

Now, scientists across Europe are collaborating to figure out how and whether these outbreaks are related. The Dutch government has temporarily banned the transport of poultry and eggs and the European Commission is expected to introduce other containment measures.


What is bird flu and how deadly is it?

Like humans, birds — from chickens to ducks and other wild poultry— get sick with the flu sometimes. When they do, bird flu virus can spread easily among them by way of respiratory secretions and feces, reaching epidemic proportions very quickly.

The reason experts worry so much about bird flu, however, is because it's an easily transmissible respiratory virus and some strains have managed to infect humans — with deadly outcomes.

Right now, bird flu has only rarely made people sick, and mostly involved very close contact with infected birds, and not human to human spread.

But there's the concern, whenever the virus surfaces, that it could makes the leap into humans and mutate to become more easily passed among people, leading to a pandemic. As the Guardian notes, "Pandemics have occurred every 20 to 30 years, but it has been almost 40 years since the last one happened."

Of all the bird flu strains, H5N1 is the one public-health experts worry about the most. It's believed to be the most dangerous form of bird flu, and it has caused serious outbreaks mostly among animals in Asia and the Middle East, as well as some 650 human cases since 2003.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most human cases of H5N1 virus have turned up in people who had direct contact with infected animals in Asia and 60 percent of those infected later died.


Should I be worried about the outbreaks in Europe?

Probably not. The outbreaks in Europe appear to involve strains of the virus that haven't been deadly in humans. The H5N8 strain in Germany has never infected humans, and health officials confirmed that the bird flu in England — while a form of H5 — is not the deadly H5N1 strain.

As well, officials have been working to contain spread, killing off birds that may have been infected, including some 6,000 ducks in England and, in the Netherlands, some 150,000 chickens.

Still, flu outbreaks can take health officials by surprise and there's still a lot we're learning about bird flu and how it spreads. What's more, the WHO has long warned that a pandemic could start off with just the scenario we're seeing now: infected birds on a farm.


http://www.vox.com/2014/11/17/7233741/bird-avian-influenza-outbreak