Bird flu concerns hit Europe as cases found in poultry

[Buster's Uncle]

Bird flu concerns hit Europe as cases found in poultry
Reuters  3 hours ago



LONDON (Reuters) - Here are some key facts about avian influenza, after cases of H5N8 bird flu were detected on farms in Germany and the Netherlands:


* Bird flu, known as avian influenza, is an infectious viral disease of birds that infects wild water fowl such as ducks and geese and can spread to domestic poultry.

* Bird flu viruses are divided into two groups based on their ability to cause disease, or "pathogenicity". Highly pathogenic bird flu spreads rapidly, may cause serious disease and has high death rates in birds. Low pathogenic bird flu can cause mild disease that may be undetected, or cause no symptoms at all in some species of birds.

* Bird flu viruses are often spread through the water route -- wild birds shed viruses in their faeces into lakes shared with other birds. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) says animal feed can be another factor in transmission of the disease -- if wild birds and others have access to the same feed -- as well as equipment and clothing.

* Flu viruses have a relatively high mutation rate and their genome structure allows them to interchange genetic material fairly easily, meaning two or more strains could "mix" to create a new threat.

* Most bird flu viruses don't infect people, but some, such as H7N9 and the highly pathogenic H5N1, have caused serious human disease and deaths.

* The H5N8 strain found in poultry in Germany and the Netherlands this month has never been detected in humans, but it led to the destruction of millions of farm birds in Asia, mainly South Korea, after an outbreak earlier this year.

* High pathogenic H5N1 bird flu first infected humans in 1997 during a poultry outbreak in Hong Kong. Since its re-emergence in 2003 and 2004, H5N1 has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa and has become entrenched in poultry in some countries, causing millions of poultry infections, several hundred human cases and many human deaths.

* H7N9 bird flu, a low pathogenic type, first infected three humans in China in March 2013. It has since infected more than 450 people and killed 175 of them, but no cases of H7N9 infection outside China have been reported to the World Health Organization.

* The majority of human cases of H5N1 and H7N9 have been associated with contact with infected live or dead poultry. There is no evidence the disease can be spread to people through properly cooked food.

(Reporting and writing by Kate Kelland in London and Sybille de la Hamaide in Paris; editing by David Clarke)


http://news.yahoo.com/bird-flu-concerns-hit-europe-cases-found-poultry-141629497.html

[Buster's Uncle]

World Health Organization braces for bird flu spread in Europe
AFP
By Nina LARSON  4 hours ago



A new kind of bird flu hitting European poultry farms will surely continue to spread among birds, the World Health Organization says, urging countries to be "vigilant" (AFP Photo/Oli Scarff)



Geneva (AFP) - A new kind of bird flu hitting European poultry farms will surely spread among birds, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, urging countries to be "vigilant".

Whether the virus will spread to humans remains unclear, the UN health agency said.

"We should all be quite vigilant," Elizabeth Mumford, a scientist with the WHO's Global Influenza Programme, told reporters in Geneva.

Responding to questions, she said she "absolutely" expected more bird flocks to fall sick.

She stressed the importance of culling sick birds and monitoring fever in humans who have been in contact with sick birds to ensure any possible human infections are spotted.

Germany and the Netherlands have been confirmed to be dealing with the same subtype of a highly infectious strain of bird flu, called H5N8, which appears to be similar to a virus that has been infecting birds in China, Japan and South Korea since the beginning of the year, she said.

Britain has also been hit with "a highly pathogenic H5 outbreak also in poultry," Mumford said. It was not yet confirmed, though, that it was the same H5N8 strain.

"It could be something else," she said.

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

An EU source told reporters that it is "most likely the same strain in all three places".

Some 150,000 hens at an egg farm near Utrecht in the Netherlands were set to be culled, while 6,000 ducks on a Yorkshire farm in Britain were also to be put down, authorities said.

WHO said the virus had most likely moved from Asia to Europe with migratory wild birds.

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


- Individual human cases likely -

So far, no cases of human infection have been detected, either in Asia or in Europe, Mumford said. She acknowledged though that "influenza viruses are very unpredictable, and it's very difficult to tell what a new virus will do".

"I must say that we really know very little about this virus, and until we get some experience with it, it's a bit wide open."

Since H5N8 seems to be spreading quickly among poultry, "we will probably see some human cases", she told AFP.

But while some people may be infected by sick birds, so far it appeared unlikely that the virus would begin spreading between humans, she added.

The H5 component of the virus appeared similar to that found in the H5N1 strain of bird flu that has killed more than 400 people, mainly in southeast Asia, since first appearing in 2003, Mumford explained.

But the N-component was from a completely different virus with no human component, indicating it really prefers to attach to birds, she said.

The fact that no human cases have surfaced in Asia, where the virus has been circulating for some time, with authorities closely surveilling the situation, "is encouraging", Mumford said.

Another positive fact, she said, was that in lab tests the virus responded to anti-virus drug Tamiflu, meaning if it did jump to humans, the medical community should have a tool to fight it.

In the meantime, WHO is urging people in Europe to avoid touching sick or dead wild birds.

People involved in culling the sick poultry should monitor themselves for fever for two weeks after coming into contact with the birds, Mumford said.

For consumers, she stressed that "poultry meat safely prepared and well-cooked is completely safe."


http://news.yahoo.com/world-health-organisation-braces-bird-flu-spread-europe-140720960.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Bird flu spread likely, human cases unlikely but possible: WHO
Reuters
By Tom Miles  6 hours ago



Department For Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) officials work at a duck farm in Nafferton, northern England, November 18, 2014. REUTERS/Darren Staples



GENEVA (Reuters) - New cases of bird flu detected in Europe will likely hit other bird populations and may infect a few people, though the virus is highly unlikely to spread in the human population, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The H5N8 form of the virus has hit a Dutch chicken farm and a German turkey farm and is suspected - but not yet confirmed - as the strain that infected ducks on a British farm.

Asked if more bird populations were likely to be infected, WHO expert Elizabeth Mumford said: "Absolutely, I would say."

"I think we will probably see some human cases," she told reporters. "I don't see why we wouldn't. If it's really circulating widely, there's no reason we shouldn't see human cases."

H5N8 bird flu has never been known to infect humans before, and many experts in flu virology say the risk to people from this subtype is minimal.

"The risk for humans is always a possibility because of the massive shedding of these viruses by infected chicken flocks, however in my opinion the chances are very low," said Linda Klavinskis, a specialist in immunobiology at King’s College London.

Mumford said there was a possibility of "a few sporadic cases", but people who have caught other H5 subtypes have not passed on the illness to others.

"We believe any time that humans are in close contact with poultry, there's a possibility of transmission to humans," she added.

H1 and H3 bird flu subtypes tend to be more transmissible to humans but cause less severe illness, she said.

"All of the genes in this virus (H5N8), everywhere we have looked so far, are all avian genes - there's no swine component and there's no human component to the genome," she said. "Genetic analysis shows that it prefers to bind to avian receptors. It very much remains an avian virus."

If there is a human case, the H5N8 strain has been shown to be susceptible to Roche's flu medicine oseltamivir, also known as Tamiflu, she said.

The outbreak of the disease has grabbed headlines in Europe and Mumford said the media reaction was "absolutely appropriate" because all countries should be vigilant for outbreaks.

"The first thing I always say is that flu viruses are unpredictable. That's the caveat of influenza."

(Additional reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Andrew Heavens)


http://news.yahoo.com/bird-flu-spread-likely-human-cases-unlikely-possible-135915447.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Yorkshire bird flu outbreak confirmed as H5N8 strain
AFP  4 hours ago



Birds in cages at a duck-breeding farm in Nafferton, East Yorkshire, where a case of bird flu has been identified, pictured on November 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Oli Scarff)



London (AFP) - The strain of bird flu discovered at a duck farm in East Yorkshire is H5N8, the same as confirmed in outbreaks in Germany and the Netherlands, the environment ministry said Tuesday.

"The strain has now been confirmed as H5N8, which is a very low risk to human health and no risk to the food chain," the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said in a statement.

Some 6,000 ducks are being culled at the breeding farm in Nafferton near Driffield following the confirmation of the outbreak on Sunday, and a 10-kilometre (six-mile) restriction zone has been put up around the site.

News that authorities are dealing with the same subtype of a highly infectious strain of bird flu as seen in continental Europe will increase speculation that the outbreaks are linked.

H5N8 also appears to be similar to a virus that has been infecting birds in China, Japan and South Korea since the beginning of the year, the World Health Organization said.


http://news.yahoo.com/6-000-ducks-face-cull-yorkshire-bird-flu-094939746.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Britain confirms bird flu on northern England farm is H5N8 strain
Reuters
By Costas Pitas  3 hours ago



An official inspects a crate of ducks during a cull at a duck farm in Nafferton, northern England November 18, 2014. REUTERS/Darren Staples



LONDON (Reuters) - Bird flu on a duck farm in northern England is the highly contagious H5N8 strain, the same form of the virus already discovered in Germany and the Netherlands, Britain's farm ministry confirmed on Tuesday.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said that the risk to humans was minimal, and that a cull of all 6,000 ducks on the farm in east Yorkshire should be completed later on Tuesday.

"The advice from the Chief Medical Officer and Public Health England remains that the risk to public health is very low," said a Defra spokeswoman.

"The Food Standards Agency have said there is no food safety risk for consumers."

Officials said on Monday that a 10-km (6-mile) restriction zone had been put in place around the duck farm.



An official sprays ducks during a cull at a duck farm in Nafferton, northern England November 18, 2014. REUTERS/Darren Staples


In Sweden, the board of agriculture said poultry should be kept indoors as a preventative measure as it was possible that the current bird flu had been spread by wild birds. The viral disease infects wild water fowl such as ducks, geese and swans which can spread it to domestic poultry.

Britain has not seen a dangerous strain of avian flu since 2008, when a case of the deadly H5N1 strain was last reported in birds.

The H5N8 strain has never been detected in humans, but it led to the destruction of millions of farm birds in Asia, mainly South Korea, after an outbreak earlier this year.

Other bird populations in Europe were likely to be infected with bird flu and a few people might also be susceptible, although the virus is highly unlikely to spread in the human population, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

German discount chain Aldi South [ALDIEI.UL] warned that it expected egg shortages due to a three-day ban on shipments of all poultry products from the Netherlands, the world's largest egg exporter.

Dutch authorities said on Sunday that they had identified the H5N8 strain at a poultry farm in the central Netherlands, more than a week after the first reported case in Europe at a German turkey farm.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas, additional reporting by Anna Ringstrom in STOCKHOLM; Editing by Michael Urquhart)


http://news.yahoo.com/britain-confirms-bird-flu-northern-english-farm-h5n8-145555599.html

[Buster's Uncle]

UK bird flu strain same as the Dutch one
UK: Bird flu strain found in Britain matches strain found in the Netherlands
Associated Press  7 hours ago



Officials place signs to restrict entry at a duck farm in Nafferton, England, where measures to prevent the spread of bird flu are under way after the first serious case of the disease in the UK for six-years, Monday Nov. 17, 2014. Farmers around the country have been warned to be on alert after at least one case of the H5 bird flu virus was confirmed at this duck breeding farm, but officials insisted Monday that the risk to public health is very low. (AP Photo / Steve Parkin, PA)



LONDON (AP) -- British officials say a strain of bird flu found in England matches the strain found recently in the Netherlands.

Environmental officials say the H5N8 strain discovered on a duck breeding farm in the Driffield area of East Yorkshire poses only a very low risk to public health. It is not judged to be a threat to the food chain.

Officials said Tuesday that the slaughter of the 6,000 ducks on the farm is underway.

The same strain of bird flu was recently found at a chicken farm in the Netherlands.

Officials believe wild birds may have brought the bird flu to Britain. It is the first outbreak here in six years.


http://news.yahoo.com/uk-bird-flu-strain-same-153415873.html