"Bent Jensen" <kongaead@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:9a3bbfb0.0401161038.6fe7bfcd@posting.google.com...
Mindst 12 personer er nu døde af fugleinfluenza i Vietnam. Regeringen
har med stor hast oprettet karantænecentre på hospitaler og udstedt
påbud om, at enhver med feber og influenza straks skal interneres og
behandles på lignende måde som SARS-patienter.
I det nærliggende Thailand, som er et af verdens største
fjerkræeksportlande, hævder forbrugerorganisationer, at fugleinfluenza
her begyndte at udbrede sig sidst på året 2003, og at sygdommen nu er
et alvorligt problem i provinserne Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Pathom, Suphan
Buri og Chachoengsao nær hovedstaden Bangkok.
Vicelandbrugsminister Newin Chidchob oplyser, at 100.000 kyllinger er
døde, men han siger, at dødsårsagen er åndedrætssygdomme, det kolde
vejr og kolera og ikke fugleinfluenza. Yderligere 300.000 kyllinger er
blevet slagtet for at begrænse sygdommens udbredelse. WHO-eksperter
vil næste uge ankomme til Thailand for at undersøge forholdene.
Bent
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/66696/1/.html
Bird droppings prime origin of bird flu, says WHO as it confirms fourth
death
17 January 2004 0223 hrs
GENEVA : Bird flu, which has killed at least four people in Vietnam, is
largely transmitted through bird droppings and uncooked meat, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) said, casting doubt over the need to ban imports
of chicken meat.
When a contaminated chicken makes an excrement the H5N1 strain of avian
influenza, which has triggered an Asia-wide health scare, circulates in the
air and is carried by the wind, according to the WHO.
Piled one on top of the other in cramped cages, the birds easily pass the
disease on with their dirty droppings, the health body said, noting that
chicken breeders also risked inhaling the bug.
On the other hand, it was virtually impossible to catch bird flu by eating
cooked meat that is infected, said WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib.
"The cooking kills the virus," Chaib said, citing WHO experts.
Similarly, boiling the bird before plucking it also destroyed the bug,
Chaib
told AFP.
Fears about spreading the disease prompted Japan on Friday to ban Taiwanese
poultry imports after bird flu was discovered on the island. It also began
burying the carcasses of 34,600 of its own birds that may have been
infected.
The WHO warned that it was equally dangerous for humans to be close to
infected birds whether they are alive or dead.
Only a few animals manage to survive once they catch bird flu and those who
survive continue to lay contaminated droppings for a minimum of 10 days.
The WHO earlier confirmed that a fourth person has died from bird flu in
Vietnam, but stressed that the disease was only being transmitted through
birds and not yet through humans.
Vietnamese authorities have recorded 13 deaths due to the disease out of 18
suspected cases but the WHO has yet to verify the others.
The fourth person to die from the disease was a five-year-old child in the
Vietnamese province of Nam Dinh, who passed away on January 8, said Chaib.
All the victims confirmed dead in Vietnam so far caught the deadly flu
directly from a bird and not through human transmission, according to the
WHO.
The H5N1 strain has been genetically sequenced, Chaib said.
"We know that all the genes originate from birds and they have not mutated
to come from humans," she said at a regular news conference in Geneva,
where
the WHO is headquartered.
"It is very important to know this because if the genes mutate and start to
come from humans then they will be able to be transmitted from one person
to
another," explained Chaib.
Vietnam has ordered the slaughter of all chickens in the 12 regions
grappling with a bird flu epidemic and banned the sale of poultry in Ho Chi
Minh City, the country's largest metropolis.
South Korea, Japan and Taiwan were also battling their own outbreaks of
bird
flu, which is threatening to spoil next week's Lunar New Year celebrations
across the region and comes amid a re-emergence of SARS in southern China.
- AFP
______
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,230534,00.html?
Asia steps up fight against deadly bird flu
Vietnam orders ban on sale of chickens and massive culling; South Korea,
Japan and Taiwan also battling outbreaks
JAN 17, 2004 SAT
HANOI - Health officials in Asia yesterday stepped up the battle against a
fast-spreading bird flu with further curbs on poultry imports and culls of
sick chickens.
In worst-hit Vietnam, the government ordered the slaughter of all chickens
in the 12 regions grappling with the epidemic, which has been blamed for
the
deaths of 13 people.
On advice from the United Nations, officials also banned the sale of
chickens in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's largest metropolis.
The ban was necessary because some farmers were balking at culling their
flocks, said Mr Anton Rychener, the Food and Agriculture Organisation's
(FAO) representative in Vietnam.
The FAO also warned that the ban might have to be extended if the disease,
which normally affects poultry, continues to spread.
The massive culling and ban could ruin for many Vietnamese Chinese New Year
celebrations, during which chicken is cooked as an offering to ancestors
and
eaten.
Checks at markets in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday found no sign of chickens,
alive or dead.
Meanwhile, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan were also battling their own
outbreaks of bird flu.
Taiwan yesterday slaughtered 20,000 birds.
The H5N2 flu virus found in Taiwan is less virulent than the H5N1 strain
that has emerged in South Korea, Japan and Vietnam, but governments in the
region were taking no chances.
Japan yesterday banned all Taiwanese poultry imports - including goose,
turkey, duck and quail.
'The ban will be lifted 90 days after we confirm that Taiwan has completely
sanitised the last infected location,' said a Japanese agriculture ministry
spokesman.
At the same time, Japan began burying the carcasses of 34,600 of its own
birds that may have been infected by the virus. These were wrapped in three
layers of plastic before being disposed of in huge 5m-deep pits lined with
lime.
Japan yesterday appeared no nearer to tracing the source of its first bird
flu outbreak in nearly 80 years, but experts said there was a slim
likelihood that migratory birds had brought in the disease.
Over in Hong Kong, where six people died of the bird flu virus in 1997, the
authorities yesterday extended its ban on imports of live poultry from
affected areas to Taiwan.
Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and China have
announced similar curbs.
The Chinese government has also instructed local health offices to
quarantine people from countries hit by the highly contagious disease,
according to state media.
The avian virus has so far not shown any human-to-human transmission, and
is
believed to spread to humans through contact with infected birds and their
droppings.
Government officials have sought to calm fears about eating poultry
products, saying there is no danger if the meat and eggs are cooked
properly.
Thailand, one of the world's biggest chicken producers, also sought to
protect its interests, denying rumours that it, too, was hit by the bird
flu
virus.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob lashed out at the media and
government critics yesterday for spreading untruths. 'There is no bird flu
here,' he stressed.
Since last November, nearly 900,000 chickens have died in Thailand, of
which
29,746 were confirmed to have been killed by cholera and respiratory
problems, with the rest culled because they showed symptoms of the disease,
officials said.
To allay fears, Thai officials will start an inspection of every poultry
farm in the country next week to halt the spread of cholera. -- AFP,
Reuters, AP
______
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/66737/1/.html
Taiwan plans second chicken cull after bird flu virus find at farm
17 January 2004 1322 hrs
TAIPEI : Taiwan authorities ordered 35,000 more chickens to be slaughtered
to prevent a bird flu outbreak after a strain of the virus was found at a
second farm in one week.
Officials discovered the H5N2 virus at the farm in central Taiwan's Chiayi
County, the same type as the first discovered in Taiwan but less virulent
than the H5N1 virus which has been blamed for the deaths of 13 people in
Vietnam, officials said.
"The slaughtering will be carried out today or tomorrow," Yeh Ying,
spokeswoman for the Council of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal and Plant
Health Inspection and Quarantine, told AFP.
Some 20,000 chickens were also culled on Friday at a farm in Changhua
County
in what authorities said was a precautionary measure. They said they feared
the virus might mutute to become as dangerous as H5N1, which is believed to
have passed from birds to humans.
Yeh said the latest virus was found during the bureau's routine monthly
sampling of poultry farms nationwide.
Agricultural officials have said there was no danger that the H5N2 virus
would cause a mass infection or pass to humans. Taiwan has so far remained
clear of the H5N1 virus.
Vietnam, South Korea and Japan have slaughtered millions of chickens
following the discovery of the virus in the past month as a health scare
spread across Asia where many countries have banned poultry imports from
affected areas.
So far the only human infections from the H5N1 virus have been in Vietnam
where authorities have recorded 18 suspected cases in addition to the 13
deaths.
Taiwan's move is the latest in a slew of regional measures to contain the
disease before it sparks a flu epidemic.
Japan on Friday banned Taiwanese poultry imports, while Hong Kong also
stopped issuing live poultry import licences for Taiwanese traders. - AFP
______
Fourth bird flu death confirmed by WHO, no human transmission yet
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/66678/1/.html
EDITORIAL: Vigilance on bird flu
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/commentary/story/0,4386,230546,00.html?
Chicken off the menu for Viet new year
People fear eating the meat as country struggles to rein in bird flu
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,230566,00.html?