Flu ( incl Swine, Bird etc ) 01 (Apr 09 - Sep 12)

[winston]

Experts 'wrong' on swine flu by Mary Ann Benitez
Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Experts were wrong in thinking that a pandemic caused by a previously dormant swine flu could not occur before the 2009 pandemic, an international flu expert admitted.

Until the swine flu (H1N1) outbreak two years ago, it was widely believed that the next pandemic would be a "novel subtype" of flu, said professor Malik Peiris, scientific director of HKU- Pasteur Research Centre and chair professor of the microbiology department.

"People thought that you cannot have a pandemic caused by an H1 or an H3 virus, but of course we were wrong in that," he told a two-day Voice of America disaster preparedness and influenza workshop for journalists in Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland, which ended yesterday.

Before 2009, it was widely believed a possible pandemic candidate was bird flu (H5N1) and global attention had increased fears.

But the pandemic was caused by H1N1, a highly mutated variant of the strain that caused the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic which killed at least 50 million people worldwide.

Peiris said although H1N1 in pigs did not show much mutation in the past 80 years, it acquired genes from human, avian and pig viruses to create the 2009 strain.

It turned out the severity of the pandemic "overall was not as bad as one might have expected."

Forty-five percent of Hong Kong children were infected in the first five months, but their symptoms were mild. Among older people where the disease was severe, the infection rate was low.

But Peiris warned the fallout from the management of the pandemic where countries stockpiled vaccines that went to waste, may have repercussions when the next outbreak strikes.

"The fallout has been quite damaging, and if we had a severe situation right now, very few governments might be willing to risk sticking their heads out to take pre-emptive action," Peiris said, adding H5N1 remains a concern.

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... 10921&fc=4

[winston]

New bird flu outbreak reported in India

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Authorities in eastern India will start culling chickens and destroying eggs to contain a new outbreak of H5 bird flu, the government said in a statement on Tuesday, as a mutant strain of the virus is spreading elsewhere in Asia.

Virologists warn there is no vaccine against the H5N1 strain recently found in China and Vietnam that could potentially carry risks for humans and called for closer monitoring of the disease in poultry and wild birds to stop it spreading.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/ ... health1100

[winston]

Threat played down after new swine flu virus find
Mary Ann Benitez

A new swine flu virus with human genes has again been found in mainland pigs at a Hong Kong slaughterhouse.

But the swine flu H3N2 is unlikely to cause a "major" human health risk, the Centre for Food Safety said.

Fifteen pigs were found infected with "essentially a swine influenza H3N2 virus that has picked up some genes of human swine influenza virus," the center said.

They were detected out of 1,000 samples taken from August to mid- October.

The same flu subtype was also found in the last round of surveillance programs, from May to July, in 16 pigs.

In both instances, the department said it had notified mainland authorities.

There have been no recent reports of such H3N2-infected swine in Guangdong province, however.

Flu expert Malik Peiris said the H3N2 subtype seen in the pigs is not the same swine-originated new H3N2, that has infected seven people in the United States since July.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier that while the infections have been mainly mild, they are being closely monitored.

Dr Nancy Cox, head of the Atlanta- based agency's influenza division, said a seed strain for a vaccine that would protect against the virus has already been developed and given to manufacturers.

The World Health Organization also said that for pandemic preparedness purposes, it has developed and made available two candidate vaccine viruses.

All pigs coming from the mainland are slaughtered centrally in the Sheung Shui slaughterhouse before they are taken to Hong Kong markets.

A spokesman for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said the infected pigs were destroyed.

However, abattoir workers have not been checked for the presence of the virus, the spokesman revealed.

"There is no routine check of influenza antibody level in slaughterhouse staff," he said, in response to questions from The Standard.

But staff are advised to wear face masks and gloves while on duty, and to observe personal hygiene.

Peiris said human flu viruses cross to pigs occasionally, and vice versa.

"This one [H3N2] is a pandemic reassorted virus," he said, adding it was derived from the 2004-5 human flu, so most of the population would have immunity from it, except the very young children.

"There is really no risk of acquiring viruses from eating pork meat."

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... 11117&fc=7

[winston]

Hong Kong school closed in bird flu scare

HONG KONG—A Hong Kong school was closed on Friday after a dead bird found in the southern Chinese city was tested positive for the deadly H5 strain of the bird flu virus, health officials said.

The closure came after the school clerk, a 48-year-old woman, picked up the sick black-headed gull at the school on Tuesday, which died the next day and was tested positive for the H5 strain, a health department spokesman told Agence France-Presse.

She picked up the bird — a common winter visitor — without any protection and developed a fever, sore throat and diarrhoea but has tested negative for Influenza A (H5), a variant of bird flu.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/112443/hon ... -flu-scare

[winston]

Hong Kong orders chicken cull as bird flu alert raised

Hong Kong is quick to take action against infectious diseases Hong Kong is culling 17,000 chickens after three birds were confirmed to have died from the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in the past week.

The government has banned imports and the sale of live chickens for three weeks after a chicken carcass was found at a wholesale market on Tuesday.

It has also raised the city's flu alert system to "serious".

Two wild birds were also found to have died of the the virus.

The government said it was tracing the source of the chicken carcass, but it was not clear whether the chicken came from a local farm or was imported.

"I understand that it will cause inconvenience to the public, and the poultry trade will also encounter losses," said Hong Kong's secretary for food and health, York Chow.

"However, to safeguard public health, we need to adopt decisive and effective measures to prevent and control the spread of the virus."

On Tuesday, a dead Oriental magpie found at a secondary school tested positive for bird flu.

Another secondary school closed for a day for disinfection last Friday after a dead black-headed gull was found with the virus.

Hong Kong is quick to take action against infectious diseases after an outbreak of the deadly respiratory disease SARS in 2003 killed 300 people in the city and a further 500 worldwide.

In 2009, 300 people were placed under quarantine at a Hong Kong hotel after a guest contracted swine flu.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16280698

[winston]

Hong Kong officials find second dead bird in a week with H5N1 bird flu, raising health fears

HONG KONG — Hong Kong authorities say a second dead bird in a week has tested positive for a dangerous strain of bird flu, raising health concerns in the city.

The agricultural department said Friday that lab tests confirmed an Oriental magpie robin found dead on Dec. 17 was infected with H5N1 avian influenza.

On Wednesday, workers slaughtered more than 19,000 birds at a Hong Kong market and banned the import and sale of live poultry for three weeks, after a chicken carcass tested positive for H5N1.

H5N1 occasionally infects people who have close contact with infected poultry, particularly in parts of Asia. Globally, 331 people have died from bird flu since it was first detected in 2003.

The Oriental magpie robin is commonly found in Hong Kong.

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asi ... story.html

[winston]

WHO "deeply concerned" by mutated birdflu research

LONDON (Reuters) - The World Health Organization issued a stern warning on Friday to scientists who have engineered a highly pathogenic form of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, saying their work carries significant risks and must be tightly controlled .

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/ ... health1100

[winston]

Chinese man critical with bird flu

A man is in critical condition after testing positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, state media said Saturday.

The city borders Hong Kong, which has already culled thousands of chickens and ordered a suspension of live poultry imports from China after three birds tested positive with the strain mid-December.

The man, a bus driver surnamed Chen, was hospitalised with a fever earlier this month and tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus in Shenzhen, the provincial health department said, according to Xinhua news agency.

The report said the 39-year-old was taken to hospital on December 21, but the Hong Kong health department said in a statement he developed symptoms that day and was hospitalised on December 25 because of "severe pneumonia."

He remains in a critical condition and is receiving emergency treatment. Authorities say the man had apparently had no direct contact with poultry in the month before he was taken ill nor had he left the city.

http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/Chines ... 8.html?x=0

[winston]

Hong Kong Bans Some Poultry Imports After China Avian Flu Death

1 (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong suspended poultry imports from the area in southern China where a man died from the H5N1 bird flu virus, according to a statement posted today on the region's Centre For Food Safety website.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-0 ... death.html

[winston]

Hong Kong Finds Two Infected Birds
Wall Street Journal

By JEFFREY NG HONG KONG—The Hong Kong government said Friday that two dead birds found in the New Territories earlier this week have tested positive for a lethal strain of bird flu, the latest development in the global resurgence of the deadly virus.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... lenews_wsj