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Bird Flu Information and News 2008

 

Latest Bird Flu World News: May 8 - May 13, 2008

Vietnam Bird Flu Vaccine Has "Pleasing" Results.
SYDNEY, Australia - Vietnam says it has had good results with the first stage of human testing of its locally developed bird flu vaccine. The vaccine, produced by the health ministry's vaccine and biotechnology company, Vabiotech, has been trialed on a group of 30 students from the Military Medical Institute. Vabiotech began its study in 2004, as avian flu began to spread throughout Vietnam, and was given the all-clear to conduct human trials after successful tests on animals last year. Vabiotech Director Thu Van has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program that over the past two months, the vaccine has been tested on 10 volunteers close to the project, and now on another 30 people, and she is pleased with the process so far.

Bird Flu Resurfaces In West Bengal.
KOLKATA, India - Veterinary workers were getting ready to cull thousands of backyard poultry to contain an outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal which has struggled to control the virus since January. The communist-ruled state briefly contained the outbreak by culling more than four million birds in 14 of its 19 districts, but the virus has intermittently resurfaced. Poultry sales in the state had fallen by about 70 percent in the January-March period, but traders said they were still struggling to overcome losses. On Friday, officials said the virus has spread to the tea-growing Darjeeling district, the 15th to be hit by bird flu this year. "Tests in a central laboratory confirmed the recent poultry deaths from the H5N1 strain of the virus in Darjeeling district," Rajesh Pande, a senior government official told Reuters. Around 300 birds mysteriously died last week in Sukna area in the foothills of the Himalayas near the bustling town of Siliguri, he said. "The deaths are all in backyard poultry and not in any farm," Pande added. After a massive culling operation, authorities in West Bengal said in February that bird flu was under control. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described the situation in West Bengal as India's worst bird flu outbreak in poultry. India's first outbreak of H5N1 was reported in 2006.

Bird Flu Outbreaks Spread Through Most Of South Korea - Ministry.
SEOUL, South Korea - Bird flu outbreaks have spread to most of South Korea despite the massive culling of chickens and ducks across the country, the agriculture ministry said Friday. The latest outbreak reported last weekend in the eastern city of Chuncheon is now confirmed to have been caused by the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, the ministry said. This brings to 35 the total number of bird flu cases in South Korea. The outbreak has spread as far north as Seoul and to the southeastern cities of Ulsan and Daegu. The ministry said also that two suspected cases had been reported in the southeastern city of Busan, the country's largest port. More than 6.7 million chickens and ducks have been slaughtered since the latest bird flu outbreak was reported on April 1. The previous outbreak was between November 2006 and March last year.

"A total of 60 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa have been affected by bird flu since 2003, of which 26 countries have experienced outbreaks in 2007. Except for a few outbreaks in wild birds, most of the confirmed outbreaks have been in domestic poultry, including chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and quails." [Source: FAO, 2007]

Pandemic Flu: California State & Local Planning & Response Activities.
Information on California pandemic flu planning; state agriculture, health and wildlife contact information; federal funding assistance and links to pandemic website information.

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