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Latest information on Avian Influenza
Additional outbreaks of H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
(HPAI) were suspected and/or confirmed in Thailand. Human
cases were also reported in Thailand and Viet am during this
review period. FAO issued Recommendations on the Prevention,
Control and Eradication of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
in Asia.
Country situation
Thailand: Suspected cases of HPAI infection were reported on
29/09/04 in native chickens in Roi Et Province. The Thai
Ministry of Public Health announced the deaths of an 11 year
old girl in Kamphaeng Phet Province on 12/09/04 and the mother
eight days later. The mother was confirmed to have been
infected with H5N1. The girl raised poultry at home, all of
which died the previous month. However, the mother who lived
in Bangkok had no contact with the affected chicken. The aunt
and her six year old son who lived with the girl have been
hospitalised and the aunt has been confirmed to be infected
with HPAI. This family cluster of four cases is under
investigation to determine whether human-to-human transmission
has occurred. A nine-year-old girl in Phetchabun Province died
on 02/10/04, was confirmed to have been infected by the H5N1
virus. She had helped pluck feathers from slaughtered chickens
that her family had raised.
As at 30/09/04, 27 provinces are subject to the 21
day-surveillance period imposed by the Department of Livestock
Development (DLD), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
(04/10/04, Source: Government, FAO, WHO, media website) Viet
Nam: A new case of AI outbreak was reported in Hau Giang
Province on 13/09/04 where more than 1,000 ducks were culled.
Outbreaks were also reported in Quoc Oai, Ha Tay Province on
29/08/04 and in Long Bien market, Hanoi on 27/08/04. Flocks of
558 chickens and 242 ducks were destroyed. A 14-month-old boy
from Ha Tay Province who was hospitalised in Thanh Tri
District in Hanoi and died on 05/09/04, tested positive for
AI. (30/09/04 Source: Government, FAO, media website).
Cambodia: Cambodia has detected a new outbreak in chickens.
More than 600 chickens fell ill and started dying on 19/09/04
on a farm at Kien Svay District in Kandal Province, near the
Cambodian capital. The farm had 4,500 one-month old chickens.
All chicks were bought from Takhmao District in the same
province. About 2,300 chickens died, and the remaining 2,200
birds were culled. The farm is located six kilometres east of
Phnom Penh.
A quarantine zone has been set up in a three-kilometre radius
around the infected area for at least 30 days. Testing by the
Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh confirmed that the strain was
H5N1. Preliminary investigations by Government authorities
traced the disease back to a pond near the farm. The pond was
frequented by wild birds. It is suspected that the farm's
owner used water from the pond for the chickens. (23/09/04
Source: Government, FAO, media website).
Malaysia: Three chickens died in Jalan Bayam Guchil Village on
19/09/04, about six kilometres away from where the first HPAI
outbreak was detected. Two more cases were found on 23/09/04
in Kelantan state which is under quarantine. The infection was
detected in a total of 11 chickens in two villages, both
within districts of Kelantan State.
All birds within a one-kilometre radius were culled as part of
the control measures. Authorities have set up roadblocks at
Kelantan state borders to ensure that the disease does not
spread to other states.
Swallows were found dead on Layang-Layang Island, Spratlys,
and five Malaysian sailors who fell ill with flu-like symptoms
after coming across the dead swallows underwent tests on
24/09/04 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah state, Borneo Island. The
sailors and samples from dead birds collected by the sailors
tested negative to HPAI. Some commercially-bred swallows have
been raised around Kota Baharu, the Kelantan Veterinary
Services Department has been taking blood samples of the
swallows since February to ensure the birds are free from AI
infection and the results have been negative.
Malaysia sent a team of senior agriculture officials to
Thailand in the week of 20 September for urgent talks on
tightening border controls against the spread of HPAI.
(25/09/04, Source: media website)
Indonesia: In Kranggan Harjo, Toroh district, Grobogan
regency, Central Java province, deaths of 350 chickens were
reported. Officials were prompted to urge further
vaccinations. Tests on dead birds confirmed H5N1 strain on
29/09/04. (04/10/04, Source: media website)
South Africa: In Eastern Cape Province, near Fort Brown north
of Grahamstown, 4,000 ostriches were culled on 21/09/04 on a
farm where clinical cases of H5N2 infection were found. The
farm had exchanged birds with farms in the area of the initial
outbreak prior to the quarantine measures. (22/09/04, Source:
media website).
FAO
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