Wednesday, October 26, 2005 Posted: 0217 GMT (1017 HKT)
【(CNN) -- The European Commission has announced a ban on imports of
live birds as China announces its third outbreak of bird flu in a week
and Indonesia confirms its fourth human death from the virus.】
The latest Chinese outbreak killed 545 chickens and ducks in central
China and prompted authorities to destroy nearly 2,500 other birds,
the government reported.
The latest cases occurred in a village in Hunan province, the
government's top veterinary bureau said in a report dated Tuesday
and posted on the Web site of the Paris-based World Organization for
Animal Health.
China earlier told the United Nations that 2,100 geese in the eastern
province of Anhui were infected, news agencies reported Tuesday.
More than 500 of the birds died and 45,000 were culled.
China last week reported another outbreak had emerged in the country's
northern region of Inner Mongolia. Some 2,600 chickens and ducks were
found dead at a breeding facility.
There have been no reports of human cases of bird flu in China.
The government's report on the Hunan outbreak did not say whether
authorities imposed quarantines or took other measures in addition to
destroying birds, according to AP.
Meanwhile, European Union officials, meeting in Luxembourg, called for
a ban on commercial imports of live birds into the 25-nation bloc.
A committee of EU veterinarians gave their backing to the proposal
Tuesday, the commission said.
The decision followed confirmation that a parrot in Britain died in
quarantine from the H5N1 strain.
"The ban covers captive live birds other than poultry imported for
commercial purposes," the European Commission said in a statement.
"A separate decision regulates the movement of (pet) birds accompanying
their owners which will be subject to certain conditions."
The commission has already imposed a temporary ban on imports of live
poultry, game and feathers from Croatia after at least six swans died
there from bird flu.
The swans landed in Croatia recently, but it is not known where they
migrated from. Thirteen more swans have been found dead nearby.
Meanwhile, dead wild geese in western Germany showed preliminary
positive test results for a form of bird flu, a local health official
said Tuesday, but they died from poisoning, not the virus.
Further tests would be needed to confirm the virus and to tell whether
it was the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, The Associated Press quoted
Stefan Brent, president of the bureau carrying out the testing, as
telling a news conference in Koblenz in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz.
Brent said about 5 percent of wild birds could be expected to carry
some form of bird flu, and he said the test results were "no sensational
find."
Also Tuesday, Indonesia said testing had confirmed that a man who died
last month was positive for bird flu, raising the number of deaths
from the virus in the country to four.
The latest victim, a 23-year-old from Bogor, West Java, was hospitalized
in late September and died two days later, Hariadi Wibisono, a Ministry
of Health official told The Associated Press on Tuesday. A Hong Kong
lab confirmed the test results.
The lethal H5N1 strain that has decimated the bird industry in Asia and
has reached Europe first surfaced in Hong Kong in 1997, before
re-emerging in 2003 in South Korea. Since then it has spread to
Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Russia, Turkey
and Romania.
While the bird flu has devastated the bird population, there have only
been 121 cases where the flu has jumped to people since 2003. Of those
, more than 60 have died, all after close contact with sick birds.
However, experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that could
be transmitted between humans, triggering a global pandemic.
The latest developments in Europe and Asia came as health ministers
from around the world met in Canada to discuss how to tackle a
possible pandemic.
They emphasized that preventing the disease from mutating into a deadly
human virus was as important as developing new vaccines against it.
Also Monday, Russia's Tambov region confirmed an outbreak of the same
deadly bird flu strain, a senior regional animal health official said.
The region is located 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Moscow.
"Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the H5N1 strain ...
in some dead fowl tissue samples," the official told Reuters.
He said the disease killed 12 hens at a dacha in Morshansk district
last week, after which local veterinary authorities destroyed
53 ducks and hens remaining in the area, and imposed a quarantine on
it.
Moscow confirmed last Wednesday an outbreak of H5N1 in the Tula region,
some 200 kilometers south of the Russian capital.
Russia has been fighting bird flu since mid-July and has killed more
than 600,000 domestic fowl.
Because there is no vaccine for a bird flu should it mutate to spread
between humans, several countries around the globe have started
stockpiling the antiviral or treatment drug called Tamiflu in a bid
to mitigate its effects.
The World Trade Organization in 2003 decided to allow governments to
override patents during national health crises, though no member state
has yet invoked the clause, The Associated Press reported.
India's government said it may consider whether to override Roche's
patent protections and allow drug manufacturers to copy Tamiflu.
***Other developments***
In France, the government said poultry in areas at risk from contact
with migratory birds should be kept inside where possible until
December 1. It also said it was tightening controls of suspicious
bird deaths and expanding surveillance of wild and domestic birds.
Thailand's government will dispatch 1.3 million health workers and
volunteers across the country to contain a bird flu outbreak that has
killed 13 people, AP reported. The Health Ministry said the operation
will take place 21 provinces.
Sri Lanka said Tuesday it had temporarily banned poultry imports from
countries affected by the bird flu. "We have temporarily banned these
items from coming in. They include birds, poultry products and feather
s," said S.K.R. Amarasekara, the chief of Sri Lanka's Animal Production
and Health Department.
(Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press
contributed to this report.)
【(CNN) -- The European Commission has announced a ban on imports of
live birds as China announces its third outbreak of bird flu in a week
and Indonesia confirms its fourth human death from the virus.】
The latest Chinese outbreak killed 545 chickens and ducks in central
China and prompted authorities to destroy nearly 2,500 other birds,
the government reported.
The latest cases occurred in a village in Hunan province, the
government's top veterinary bureau said in a report dated Tuesday
and posted on the Web site of the Paris-based World Organization for
Animal Health.
China earlier told the United Nations that 2,100 geese in the eastern
province of Anhui were infected, news agencies reported Tuesday.
More than 500 of the birds died and 45,000 were culled.
China last week reported another outbreak had emerged in the country's
northern region of Inner Mongolia. Some 2,600 chickens and ducks were
found dead at a breeding facility.
There have been no reports of human cases of bird flu in China.
The government's report on the Hunan outbreak did not say whether
authorities imposed quarantines or took other measures in addition to
destroying birds, according to AP.
Meanwhile, European Union officials, meeting in Luxembourg, called for
a ban on commercial imports of live birds into the 25-nation bloc.
A committee of EU veterinarians gave their backing to the proposal
Tuesday, the commission said.
The decision followed confirmation that a parrot in Britain died in
quarantine from the H5N1 strain.
"The ban covers captive live birds other than poultry imported for
commercial purposes," the European Commission said in a statement.
"A separate decision regulates the movement of (pet) birds accompanying
their owners which will be subject to certain conditions."
The commission has already imposed a temporary ban on imports of live
poultry, game and feathers from Croatia after at least six swans died
there from bird flu.
The swans landed in Croatia recently, but it is not known where they
migrated from. Thirteen more swans have been found dead nearby.
Meanwhile, dead wild geese in western Germany showed preliminary
positive test results for a form of bird flu, a local health official
said Tuesday, but they died from poisoning, not the virus.
Further tests would be needed to confirm the virus and to tell whether
it was the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, The Associated Press quoted
Stefan Brent, president of the bureau carrying out the testing, as
telling a news conference in Koblenz in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz.
Brent said about 5 percent of wild birds could be expected to carry
some form of bird flu, and he said the test results were "no sensational
find."
Also Tuesday, Indonesia said testing had confirmed that a man who died
last month was positive for bird flu, raising the number of deaths
from the virus in the country to four.
The latest victim, a 23-year-old from Bogor, West Java, was hospitalized
in late September and died two days later, Hariadi Wibisono, a Ministry
of Health official told The Associated Press on Tuesday. A Hong Kong
lab confirmed the test results.
The lethal H5N1 strain that has decimated the bird industry in Asia and
has reached Europe first surfaced in Hong Kong in 1997, before
re-emerging in 2003 in South Korea. Since then it has spread to
Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Russia, Turkey
and Romania.
While the bird flu has devastated the bird population, there have only
been 121 cases where the flu has jumped to people since 2003. Of those
, more than 60 have died, all after close contact with sick birds.
However, experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that could
be transmitted between humans, triggering a global pandemic.
The latest developments in Europe and Asia came as health ministers
from around the world met in Canada to discuss how to tackle a
possible pandemic.
They emphasized that preventing the disease from mutating into a deadly
human virus was as important as developing new vaccines against it.
Also Monday, Russia's Tambov region confirmed an outbreak of the same
deadly bird flu strain, a senior regional animal health official said.
The region is located 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Moscow.
"Laboratory tests have confirmed the presence of the H5N1 strain ...
in some dead fowl tissue samples," the official told Reuters.
He said the disease killed 12 hens at a dacha in Morshansk district
last week, after which local veterinary authorities destroyed
53 ducks and hens remaining in the area, and imposed a quarantine on
it.
Moscow confirmed last Wednesday an outbreak of H5N1 in the Tula region,
some 200 kilometers south of the Russian capital.
Russia has been fighting bird flu since mid-July and has killed more
than 600,000 domestic fowl.
Because there is no vaccine for a bird flu should it mutate to spread
between humans, several countries around the globe have started
stockpiling the antiviral or treatment drug called Tamiflu in a bid
to mitigate its effects.
The World Trade Organization in 2003 decided to allow governments to
override patents during national health crises, though no member state
has yet invoked the clause, The Associated Press reported.
India's government said it may consider whether to override Roche's
patent protections and allow drug manufacturers to copy Tamiflu.
***Other developments***
In France, the government said poultry in areas at risk from contact
with migratory birds should be kept inside where possible until
December 1. It also said it was tightening controls of suspicious
bird deaths and expanding surveillance of wild and domestic birds.
Thailand's government will dispatch 1.3 million health workers and
volunteers across the country to contain a bird flu outbreak that has
killed 13 people, AP reported. The Health Ministry said the operation
will take place 21 provinces.
Sri Lanka said Tuesday it had temporarily banned poultry imports from
countries affected by the bird flu. "We have temporarily banned these
items from coming in. They include birds, poultry products and feather
s," said S.K.R. Amarasekara, the chief of Sri Lanka's Animal Production
and Health Department.
(Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press
contributed to this report.)
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