India: It?s Spreading

[Sally Furniss]

India probes 16,000 new poultry deaths

Bird flu-hit India probes 16,000 new poultry deaths
21 Feb 2006 13:24:55 GMT

Source: Reuters
- Indian authorities reported 16,000 new chicken deaths on Tuesday and although early indications did not point to bird flu, officials were running more tests to conclusively rule out the H5N1 avian influenza. Indian Animal Husbandry Secretary P.M.A. Hakeem said the chicken deaths had taken place in Shimoga district in the southern state of Karnataka and samples of the dead birds were being sent for testing to a government laboratory.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL325091.htm

news is provided by

[Texanna]

India: Humans may have contracted bird flu: Officials

Humans may have contracted bird flu: Officials

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=63283

Associated Press
Posted online: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 1856 hours IST
Updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at 1911 hours IST

New Delhi, February 22: India?s Health Secretary said on Wednesday that ?it is a distinct possibility? that some people in the country have contracted bird flu, a news agency reported.

P K Hota, the top civil servant in the Union Health Ministry, said tests on nine people hospitalised with flu-like symptoms were still being analysed and that results were expected on Thursday.

?We do not rule out the possibility of humans being affected, and it is a distinct possibility,? he was quoted as saying.

However, he said that even if the tests are positive, those affected would have only a ?mild episode?.

[HenryN]

Mild bird flu confirmed among humans

http://www.ndtv.com/template/templat...egory=National

Mild bird flu confirmed among humans


NDTV Correspondent

Wednesday, February 22, 2006 (New Delhi):


Initial reports have confirmed mild bird flu in two out of the nine people who were under observation in Navapur in Maharashtra.

The individuals are reported to be down with mild infections.

Earlier in the day, the government had ordered two new sophisticated testing procedures to tackle the bird flu outbreak.

The new tests will shorten the time taken to detect the virus in both human beings and birds.

While previous tests took days to confirm the presence of H5N1 virus, the new testing procedures will produce results in a few hours.

Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, culling operations are taking place over a 10-kilometre radius around Navapur, which is ground zero of the outbreak.

Vaccinations have been stopped completely and all chickens are being culled in the area.

Surveillance operation

Poultry farmers, who buried dead chicken before the government sent its teams to Navapur, are taking government officials to the site.

The move is in the hope that the government will pay them for the dead chicken rather than use it as evidence of the cover-up.

Blood test results of 94 poultry farm workers who came in contact with infected poultry are also being sent to the Union Health Ministry.

Health authorities say they visited 42,000 houses in a surveillance operation to prevent the spread of bird flu to humans.

At least 12 people showing flu symptoms are under observation in Navapur.

The World Health Organisation has supplied about 200 bottles of the anti-flu drug, Tamiflu in syrup form.

The government is also inviting bids from Cipla, Hetero and Ranbaxy for supply of anti-viral drugs.

Delhi under control?

The Delhi government has deputed four veterinary doctors at the Gazipur Chicken market, one of the largest wholesale chicken markets as a precautionary measure.

The doctors will examine the supply of poultry that comes in from neighbouring states like Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan and issue certificates if the poultry is found fit.

Nearly 36 vets have also been deputed to scan all private farms around the city to check for any signs of the infection in the birds.

Karnataka bird deaths

Reports from Karnataka say 16,000 chickens died in Shimoga district in the past few days - but bird flu was ruled out after tests.

The Animal Husbandry Department said chronic respiratory infection was responsible and it will not spread to humans.

The remaining 9,000 chickens in the affected farm are also said to be showing symptoms of the disease.

[Auburn Boy]

Re: India

Snowy Owl,
Is that a picture of a chicken with bird flu.

Yes that's a picture of a sick chicken. It's ahrd to tell from that photo though.

That was snipped from an FAO website describing a 1999-2000 outbreak of H5N1 in Italy.

It can be found at:
http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjec...ian_slide.html

If the link doesn't work correctly you'll have to manually edit until you get to the page. It doesn't work smoothly.

The slide show has a series of pictures of tissue slide, necropsy photos, and ill chickens in various states of decline.

[Auburn Boy]

Re: First suspected human death from bird flu in India

(Copy of Kissa's post from breaking news)

Indian officials say have confirmed country?s first bird flu virus case

The press in India keep confusing us with CASE, and OUTBREAK.

They say "cases" when they mean in chickens. I think most of us read "Outbreak" to mean in chickens, and "case" to mean in chickens.

However, the point is mooted by the fact that India is on the virge of confirming first HUMAN cases of H5N1 today..,

[Auburn Boy]

Re: 'We can't even think of killing our birds'

'We can't even think of killing our birds'

?My hens don?t need any medical care. However, if there is ever a problem like during winter I make some medicine from household items like garlic and onion paste and give it to them,? she adds.

Pradne says she is aware of the bird flu outbreak but says her hens are not affected. ?I don?t plan to get my hens vaccinated because they are healthy,? says Pradne, adding that anyway no BMC official has come to carry out checks either. ?My hens are very dear to me and I can?t even think of killing them,? she says.

Sometimes you just have to say, "Oh, well..,"

So, she's not going to even think to choose when the time comes and the choice is the lives of her family or here "beloved" chickens.

Oh, well..,

[viamede]

Re: India seals off 'bird flu town'

If cafeteria chicken isn't safe (i.e. cooked to death) then no chicken is.

[Vibrant62]

Re: Maha: Eight admitted for suspected bird flu in Navapur

Unfortunately, ignorance and a lack of understanding are the greatest problem both here and elsewhere in the world. Even highly intelligent people I know cannot grasp the threat, the nature of the threat nor why it is so serious. It is easy to forget that just becuase we are knowledgeable and informed on the subject, most people are not, including politicians etc. My friends cannot grasp that becuase people are not dying in their thousands now, that it is entirely possible that this could rapidly become the case once a pandemic strain emerges - 'it hasn't happened yet and the virus hasn't managed to become a problem, so why should it now?' is a statement I hear again and again.

Even if there is not a high mortality rate, few people can understand why a pandemic would be so serious. The term epidemic has frequently been misused for disease outbreaks involving few individuals and a localised geography e.g. meningitis outbreaks. Therefore their concept of a pandemic is similar, but with small outbreaks in many places at one time.

For these reasons my hopes of convincing others until we are already well into a pandemic are not high. This is a problem/ disease that will affect and happen to others as far as they are concerned. Until something happens to persuade them otherwise, nothing will change their minds. I expect it will be the same throughout India and Africa, and possibly elsewhere too

[sharon sanders]

Re: India seals off 'bird flu town'

Viamede - LOL

[Sally Furniss]

Re: India seals off 'bird flu town'

I read an article in a New Zealand magazine that warned of the stuffing in roast chicken. The article said the chicken may be reach a high enough temperature but the stuffing may not reach sufficient temperature kill H5N1.

[Mellie]

Epidemic fear looms large over Navapur

Epidemic fear looms large over Navapur Epidemic fear looms large over Navapur
- By Ashish Agashe

http://www.asianage.com/main.asp?la...&RF=DefaultMain

Navapur, (District Nandurbar, Maharashtra), Feb. 21: After the outbreak of bird flu and culling of over nine lakh birds since then, the fear of epidemic looms large over the people of the area. According to locals, many crows, dogs, some cranes have died after getting the same infections as the hen in the 52 poultries across the Navapur region, home to the second largest poultry industry in Maharashtra before the culling of birds actually bought the poultry industry to a standstill.

But what the locals fear the most is humans being affected due to the stench of carcasses of birds that are being buried. As this reporter found out while going through various villages across the region, the fears of the locals are not without reason.

I came across the case of 45-year old Thakur Dodhiya in the village of Ucchal, three km from here which falls in the Gujarat state. Mr Dodhiya works in a sawmill situated right next to a piece of land which National poultry converted into a dumping ground for its dead chicken. Mr Dodhiya was admitted to the Phulwadi government hospital with symptoms of bird flu.

"Though I could not afford it, we were in no position to stay back as vomiting of some greenish fluid, fever, cold, cough was getting unbearable for me," adds Mr Dodhiya.

as his son sitting next to him is visibly angry at him for divulging the economic condition of the family to a journalist.

What hurts Mr Dodhiya the most is that he was just working at the sawmill for five days when he was inflicted with this fever and other problems like cold, cough etc, all symptoms of bird flu.

Mr Dodhiya was discharged from the hospital after being given a dose of Tamiflu tablets and a couple of bottles of saline. When asked about the isolation ward in hospitals that is supposed to house patients like him, Mr Dodhiya said, "Hum garib hain aur hame aise kuch bhi nahi pata (We are poor and do not know anything like this)." The result: Mr Dodhiya is staying in his hut in the village along with his family who stand to get infected with the fatal disease.

[Mellie]

Some people may have contracted bird flu

Some people may have contracted bird flu
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...686,curpg-2.cms

[ Wednesday, February 22, 2006 08:59:33 pmAP ]

NEW DELHI: The Health Secretary, P.K. Hota said Wednesday that "it is a distinct possibility" that some people in the country have contracted bird flu.

He said tests on nine people hospitalized with flu-like symptoms were still being analyzed and that results were expected Thursday.

"We do not rule out the possibility of humans being affected, and it is a distinct possibility," he said.

However, he told reporters that even if the tests are positive, those affected would have only a "mild episode."

Meanwhile, health workers in western India pressed on with a massive slaughter of chickens to halt the spread of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus.

More than 700,000 birds have been killed in India's Navapur district since tests of some of 30,000 chickens that died in recent weeks detected the virus. Another 80,000 birds are to be killed before the cull is completed.

The H5N1 virus has devastated poultry stocks and killed at least 92 people, mostly in Asia, since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Most human cases of the disease have been linked to contact with infected birds. But scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that is easily transmitted between humans, sparking a possible pandemic.

Authorities have ordered 48 poultry farms around Navapur, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of Mumbai, to be emptied and remain shut for three months.

Amid mixed messages from the government, chicken sales dropped across the country. The army, Indian Airlines and Indian railways took chicken an Indian staple and eggs off their menus.

Parliament also stopped serving chicken in its cafeteria, media reports said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bird flu may have spread to humans
Web posted at: 2/23/2006 9:32:51

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=India&month=February2006&file=World_News2006022393251.xml

New Delhi: The Indian government said yesterday it could ?not rule out the possibility? of avian influenza spreading to human beings in a village in Maharashtra.

?We cannot rule out the possibility of bird flu being transmitted to humans. There is a distinct possibility of such transfusion,? Health Secretary Prasanna Hota told a TV news channel.

Hota was reacting to reports that two people in Maharashtra?s Navapur village, from where India?s first case of bird flue was confirmed on Saturday, were suffering from a mild case of human avian influenza.

Twelve people, including two children, had been kept in an isolation ward in Navapur?s sub-district hospital after they reported flu-like symptoms. The two people displaying bird flu-like symptoms were part of this group.

Hota said there was a ?protocol? to be followed in such cases and details about the suspected cases would be available only Thursday.

This apart, blood samples had been collected from 104 Navapur residents to ascertain if the H5N1 strain of avian influenza had affected them.

Known to spread to human beings, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has resulted in nearly 100 human casualties across Southeast Asia, mostly in Vietnam. It has so far been reported in seven countries.

Meanwhile, some regional states like Mizoram and Tripura have banned the import of poultry and eggs from other Indian states as well as Bangladesh and Myanmar to prevent the spread of the global disease that is known to spread from birds to humans.

?There is a drop in sales of chicken and eggs in the northeast by about 40 per cent in recent days,? said Pranjit Pratim Koch, technical director of the Northeastern Poultry and Egg Federation.

There has been no reported case of bird flu in the northeast, but the spread of the virus in other states has led to panic in the region. ?People have stopped eating chicken and even eggs and so the demand for fish and mutton has gone up manifold during the past week,? said veterinarian Bhairab Kanta Sharma.

With the demand for fish and mutton on the rise, traders in Assam and other northeastern states have hiked prices of the two commodities.

?Butchers and fish mongers have increased their prices by Rs15 to Rs25 a kg,? Lonkeswar Das, a resident of Assam?s main city of Guwahati, said.

All the seven regional states - Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Tripura - have sounded a maximum alert to prevent the outbreak of bird flu in the region.

?Although there are no reports of any bird flu in our state yet, we have prohibited import of chicken and eggs from other states and even from Myanmar as a precautionary measure,? said C Sangnghina, Mizoram?s animal husbandry and veterinary director.

[Theresa42]

Map of outbreaks/suspected outbreaks in India

Map of outbreakds/suspected outbreaks in India (as of late Tuesday) posted here:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...3&postcount=12

[Theresa42]

Govt blows hot and cold on flu

Govt blows hot and cold on flu
February 23, 2006
DH News Service New Delhi:

The government has been blowing hot and cold about the avian flu infecting humans. A few hours after Union Health Secretary P K Hota told the media on Wednesday that there was a ?distinct possibility? of avian flu having infected some humans in the virus-affected areas of Navapur, Maharashtra, the government went on a denial mode.

An official press release issued by the health ministry read: ?Reports appearing in a section of the media that two persons have tested positive for avian influenza are merely speculative.?

?As of now, i e 8 pm, on February 22, 2006, there is no case of avian influenza,? it said. The release said that 12 people kept in isolation for observation in Navapur were normal.

Earlier, Mr Hota told reporters: ?Some human samples are under various stages of being analysed and we will come to know of it by tomorrow. We do not rule out possibility of humans being affected and it is a distinct possibility.?

However, he tried to play it down by saying if the human tests were positive it would be ?mild episode?.

He said 51 clinical samples of human cases were sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune and 44 samples to the Delhi-based National Institute of Communicable Diseases.

Stating that Maharashtra had requested for ambulances and ventilators, Mr Hota said his ministry had made available Rs 80 crore to strengthen the preventive measures. On the culling operations, Upma Chawdhry, Joint Secretary, said 73,157 birds had been culled in Gujarat while 2,08,892 birds had been destroyed in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, the Centre ordered two new sophisticated testing procedures to tackle the bird flu outbreak. The new tests will shorten the time taken to detect the virus in both human beings and birds. While previous tests took days to confirm the presence of H5N1 virus, the new testing procedures will produce results in a few hours.

Flu update
Test reports on humans awaited
188,726 birds culled since Sunday morning
Culling in Navapur to end on Thursday
Rs 28 lakh paid as compensation to poultry farmers

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb232006/index2047182006222.asp

[Theresa42]

India investigates claims of bird flu cover-up

India investigates claims of bird flu cover-up
T. V. Padma
22 February 2006
Source: SciDev.Net

[NEW DELHI] India is investigating media reports that a major poultry producer suppressed evidence of the nation's first bird flu outbreak by paying local people to bury dead chickens.

Upma Chawdhry, a senior agriculture ministry official, told reporters in Delhi yesterday (21 February) that chicken deaths were first observed in Navapur in Marahashtra state as early as 27 January, but the government only found out on 8 February through a local newspaper report.

With commercial poultry farms in the area under scrutiny, the Maharashtra state government yesterday charged Pune-based poultry producer Venkateshwara Hatcheries with concealing chicken deaths.

The claims, if true, would mean that India lost 12 days that could have been used to contain the outbreak and raise awareness of the threat. In addition, anyone burying dead birds risked being infected with the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

Tests are underway on samples from 95 people with respiratory tract infections in Navapur. Twelve people who were in contact with the infected poultry have been quarantined.

Venkateshwara Hatcheries had attributed the deaths to the more common Newcastle disease, known in India as ranikhet. Even so, given that tens of thousands of birds died, the company was obliged to notify the ministry's animal husbandry department, but did not.

Its managing director Anuradha Desai, says it is not the only poultry supplier in Navapur, and is being unfairly singled out.

Parts of India's poultry industry continued to deny there was a bird flu outbreak, even after the presence of the H5N1 virus was confirmed on 18 February.

On 20 February, The Hindustan Times printed a statement from the National Egg Coordination Committee, a 25,000-strong association of poultry farmers, saying that the chickens died from Newcastle disease.

But Shantanu Kumar Bandyopadhyay, commissioner of animal husbandry in the agriculture ministry, says there is "no ambiguity" in test results from the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal that detected H5N1.

In a separate development, India yesterday set up a scientific committee to investigate the source of the infection (see Egypt and India race to control bird flu outbreaks).

"The source of the infection is still not known," Bandyopadhyay told SciDev.Net.

India banned poultry imports in February 2004 following the 2003 outbreaks of H5N1 in South-East Asia. No dead migratory birds — another possible source of the virus — have been found in Navapur.

India has extended the radius around the outbreak within which birds will be culled from three to ten kilometres. However, the culling operations did not meet their initial target of killing 500,000 birds in the three-kilometre radius by Tuesday evening.

http://www.scidev.net/content/news/e...u-cover-up.cfm