Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

[Gert van der Hoek]

Russia finds H5N1 bird flu strain in three yards

29 Jan 2007 16:19:27 GMT

MOSCOW, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Russia has recorded its first instances this year of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu in dead domestic birds, the country's animal and plant health agency said on Monday.

Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement the presence of the virus was detected in dead birds found in three yards in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia.

A spokesman for the agency confirmed the strain found was H5N1. Russia recorded several cases of this strain of the virus last year.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2941754.htm

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

Russia finds H5N1 bird flu strain in southern yards

29 Jan 2007 16:44:57 GMT

(Adds details, background)

MOSCOW, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Russia has recorded its first cases this year of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu in dead domestic birds, the country's animal and plant health agency said on Monday.

Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement the virus was detected in dead birds found in three domestic yards in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia.

"Yes, it's H5N1," a spokesman for the agency said, when asked to confirm the strain of the virus.

Rosselkhoznadzor said measures were being taken to prevent the spread of infection in the three settlements where cases were found -- Labinsk, Upornaya and Borodinskaya.

The agency said tests had been carried out in regional laboratories and further tests would now be conducted in Moscow.

Russia recorded more than 90 cases of bird flu last year. Most were in southern regions, particularly the North Caucasus area that borders Georgia and Azerbaijan. Several cases were also found in the Siberian regions of Novosibirsk and Omsk.

The outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza began in Asia in 2003 and outbreaks have been confirmed in about 50 countries and territories.

Bird flu has killed 164 people from a total 270 cases recorded in humans since 2003, World Health Organisation data shows. At least 200 million birds have been culled worldwide.

No human cases have ever been recorded in Russia. Five people have died from eight cases in neighbouring Azerbaijan.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29248891.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

H5N1 in Krosnodor just north of Azerbaijan speaks volumes.

[Theresa42]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

H5N1 in Krosnodor just north of Azerbaijan speaks volumes.

Krasnodar and Azerbaijan...

http://encarta.msn.com/map_701513792/Krasnodar_Territory.html

[HenryN]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01290702/H5N1_Krasnodar.html

[MHSC]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

<big><big>Commentary</big></big>

Qinghai H5N1 Confirmed in Krasnodar
Recombinomics Commentary
January 29, 2007

Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement the virus was detected in dead birds found in three domestic yards in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia.

The above comments describe H5N1 at three farms in Krasnodar. These reports follow confirmation of H5N1 in Hungary and raise additional questions about detection failures in neighboring countries.

In Azerbaijan, just south of Krasnodar, the fatal pneumonia case (14M) who was a brother of a H5N1 case from last season that was linked to wild birds, is under investigation. The H5N1 to the north in Krasnodar and to the south in Egypt suggest H5N1 infections in the Middle East are going unreported or undetected.

All of the H5N1 in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa last season was the H5N1 Qinghai strain, which is transported and transmitted by wild birds. The recent confirmed cases in these regions raise serious questions about reporting deficiencies in neighboring countries.

[MHSC]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

Russia registers new outbreak of bird flu
Pakistan Times Wire Service
MOSCOW: Russia has registered its first cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu since an outbreak hit dozens of towns and villages last year, Russian media reported Monday.

"A laboratory analysis uncovered the H5N1 bird flu virus," in poultry at three locations in the southern Krasnodar region, said Aleksei Alekseyenko, an official at the country's agricultural inspection agency Rosselkhoznadzor, a Russain news agency reported.

"A series of anti-epizootic measures are being undertaken in the unfortunate areas to control the infection," he said.

The three infected areas are located near the country's Black Sea coast.

Bird flu was discovered at over 90 points in southern Russia and Siberia in 2006, with the last quarantine lifted in August.

Earlier Monday, the European Commission confirmed the first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in the European Union since mid-2006 after tests on Hungarian geese proved positive.

Last week Japan and Hong Kong reported fresh cases of strains of the virus, and Indonesian authorities said an eight-year-old girl had become the latest person in the country to die from it.

The H5N1 virus can be deadly to humans and its appearance in recent years has sparked fears it could mutate and become easily transmissible from human to human, causing a pandemic like the Spanish flu in 1918 which killed millions of people.

The virus has killed about 160 people worldwide since late 2003, mostly in Asia. No human fatalties from the virus have been reported in Russia.●


http://www.pakistantimes.net/2007/01/30/top16.htm

[Niko]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

<big><big>Commentary</big></big>

Qinghai H5N1 Confirmed in Krasnodar
Recombinomics Commentary
January 29, 2007

Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement the virus was detected in dead birds found in three domestic yards in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia.

The above comments describe H5N1 at three farms in Krasnodar. These reports follow confirmation of H5N1 in Hungary and raise additional questions about detection failures in neighboring countries.

In Azerbaijan, just south of Krasnodar, the fatal pneumonia case (14M) who was a brother of a H5N1 case from last season that was linked to wild birds, is under investigation. The H5N1 to the north in Krasnodar and to the south in Egypt suggest H5N1 infections in the Middle East are going unreported or undetected.

All of the H5N1 in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa last season was the H5N1 Qinghai strain, which is transported and transmitted by wild birds. The recent confirmed cases in these regions raise serious questions about reporting deficiencies in neighboring countries.

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01290702/H5N1_Krasnodar.html

[Niko]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

Map of Krasnodar region

http://encarta.msn.com/map_701513792/Krasnodar_Territory.html

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

Extracting from my very large map of purple dots from last year, the Russian portion shows outbreaks below:

[Theresa42]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

babelfished from Russian:

On particular Podvor'yakh, where was fixed the case of birds, are conducted quarantine measures (Kuban)
Jan 30, 2007

On the Kuban in the period from 16 to 26 January were registered the single cases of the case of bird in domestic Podvor'yakh of three populated areas of village Borodino seaside Axtarskogo of region, cossack village persistent Of the Labinskeyeo region and settlement Ray, located in suburb Labinska. As reported IA regnum in the press-service of the administration Of Rospotrebnadzora for Krasnodar edge, official information about the isolation of the virus of influenza H5 from the laboratory of veterinary service it did not act.

"In Labinske with the fallen bird contacted 6 people, one of whom child of up to 16 years, in the cossack village persistent - two contact, in the village Borodino - 3, they all will be vaccinated against the influenza", they reported in the press-service of the administration Of Rospotrebnadzora, after adding that there are no poultry-breeding economies in all these populated areas. In The Labinskeye region on particular Podvor'yakh, where the case of poultry was registered, were carry ouied quarantine measures, they described in local control of veterinary science.

Let us recall, on 29 January Rossel'khoznadzor, it reported that on three Podvor'yakh in the Krasnodar edge was registered the case of poultry. Laboratory analysis on the spot confirmed that this can be bird influenza.

http://www.regnum.ru/news/774363.html

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

"In Labinske with the fallen bird contacted 6 people, one of whom child of up to 16 years, in the cossack village persistent - two contact, in the village Borodino - 3, they all will be vaccinated against the influenza",...

It looks like a repeat of last year's efforts to immediately vaccinate folks with a current flu shot. Are they trying to prevent reassortment with a currently circulating virus via dual infections, OR are they utilizing cross reactive immunity with a shot within 100 days prior to exposure? Or both?

Why don't SE Asian countries follow this procedure?

.

[Mingus]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11220851&PageNum=0

RUSSIA

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Bird flu kills 45 domestic birds in Krasnodar territory

05.02.2007, 12.40



</TD><TD></TD></TR><TR class=news><TD></TD><TD style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">KRASNODAR, February 5 (Itar-Tass) -- The All-Russian Animals Protection Research Institute confirmed that 45 domestic birds died of bird flu at small farms in the Krasnodar territory, advisor to the head of the regional consumer rights protection watchdog Irina Voronkova told Itar-Tass on Monday.
According to her, ?Tissue samples taken in the settlements of Upornaya, Lenin and Borodinskoye showed that the H5N1 virus killed domestic birds.? No new lethal cases among birds were registered for the past week.
The territorial department of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights and Welfare also noted that the ordinary flu incidence rate among residents of the districts, where bird flu cases were registered, does not exceed the epidemiological threshold. Only few flu cases were registered among residents of Borodinskoye, Upornaya and Luch.
Anti-epizootic, preventive anti-epidemic and disinfection measures are being taken in order to prevent bird flu from spreading, the regional consumer rights watchdog said.
The foresaid bird flu cases are the first in the Krasnodar territory this year. In 2006 more than 300,000 birds died of bird flu at one poultry farm.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

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[hawkeye]

Re: Russia finds H5N1 strain in dead domestic birds

And yet Russia bans UK poultry.

Russia bans poultry imports from U.K. amid bird flu fears
18:40 | 05/ 02/ 2007


MOSCOW, February 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has imposed a temporary ban on poultry imports from Britain following a bird flu outbreak, the agricultural watchdog said Monday.

The watchdog said it banned imports of poultry meat, eggs and other poultry products, as well as feed and equipment used on poultry farms, following a recent bird flu outbreak in Suffolk, in the east of the country.

The watchdog said it has also asked the British veterinary service for additional information on the spread of bird flu in order "to examine the possibility of using the regional principle for future imports of poultry products from Britain to Russia."

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has claimed dozens of human lives since it first appeared in Asia in 2003. It has since spread worldwide, and scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form transmissible between humans, sparking a global pandemic.