Bird Flu Resurfaces in Northern Laos

[sharon sanders]

Hat tip to Senior Moderator Fla Medic

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/

Bird Flu Resurfaces In Northern Laos



# 1646


It was almost a year ago when two Laotians died in March of 2007 from the H5N1 bird flu virus. Since then, there were some reports of poultry die offs in the spring, and of culling, but little other news from that nation.

Today the Vientiane Times is reporting that bird flu related poultry deaths have been recently recorded in the northern part of that nation. Thus far, no human cases have been reported.

A Hat Tip to Mojo on the Wiki for this link.

Bird flu resurfaces in northern Laos
Feb 12th, 2008


A fresh outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus has struck in Nam Ma village, Long district, in Luang Namtha province, according to a report from the Department of Livestock and Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The village of 53 houses lost 600 of its poultry stocks within three days last week, the Director General of the department, Dr Bounkhouang Khambounheuang, told Vientiane Times yesterday.

The village is in an isolated district about 35 km from the Myanmar and Chinese borders.

When poultry first started dying, the authorities sent staff from the provincial Livestock and Fisheries Office to investigate, and they sent samples of chicken meat to the National Centre for Animal Health in Vientiane on Friday for analysis.

The centre analysed the sample using the standard RT-PCR technique, and confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus on Saturday, said Dr Bounkhouang.

The department and the National Avian Human Influenza Coordination Office quickly took steps to contain the outbreak and sent technical staff to work with Luang Namtha provincial authorities in the village and initiate precautionary measures in nearby communities, he said.

Dr Bounkhouang said the department had placed a ban on the movement and sale of poultry or eggs, and had begun spraying birds with disinfectant.

Of the 1,700 poultry in the village, all within a one kilometre radius of the village will be destroyed.

?We will compensate people for their losses if we have to cull their birds, according to the rules of the department,? he said.

He said he believed that the virus had not yet infected any humans, but warned that the possibility was always there.
(cont.)

[HenryN]

Re: Bird Flu Resurfaces in Northern Laos

Bird flu resurfaces in northern Laos
A fresh outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus has struck in Nam Ma village, Long district, in Luang Namtha province, according to a report from the Department of Livestock and Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
The village of 53 houses lost 600 of its poultry stocks within three days last week, the Director General of the department, Dr Bounkhouang Khambounheuang, told Vientiane Times yesterday.
The village is in an isolated district about 35 km from the Myanmar and Chinese borders.
When poultry first started dying, the authorities sent staff from the provincial Livestock and Fisheries Office to investigate, and they sent samples of chicken meat to the National Centre for Animal Health in Vientiane on Friday for analysis.
The centre analysed the sample using the standard RT-PCR technique, and confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus on Saturday, said Dr Bounkhouang.
The department and the National Avian Human Influenza Coordination Office quickly took steps to contain the outbreak and sent technical staff to work with Luang Namtha provincial authorities in the village and initiate precautionary measures in nearby communities, he said.
Dr Bounkhouang said the department had placed a ban on the movement and sale of poultry or eggs, and had begun spraying birds with disinfectant.
Of the 1,700 poultry in the village, all within a one kilometre radius of the village will be destroyed.
?We will compensate people for their losses if we have to cull their birds, according to the rules of the department,? he said.
He said he believed that the virus had not yet infected any humans, but warned that the possibility was always there.
The department is now trying to check the source of the outbreak, said Dr Bounkhouang.
Previous outbreaks were successfully contained in Vientiane and in Savannakhet, Champassak and Vientiane provinces last year.
However, the northern provinces of Oudomxay, Bokeo, Luang Prabang and Phongsaly are at a very high risk of further outbreaks of the virus, he said.
The department urges people everywhere to be careful and to pay more attention to the health of their animals, and send samples of chickens that have died suspiciously to the National Centre for Animal Health for analysis.
The virus is a particular problem in neighbouring countries, where authorities are constantly fighting new outbreaks, he said.
UN agencies such as UNICEF, the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation are helping in response efforts.
UNICEF has sent educational materials to the province, including posters, booklets and hygiene products such as soap, to teach people how to prevent the disease and how to protect themselves.
By KHAMPHONE SYVONGXAY
(Latest Update February 12, 2008)

http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/FreeContent/FreeContent_bird.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Bird Flu Resurfaces in Northern Laos

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02110801/H5N1_N_Laos.html

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Bird Flu Resurfaces in Northern Laos

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02...N1_N_Laos.html

Commentary

H5N1 in Northern Laos

Recombinomics Commentary 20:51
February 11, 2008

A fresh outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus has struck in Nam Ma village, Long district, in Luang Namtha province, according to a report from the Department of Livestock and Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The village of 53 houses lost 600 of its poultry stocks within three days last week, the Director General of the department, Dr Bounkhouang Khambounheuang, told Vientiane Times yesterday.
The village is in an isolated district about 35 km from the Myanmar and Chinese borders.

The above comments describe a confirmed H5N1 outbreak in northern Laos. The site of the outbreak is close to outbreaks in northeastern Myanmar, which were linked to the first human case in Myanmar (see satellite map here and here). The last human case of H5N1 in Laos was about a year ago.

This outbreak appears to be distinct form the outbreaks in Bangladesh and India, which involve clade 2.2.3 H5N1.

Laos has issued an alert in adjacent province.

Sequence data on the H5N1 from Laos would be useful.


.

[HenryN]

Re: Bird Flu Resurfaces in Northern Laos

H5N1 strikes birds in Laos

Feb 12, 2008 (CIDRAP News) ? Agriculture officials in Laos have reported an H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in poultry in a northwestern province, the country's first outbreak in about a year.
A Lao newspaper reported today that the outbreak hit birds in Louang Namtha province, according to Xinhua, China's state news agency. About 600 poultry in Nam Ma village died last week, and samples from the birds were positive for H5N1, Bounkhouang Khambounheuang, head of the livestock and fisheries department, told the Lao media.
The department banned the movement and sale of poultry and eggs in the village, sprayed flocks with disinfectants, and said it would cull poultry within a 1-kilometer radius of the village, Xinhua reported.
The last H5N1 outbreaks in Laos were reported about a year ago, when the virus struck birds in and around the capital, Vientiane, as well as in Savannakhet and Champasak provinces, according to reports from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Elsewhere, agriculture officials in Bangladesh reported that H5N1 outbreaks have struck 40 of the country's 64 districts, according to Feb 10 report from Reuters. Workers culled 12,000 more bids after chickens in the northeastern part of the country died of the virus, the report said.
Bangladesh has culled 560,000 birds on 228 farms since H5N1 first surfaced in the country in March 2007, The Independent, one of the country's English language newspapers, reported today, according to Xinhua.
Livestock minister Maniklal Samaddar has said 823 people have been tested and found to be free of the H5N1 virus, Xinhua reported. He said the government is trying to raise the public's awareness about the virus by sending letters to local government leaders, teachers, and imams of mosques.
See also:
OIE report on past Laos outbreaks

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/feb1208birds.html

[Treyfish]

Re: Bird Flu Resurfaces in Northern Laos

Champassak burns poultry parts

(KPL) The Veterinary Division, Champassak Agriculture and Forestry Service, burned over 72 kg of poultry parts and pig internal organs, totally worth 1.4 million kip, last week.
Local officials said the animal parts had been illegally smuggled by local merchants.
?If these merchants are found guilty at their second time they will be fined rigorously according to the law,? said a local officer. http://www.kpl.net.la/english/news/edn8.htm

[Treyfish]

Re: Bird Flu Resurfaces in Northern Laos

Bird flu resurfaces in Luang Namtha

(KPL) A fresh outbreak of bird flu among fowls has struck the northernmost province of Luang Namtha, local media reported on February 12.
According to a report from the Department of Livestock and Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, some 600 poultry in Nam Ma village, Long district died last week and their specimens have been tested positive to bird flu virus strain H5N1.
The department has banned the movement and sale of poultry or eggs in the village, and has begun spraying fowls with disinfectants, the Vientiane Times cited head of the department Bounkhouang Khambounheuang as saying. All poultry within one-kilometre radius of the village will be culled, he added. The department is now trying to check the source of the outbreak, said Dr Bounkhouang.
Previous outbreaks were successfully contained in Vientiane capital and in the three provinces of Savannakhet, Champassak and Vientiane last year.
However, the northern provinces of Oudomxay, Bokeo, Luang Prabang and Phongsaly are at a very high risk of further outbreaks of the virus, he said.
http://www.kpl.net.la/english/news/edn5.htm

[Treyfish]

Re: Bird Flu Resurfaces in Northern Laos

Upgrading knowledge for health staff on anti-bird flu advertisement

(KPL) The Mass Media Department under the authority of Ministry of Information and Culture in co-operation with the National Avian and Human Influenza Coordination Office organised a training course on a new campaign of anti-bird flu for health officials of six provinces, on 13-15 February in Vientiane province.
The participants come from two northern provinces of Xiengkhouang and Huaphanh and four central provinces of Vientiane, Bolikhamsay, Khammoun and Vientiane Capital.
Mr Khanthong Manotham, Cabinet in Chief of the Information and Culture Ministry said that the course aimed at upgrading knowledge and skills for trainers of trainee concerning a new approach of anti bird flu advertisement in communities.
This campaign is to respond and control the outbreak of bird flu that might be happened in the future, which focus on poultry raising, cooking and poultry production in safety.
At present, the bird flu is being spread in neighbouring countries.
Previous years, Vientiane Capital, Vientiane, Champassak, Savannakhet and Xiengkhouang provinces have suffered from the outbreak of bird flu, said Mr Khanthong.
In the beginning of this month, the H5N1 virus of bird flu spread that caused by over 600 poultry died within three days, at Ban Nam Ma, Long district, Luang Namtha province.
At the same period, Luang Prabang province also organised similar training course for health officials in six northern provinces and Champassak province also organised the same training course for five central provinces and southern provinces.
http://www.kpl.net.la/english/news/edn9.htm

[Treyfish]

Re: Bird Flu Resurfaces in Northern Laos

Luang Namtha receives 90 million kip for bird flu compensation

Monday 05- 05 08 (KPL) The government has provided 90.9 million kip to Luang Namtha province for compensating its farmers suffering from bird flu outbreak, which has culled a number of their poultry and livestock.
Last Tuesday at Luang Namtha Province? Administration Office, Luang Namtha authorities presented 30 million kip to two bird flu-affected districts of Sing and Long, including 14 million kip in cash and two computers.
Performing the handover were Luang Namtha vice governor, Mr. Phanthong Phitthoumma, and Long district vice governor, Mr. Bounhom Lorvansy, among the witness of relevant officials.
The last bird flu outbreak in the province has suffered Long, Sing, Luang Namtha and Viengphoukha districts in Luang Namtha province. The disease, now under control, has caused over 72 million kip in loss to the province.
http://www.kpl.net.la/english/news/edn5.htm