H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

[HenryN]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=635 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>World Health Organization Expands Team Probing Bird Flu Cluster May 18 (Bloomberg) -- The World Health Organization sent two officials to Indonesia's North Sumatra province to investigate the largest cluster of human bird flu cases, as a government official said sick animals may have been involved.
Medical epidemiologists Thomas Grein and Timothy Uyeki joined an investigative team in the province today, said Sari Setiogi, a WHO spokeswoman in Jakarta. The H5N1 avian influenza strain infected as many as eight members of a family in the past month. It may also have been in farm animals near their homes, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono said today.
``Hopefully the two people heading to North Sumatra today can contribute and identify the source,'' Setiogi said.
Infected animals increase the risk of human infection and create opportunities for the virus to mutate into a pandemic form. Fatalities from H5N1 this year have surpassed 2005 levels as the virus spread to more than 30 countries on three continents.
Pigs, chickens and ducks are raised by about half the 400 households in the North Sumatran village of Kubu Sembilang, where some of the infected people lived. Waterfowl are the natural hosts of avian influenza. Pigs are susceptible to both human and avian strains and are considered a potential ``mixing bowl'' of flu viruses.
Ten of 11 pigs in the district where the infected people lived were found to have avian flu antibodies in their blood, Apriantono told reporters in Jakarta today.
The presence of antibodies is an indication of an existing or previous infection. Antibodies were also found in chickens and ducks by a national laboratory in Bogor, and confirmatory tests on the animal samples are underway, Apriantono said.
``As soon as we know it's positive, these animals should be culled,'' he said.
`Major Concern'
``If the virus is in pigs, that would be a major concern,'' Ton Schat, a professor of virology and immunology at Cornell University, said in an interview today.
Previous testing on farm animals surrounding the patients' homes had shown no evidence of avian flu, raising concern that the virus may have been passed from one person to another.
At this stage, the possibility of human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out, the WHO's Setiogi said.
Human-to-human transmission would suggest the virus had undergone genetic changes making it more contagious to people. Avian flu has the potential of sparking a pandemic if it spreads easily among people.
``It is certainly alarming,'' said Dick Thompson, a WHO spokesman in Geneva. ``This is the largest H5N1 cluster we have seen. There are obviously important questions that we need answered. But right now it is too early in the investigation to say anything definitive.''
Yesterday, three members of the family said they were feeling sick, with symptoms including headache and cough.
At least 115 of the 208 people known to be infected with the bird flu have died, the WHO said on its Web site May 12. The tally doesn't include six cases, five of which were fatal, in North Sumatra and an unrelated fatality in East Java confirmed by the WHO yesterday.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>

To contact the reporter on this story:Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net</PRE>Last Updated: May 18, 2006 00:37 EDT </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...top_world_news

[Theresa42]

Three more?

Yesterday, three members of the family said they were feeling sick, with symptoms including headache and cough.

Three more??

[HenryN]

Re: H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05180601/H5_Karo_Swine.html

[Sally Furniss]

Re: H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

Swine H5 Antibodies Found in Karo Indonesia

Recombinomics Commentary
May 18, 2006

Ten of 11 pigs in the district where the infected people lived were found to have avian flu antibodies in their blood, Apriantono told reporters in Jakarta today.

The presence of antibodies is an indication of an existing or previous infection. Antibodies were also found in chickens and ducks by a national laboratory in Bogor, and confirmatory tests on the animal samples are underway, Apriantono said.

The detection of H5 antibodies in swine in Karo, Indonesia is cause for concern. The lone human H5N1 from Indonesia has a novel HA cleavage site and a report has indicated that many human sequences from Indonesia have this sequence, implying infections were not from poultry. A source for the H5N1 that killed six family members in Karo has yet to be identified.

Novel HA cleavage sites have been found in H5N1 swine in China, and finding RESRRKKR in swine in Indonesia would not be surprised. Such sequences may already be in the private WHO database since H5N1 swine sequences, were generated from Indonesian pigs over a year ago.

[Theresa42]

Tests show Sumatra pigs carry bird flu virus-minister

Tests show Sumatra pigs carry bird flu virus-minister
18 May 2006 05:47:36 GMT
Source: Reuters

JAKARTA, May 18 (Reuters) - Pigs have tested positive for bird flu in the same village on Indonesia's Sumatra island where five people have been confirmed infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus, a minister said on Thursday.

The case involving up to seven family members, six of whom have died, has raised alarm around the world because authorities cannot rule out human-to-human transmission.

But the World Health Organisation and Indonesian health officials had been frustrated by the lack of evidence pointing to a source of the virus, usually infected poultry.

The WHO confirmed on Wednesday that five members of the family had contracted H5N1 and tests on a sixth were pending.

Officials had said earlier that on-the-spot testing of various animals living around Kubu Simbelang village in North Sumatra province had given negative results for avian influenza.

However, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono told reporters on Thursday the pig samples from the village had been brought to a leading animal research centre on Java island, and scientists there found a positive result for bird flu.

"After we brought them to Bogor, the serology test found positive results. From 11 pig samples, 10 are positive. Reconfirmation testings are still underway," he said, but did not specify the H5N1 virus.

Bogor is a West Java city where a veterinarian institute is located.

Clusters of human infections are worrying because they indicate that the virus might be mutating into a form that is easily transmissible among humans. That, experts say, could spark a pandemic in which millions might die.

For the moment, the virus is mainly a disease in birds and is hard for humans to catch.

The minister's comments are also likely to concern health officials. Pigs can act as mixing vessels in which human and bird flu viruses can swap genes, leading to a strain that can easily infect people and pass from person to person.

At least 30 people have died of bird flu in Indonesia, the second highest toll of any country. More than half that number have died this year.

Not including the latest WHO confirmed cases in Indonesia, the disease has killed 115 people worldwide, the majority in east Asia, since reappearing in 2003. Virtually all the victims caught the disease from poultry.

The H5N1 virus is endemic in much of Indonesia.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK28830.htm

[HenryN]

Re: H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05180602/H5N1_Karo_Symptoms.html

[Sally Furniss]

Re: H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

Three Additional Family Members in Karo With Bird Flu Symptoms

Recombinomics Commentary
May 18, 2006

"It is certainly alarming,'' said Dick Thompson, a WHO spokesman in Geneva. ``This is the largest H5N1 cluster we have seen. There are obviously important questions that we need answered. But right now it is too early in the investigation to say anything definitive.''

Yesterday, three members of the family said they were feeling sick, with symptoms including headache and cough.

H5N1 bird flu symptoms in three additional family members are cause for concern. As of yesterday these symptoms were mild, but should these relatives deteriorate, their illness would be alarming. Six family members have already died and the index case developed symptoms about a week prior to symptoms in family members. The symptoms in the index case were April 27 and all infected family members were at an April 29 barbeque strongly implicating human-to-human transmission. H5N1 infection in three more family members would implicate human-to-human-to- human transmission in multiple family members.

Human-to-human transmission in Indonesia is also suggested by the many clusters with 5-10 day gaps between the disease onset date of the index case in additional family members. In addition, the only human sequence that has been made public has a novel cleavage site. One report has suggested that this novel sequence is found in additional human sequences, as well as a cat, and the swine in the Karo area have H5 antibodies. Since the sequence has not been reported in any poultry isolates, a non-poultry source is implicated However, testing of patients in Indonesia is predicated on exposure to dead or dying poultry, which would underestimate H5N1 from sources other than poultry.

Since there are over 30 confirmed H5N1 cases in Indonesia, it is likely that sequences from many or most of these cases is at a private WHO database. Those sequences should be released immediately.

[Theresa42]

UN Agency Expands Team Investigating Bird Flu Cluster (Update1)

Update of first article in this thread [posted by Dr. Niman]:

UN Agency Expands Team Investigating Bird Flu Cluster (Update1)

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- The World Health Organization sent two officials to Indonesia's North Sumatra province to investigate the largest cluster of human bird flu cases, as a government official said sick animals may have been involved.

Medical epidemiologists Thomas Grein and Timothy Uyeki joined the team in the province today, said Sari Setiogi, a WHO spokeswoman in Jakarta. The H5N1 avian influenza strain infected as many as eight members of a family in the past month. It may also have been in farm animals near their homes, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono said today.

"Hopefully the two people heading to North Sumatra today can contribute and identify the source," Setiogi said.

Infected animals increase the risk of human infection and create opportunities for the virus to mutate into a pandemic form. Fatalities from H5N1 this year have surpassed 2005 levels as the virus spread to more than 30 countries on three continents.

At least 115 of the 208 people known to be infected with bird flu have died, the WHO said on its Web site May 12. The tally doesn't include six cases, five of which were fatal, in North Sumatra and an unrelated fatality in East Java confirmed by the WHO yesterday.

The virus infected a 75-year-old woman in Egypt, marking the county's 14th human case, China's Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. The woman, from the governorate of Minya, about 220 kilometers (137 miles) south of Cairo, contracted the H5N1 strain through direct contact with backyard poultry, Xinhua said.

Almost all human H5N1 cases have been linked to close contact with sick or dead birds, such as children playing with them or adults butchering them or taking off feathers, according to the WHO. Cooking meat and eggs properly kills the virus.

Pigs, Poultry

Pigs, chickens and ducks are raised by about half the 400 households in the North Sumatran village of Kubu Sembilang, where some of the infected people lived.

Most of Kubu Sembilang's residents are Christian and many of them are distantly related, Umbat, who runs a food stall in the village, said in an interview yesterday. Indonesia has the world's highest population of Muslims.

Waterfowl are the natural hosts of avian influenza. Pigs are susceptible to both human and avian strains and are considered a potential "mixing bowl" of flu viruses.

Ten of 11 pigs in the district where the infected people lived were found to have avian flu antibodies in their blood, Apriantono told reporters in Jakarta today.

Previous Infection

The presence of antibodies is an indication of an existing or previous infection. Antibodies were also found in chickens and ducks by a national laboratory in Bogor, and confirmatory tests on the animal samples are under way, Apriantono said.

"As soon as we know it's positive, these animals should be culled," he said.

"If the virus is in pigs, that would be a major concern," Ton Schat, a professor of virology and immunology at Cornell University, said in an interview today.

Previous testing on farm animals surrounding the patients' homes had shown no evidence of avian flu, raising concern that the virus may have been passed from one person to another.

The possibility of human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out, the WHO's Setiogi said.

Genetic Changes

Human-to-human transmission would suggest the virus had undergone genetic changes making it more contagious to people. Avian flu has the potential of sparking a pandemic if it spreads easily among people.

"It is certainly alarming," said Dick Thompson, a WHO spokesman in Geneva. "This is the largest H5N1 cluster we have seen. There are obviously important questions that we need answered. But right now it is too early in the investigation to say anything definitive."

Yesterday, three members of the family said they were feeling sick, with symptoms including headache and cough.

"At this point there is no evidence that infectivity, transmissibility or virulence has changed dramatically, but we're investigating the Indonesian cases very carefully," Shigeru Omi, the WHO's regional director for the western Pacific region, told reporters in Hong Kong today.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net;
Karima Anjani in Jakarta at kanjani@bloomberg.net.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=a8FKCeoat2aA&refer=asia

[ukcz]

Re: UN Agency Expands Team Investigating Bird Flu Cluster (Update1)

Tests show Sumatra pigs carry bird flu virus - minister
May 18 14:12

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Pigs have tested positive for bird flu in the same village on Indonesia's Sumatra island where five people have been confirmed infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus, a minister said on Thursday.

The case involving up to seven family members, six of whom have died, has raised alarm around the world because authorities cannot rule out human-to-human transmission.

But the World Health Organisation and Indonesian health officials had been frustrated by the lack of evidence pointing to a source of the virus, usually infected poultry.

The WHO confirmed on Wednesday that five members of the family had contracted H5N1 and tests on a sixth were pending.

Officials had said earlier that on-the-spot testing of various animals living around Kubu Simbelang village in North Sumatra province had given negative results for avian influenza.

However, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono told reporters on Thursday the pig samples from the village had been brought to a leading animal research centre on Java island, and scientists there found a positive result for bird flu.

"After we brought them to Bogor, the serology test found positive results. From 11 pig samples, 10 are positive."

"Reconfirmation testings are still underway," Apriyantono was quoted by Reuters as saying, but did not specify the H5N1 virus.

Bogor is a West Java city where a veterinarian institute is located.

Clusters of human infections are worrying because they indicate that the virus might be mutating into a form that is easily transmissible among humans. That, experts say, could spark a pandemic in which millions might die.

For the moment, the virus is mainly a disease in birds and is hard for humans to catch.

The minister's comments are also likely to concern health officials. Pigs can act as mixing vessels in which human and bird flu viruses can swap genes, leading to a strain that can easily infect people and pass from person to person.

At least 30 people have died of bird flu in Indonesia, the second highest toll of any country. More than half that number have died this year.

http://news.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=12952

[sharon sanders]

Re: H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

...."Ten of 11 pigs in the district where the infected people lived were found to have avian flu antibodies in their blood, Apriantono told reporters in Jakarta today.

Previous Infection

The presence of antibodies is an indication of an existing or previous infection. Antibodies were also found in chickens and ducks by a national laboratory in Bogor, and confirmatory tests on the animal samples are under way, Apriantono said. .....

....The possibility of human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out, the WHO's Setiogi said."


Pick your vector: Pigs, Chickens, Ducks, possible H2H, and then there is still the issue of cat to human? - seems to me that there are still many unanswered questions.

[HenryN]

Re: H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05190601/H5N1_Indonesia_Withheld_Dates.html

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

........ Antibodies were also found in chickens and ducks ....

Since when has a chicken survived H5N1? Were they vaccinated?

.

[Mingus]

Re: H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

Good point Denise !

[Shannon Bennett]

Re: H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

AD, I'm sure I have read of asymptomatic chickens already. Though for the life of me I cannot remember where? I do know it was sometime last fall or early winter however. Vietnam, perhaps? I have a vague memory of it being in South East Asia somewhere.

[DB]

Re: H5 Antibodies in Indonesian Pigs

I know there have been asymptomatic ducks spreading the virus since at least 2004.

The reports I have seen about asymptomatic chickens is from vaccination campaigns.