China defends bird flu vaccination plan despite deaths

[HenryN]

China defends bird flu vaccination plan despite deaths

<!-- end: .tools --><CITE class=vcard>By Lucy Hornby Lucy Hornby </CITE>? <ABBR class=recenttimedate title=2009-02-06T06:46:12-0800>31 mins ago</ABBR>
<!-- end .byline --><!-- end: .hd -->BEIJING (Reuters) ? China's Ministry of Agriculture on Friday defended its bird flu vaccination program, stating there had been no outbreaks since last June despite a number of human cases, some fatal, this year.
Human cases and the appearance of dead wild birds in Hong Kong have caused some experts and media reports to question whether the virus is widespread but undetected in China.
Five people died of bird flu in China in January, in regions far removed from each other and in which there were no reported cases of bird flu in birds. Three others have become ill, of which two have recovered, a toddler infected in Hunan and a young man in Guizhou.
Apart from the discovery of a case during routine sampling in eastern China's Jiangsu province in December, Chinese testing has not detected any bird flu since June.
The Ministry of Agriculture said in a report on its website that the strain found in Jiangsu was a variant, requiring the modification of the vaccine program in the surrounding provinces of Zhejiang, Shanghai, Anhui and Shandong.
Meanwhile, two ducks and a goose found in Hong Kong have tested positive for H5N1, the strain of bird flu that can infect humans. Hong Kong closed its Mai Po nature preserve as a precaution for 21 days from Friday, after a dead grey heron found there also tested positive for bird flu.
Hong Kong authorities are still testing 14 other dead birds found last week on Lantau Island.
"We're checking water currents" to see if the birds were washed ashore from mainland China, a government spokeswoman said.
While H5N1 rarely infects people, experts fear it could mutate into a form that people could easily pass to one another, sparking a pandemic that could kill tens of millions and topple the global economy.
China has vaccinated aggressively since bird flu first reappeared among humans in Asia in 2003. But vaccination does not eliminate the virus.
In 2008, China reported six outbreaks of bird flu that killed 9,000 birds and led to the culling of 590,000 birds.
(Additional reporting by Tan Ee Lyn in Hong Kong; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090206/hl_nm/us_birdflu_china

[HenryN]

Re: China defends bird flu vaccination plan despite deaths

China defends bird flu vaccination plan despite deaths

The Ministry of Agriculture said in a report on its website that the strain found in Jiangsu was a variant, requiring the modification of the vaccine program in the surrounding provinces of Zhejiang, Shanghai, Anhui and Shandong.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090206/..._birdflu_china

Variant = clade 7

[HenryN]

Re: China defends bird flu vaccination plan despite deaths

<TABLE height=20 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="95%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=bottom align=middle> Since June last year, the national bird flu has not yet occurred </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="92%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ziti14_03 align=middle width=229>

日期 ：2009-02-06 20:18

Date :2009-02-06 20:18 </TD><TD class=ziti14_03 align=middle width=193>

作者 ：

Author: </TD><TD class=ziti14_03 align=middle width=222>

来源 ：农业部

Source: Ministry of Agriculture </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE height=15 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT language=javascript>var i="";if (i!=""){ document.write("<hr size='1' noshade width='95%'><table width='95%' border='0'><tr><td width='40'> </td><td bgcolor='#E4EFF1'> 下载文件： ");}</SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=javascript>var j="";if (j!=""){ document.write("</td></tr></table><hr size='1' noshade width='95%'>");}</SCRIPT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="92%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ziti14_03>

专家说人感染高致病性禽流感与家禽疫情无必然联系

Experts say human infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks and poultry without necessarily

本网讯记者从农业部获悉，目前我国家禽禽流感免疫状况良好，近期不会暴发大规模疫情。

Journalist us hearing from the Ministry of Agriculture was informed that at present China's bird flu in poultry immune condition, the recent large-scale epidemic outbreak will not.

从农业部通报的2008年全国秋季集中免疫工作大检查情况以及实验室实际检测情况看，禽流感免疫密度和抗体 合格率均超过国家规定标准，总体均高于往年。

From the Ministry of Agriculture reported the fall of 2008 to focus national immunization as well as a general inspection of the actual laboratory testing situation, the avian flu immunization antibody density and the pass rates exceed the national standards, on the whole were higher than in previous years.

由于免疫等防控措施到位，2008年我国仅在西藏、贵州、广东发生过6起高致病性禽流感疫情，发病家禽0. 9万只，死亡0.9万只，扑杀59万只；发病数、死亡数同比均大幅下降。

As a result of immunization, such as prevention and control measures in place, our country only in 2008 in Tibet, Guizhou, Guangdong occurred from 6 highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemic, the incidence of poultry 09,000, 09,000 deaths, 590,000 killed; incidence, the same period last year deaths are substantially reduced.

未发生候鸟疫情。

No outbreaks of migratory birds.

2008年6月以来，全国也没有发生高致病性禽流感疫情。

Since June 2008, the National also did not happen of highly pathogenic avian flu.

近期北京、山西、山东、湖南等地陆续出现人感染高致病性禽流感病例，但当地并没有发生家禽禽流 感疫情。

Recently in Beijing, Shanxi, Shandong, Hunan, and other emerging human infection of highly pathogenic avian influenza cases, but did not happen the local poultry outbreak of bird flu.

中国工程院院士、禽流感防控专家、扬州大学刘秀梵教授和国家禽流感参考实验室主任陈化兰研究员日前接受记者 采访时说，人发生感染禽流感病例而家禽不发生疫情的情况在世界上比较普遍，我国至今发生的38例人感染高致 病性禽流感病例中，只有4例同期有家禽疫情，大多数与家禽疫情无直接关联，一些病例甚至无明显 家禽接触史。

Chinese Academy of Engineering, bird flu prevention and control expert, Professor Liu Xiufan Yangzhou University and the National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory director Chen Hualan researcher recently told reporters, human case of bird flu occurred in poultry and non-occurrence of the epidemic situation in the world, more common, China has so far occurred in 38 cases of human infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza cases, only four cases have poultry outbreaks over the same period, the majority of poultry outbreaks and are not directly linked to some cases and even no obvious history of exposure to poultry.

据刘秀梵介绍，人感染高致病性禽流感有多种途径，一是接触感染的家禽；二是接触带毒野鸟；三是接触被病毒污 染的物（食）品和环节等。

According to Liu Xiufan introduction, human infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza have a number of ways, first contact with infected poultry; second is exposure to infected wild birds; Third, exposure to virus contaminated objects (food) and other goods and links.

目前已有14个国家的400多人感染高致病性禽流感，多与食用或接触被禽流感病毒污染的物（食）品有关，也 有一定数量的患者感染途径不明。

So far, 14 countries, more than 400 people infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza, multi-linked to the consumption of or contact with the avian flu virus contaminated objects (food) goods, but also have a certain number of patients with unknown infection.

刘秀梵和陈化兰两位专家认为，一般来说禽流感病毒不易造成人的感染，从目前情况看人感染高致病性禽流感病例 都属零星个案。

Xiu-Fan Liu and Chen Hualan two experts believe that avian influenza viruses in general not easy to cause infection, from the current situation of man infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza cases are sporadic cases.

近期连续出现的这几起人感染高致病性禽流感病例，从发病地点和原因以及流行病学调查情况分析，病例之间并无 关联性。

This has recently been emerging for several cases of human infection of highly pathogenic avian influenza cases, from the locations and causes of morbidity, as well as analysis of epidemiological investigations, there is no correlation between the cases.

自2003年以来，全世界有数百万只家禽和野鸟感染了H5N1禽流感病毒，而通过养殖厂、田间、森林、实验 室等，这些动物与人类接触的机会至少有数百万次，但几年来人感染高致病性禽流感病例只有403个，说明暴露 人群中只有少数人对禽流感病毒易感。

Since 2003, the world's millions of poultry and wild birds infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus through plant breeding, farm, forest, laboratories and so on, these animals and human contacts, at least millions of times, but a few In person infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza, only 403 cases that exposed the crowd, only a small number of people susceptible to the avian flu virus.

值得注意的是，到目前为止我国尚未发现养殖人员和兽医人员感染禽流感的案例。

It is worth noting that so far China has not yet been found breeding and veterinary personnel infected with avian flu cases.

目前发现的禽流感病毒也还不具备人传人的条件，因此公众不必过分担忧。

The current findings of the avian flu virus do not have the conditions for person to person, so the public do not have to worry too much.

两位专家认为，我国防控高致病性禽流感主要是通过对家禽实施强制免疫和扑杀相结合的措施，这是世界动物卫生 组织（OIE）推荐的控制疫情的有效措施。

Two experts think, China's prevention and control of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry largely through the implementation of compulsory vaccination and culling a combination of measures, this is the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recommended effective measures to control the epidemic.

针对公众关心的免疫问题，陈化兰解释说，免疫是预防家禽禽流感非常有效的措施。

Immune response to the issue of public concern, CHEN Hua-lan explained that immunization is the prevention of bird flu in poultry is very effective measures.

疫苗虽不能直接杀死病毒，但免疫能阻止病毒对家禽的感染，可以抑制家禽带毒排毒，从而大大减少环境中的病毒 载量。

Although the vaccine should not directly kill the virus, but immunization can prevent HIV infection in poultry, can inhibit the detoxification of poultry virus, thus greatly reducing the environmental load of virus.

根据流行病学规律分析，在良好免疫状况下，禽群可产生有效保护力，不会发生大规模疫情。

In accordance with the laws of the epidemiological analysis, in a good immune status, the flocks can produce effective protection force, there will be no large-scale epidemic.

而且虽然禽流感病毒变异较快，但只要及时使用有针对性的疫苗进行免疫，就可以有效防止疫情发生 。

And though the bird flu virus mutates rapidly, but as long as the timely use of vaccines targeted for immunization, we can effectively prevent the outbreak.

例如在江苏东台、海安等地检测到禽流感变异病毒后，江苏、浙江、上海、安徽、山东等地及时使用变异病毒疫苗 进行强化免疫，家禽会很快产生保护力，阻止疫情的扩散。

For example, in江苏东台, MSC and other places to detect bird flu virus mutation, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Anhui, Shandong and other places a timely manner for the use of variant virus vaccine immunization, poultry will soon have a protection force to stop the spread of the epidemic.

值得说明的是，病毒在自然环境中还有许多存在的条件。

Worthy of note is that the virus in the natural environment there are many conditions for the existence of.

一是客观上讲，不管免疫工作力度多大，也难以达到所有家禽始终处于有效保护状态。

First, objectively speaking, regardless of immunization efforts, is always difficult to achieve all poultry in the state of effective protection.

二是野生禽类无法进行免疫。

Second, wild birds can not be immune.

三是病毒在污染的物品中可以存活一定时间，尤其是冬天寒冷季节，例如在鸟粪中病毒可以存活几个 月。

Third, the virus in contaminated items can survive a certain period of time, especially in the winter cold season, for example, in guano in the virus can survive for several months.

上述情况下家禽中可能没有疫情，但环境中有病毒存在，人和家禽就有被感染的危险。

Poultry in such circumstances may not have the disease, but the environment has the virus exist, and poultry, there was risk of infection.

刘秀梵和陈化兰两位专家同时表示，目前全世界在禽流感的研究方面还有很多未知领域，如禽流感病毒是怎样对哺 乳动物以及人造成感染的，禽流感病毒变异机制及其在哺乳动物之间（尤其人之间）是否会水平传播等都是目前研 究的热点。

Xiu-Fan Liu and Chen Hualan two experts also said that the current avian flu around the world in research there are many unknown areas, such as avian influenza virus to mammals, as well as what is causing infections, avian influenza virus in mammals and its variation mechanism of between (in particular, between) whether the level of dissemination of research are currently hot.

下一步应加强兽医、卫生系统联合攻关，重点研究禽流感病毒感染人的机制，搞清楚目前感染人的禽流感病毒的生 物学特性。

The next step should be to strengthen the veterinary and health system joint research, focus on avian influenza virus infection mechanism, to figure out who is currently infected with the avian flu virus biological properties.

另外，开发高效的可用于人感染禽流感免疫预防的疫苗也是目前研究的热点。

In addition, the development of high efficiency can be used for human infection with avian influenza vaccine immunization is the research hot spots.

他们还提出建议，由于禽类及其产品流通频繁，交易量大，为防止发生高致病性禽流感疫情，阻断病毒向人的传播 ，有关部门要切实加强活禽市场监管，严格执行消毒和休市制度，严防病死家禽上市，加强活禽市场 疫病监测。

They also make recommendations, due to the frequent flow of poultry and its products, the transaction volume is very large, to prevent the occurrence of highly pathogenic avian influenza epidemic, blocking the spread of the virus to people, the relevant departments of live birds is necessary to strengthen market supervision, strict implementation of disinfection and closed system to prevent dead poultry market, the market of live birds to enhance disease monitoring.

消费者要购买在正规市场销售、经检疫合格的禽类产品。

Consumers to purchase in the formal market, pass the quarantine inspection of poultry products.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

http://66.102.1.113/translate_c?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www.agri.gov.cn/xxlb/t20090206_1214024.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%25E5%2586%259C%25E4%25B8%259A%25E9%2583%25A8%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4TSHA_enUS307&usg=ALkJrhieRKfl60DWhIJ_9-ynPfF3M0bwVw

[HenryN]

Re: China defends bird flu vaccination plan despite deaths

China detects no bird flu outbreaks among poultry: UN
<!-- end: .tools --><ABBR class=recenttimedate title=2009-02-06T08:25:08-0800>57 mins ago</ABBR>
<!-- end .byline --><!-- end: .hd --><CITE class=caption>AFP/File ? Chickens are displayed at an outdoor market in the city of Kaili, in China's southwest Guizhou province ? </CITE>

<!-- end #main-media -->
<!-- end .primary-media -->
<!-- end .related-media -->BEIJING (AFP) ? China has detected no bird flu outbreaks among poultry in the provinces where eight people have been infected this year, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Friday.
The FAO's senior technical adviser on bird flu in China, Vincent Martin, said Chinese authorities on Thursday reported to the agency the findings of extensive testing in the seven provinces.
"The Ministry of Agriculture in China has been extremely pro-active in investigating the situation in domestic poultry in provinces where these cases have occurred," Martin said.
"So far, despite a large number of samples from poultry being collected and laboratory tested, no evidence of infection in poultry has been found to explain these human cases."
Before meeting with Chinese agriculture ministry officials, Martin raised concerns about bird flu possibly circulating among poultry and said he was waiting for authorities to report the findings of their investigations to him.
The state-run China Daily newspaper also reported on Friday the agriculture ministry confirmed there had been no outbreaks of bird flu among poultry in China this year.
Eight people contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus in China this year -- five of whom died -- compared with just three cases in all of 2008.
A 29-year-old man who was infected last month in southwest Guizhou province was released from hospital Friday after more than three weeks of treatment, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The man, surnamed Zhou, has been in a stable condition for a few days and no longer has any symptoms of bird flu, Xinhua quoted local hospital chief Sun Zhaolin as saying.
Zhou was hospitalised on January 15 after buying and killing a duck from a local market, the report said. He tested positive for bird flu 10 days later.
Earlier this week, a three-year-old girl in northern China was discharged from hospital, becoming the youngest person in the nation to survive bird flu, authorities said. A 21-year-old woman in central Hunan is still being treated.
A total of 25 people have died from avian influenza in China since the disease re-emerged in 2003, according to World Health Organisation figures.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090206/hl_afp/healthchinaflupoultry

[HenryN]

Re: China defends bird flu vaccination plan despite deaths

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/02060902/H5N1_China_Vaccine_Concerns.html

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: China defends bird flu vaccination plan despite deaths

Commentary

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

Commentary

H5N1 Clade 7 Vaccine Failures Raise China Concerns
Recombinomics Commentary 18:02
February 6, 2009


The Ministry of Agriculture said in a report on its website that the strain found in Jiangsu was a variant, requiring the modification of the vaccine program in the surrounding provinces of Zhejiang, Shanghai, Anhui and Shandong.

The above comments describe the Jiangsu December outbreaks which involved H5N1 closely related to clade 7 isolates from a 2006 outbreak in Shanxi. As noted above, the outbreak in Jiangsu led to additional vaccination of flocks in adjacent provinces.

However, shortly after the Jiangsu outbreak, human cases were reported throughout China (see updated map), and comments from the news conference in Hong Kong strongly suggested that the human cases were a ?northern strain? which would almost certainly be clade 7, which has been reported in multiple northern provinces. The news conference also strong suggested the human cases were not caused by 2 Fujian sub-clades, 2.3.2 and 2.3.4, which had previously been linked to the vast majority of prior human cases in China.

Previously, the only reported human clade 7 case was in Beijing in 2003, so 9-12 cases in China and Beijing in the brief period following the Jiangsu outbreak would represent a dramatic rise in clade 7 cases, and the location of the cases would suggest that clade 7 has spread throughout China and not limited to the re-vaccinated provinces adjacent to Jiangsu.

Reports of clade 7 in northern Vietnam also support the spread of clade 7 this season, further supporting widespread clade 7 in poultry.

However, as noted above, the clade 7 was detected during routine surveillance and the OIE report indicated the poultry was asymptomatic, raising detection / reporting issues. Indeed there have been no reports from China on additional H5N1 outbreaks and sequences from the Jiangsu poultry outbreaks or the confirmed human cases have not been released. Comments on A/Beijing/1/2009 only stated that there had been no reassortment with human flu genes and the variations in the sequence were minor.

Prior clade 7 sequences from Shanxi and Hunan had a large number of receptor binding domain changes, and minor changes in these sequences can have major effects of virulence and transmissibility. Therefore, release of the sequences from China, as well as sequences from human and poultry cases would be useful. Similarly, WHO has withheld the sequence of its clade 7 vaccine target, which was from a 2008 poultry isolate in Vietnam.

The lack of transparency on clade 7 sequences remains a concern. And the withholding of the sequence of the WHO vaccine target sets a poor example of transparency, which is of significant concern due to the number of clade 7 cases and clusters coupled with the vaccine failures noted above.

.

[HenryN]

Re: China defends bird flu vaccination plan despite deaths

China says no avian H5N1 outbreaks detected

Lisa Schnirring Staff Writer

Feb 6, 2009 (CIDRAP News) ? China's agriculture ministry said yesterday that it hasn't detected any poultry outbreaks in the provinces where recent human cases were reported, an apparent response to speculation that the country isn't reporting outbreaks and to suspicion about possible gaps in the surveillance system.
In a statement to China Daily, a newspaper based in Beijing, the ministry said its assessment of the outbreak status of seven provinces linked to human cases was based on an assessment of the overall epidemiologic situation and investigations it conducted in January.
China has reported seven human cases this year, four of them fatal. The cases hail from a range of locations across China, including two from Hunan province; one each from Shangdong, Shanxi, Guizhou, and Guangxi provinces; and one from Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
Investigations into the sources of these infections found that nearly all may have been exposed to sick or dead birds, such as at live bird markets, according to previous statements from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The country submitted its last H5N1 outbreak report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on Dec 19, 2008, which described outbreaks at two large farms in Jiangsu province, in eastern China. However, the virus is considered endemic across large parts of China.
The agriculture ministry's statement to the China Daily said the country had kept international organizations, including the OIE and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) aware of current avian influenza developments.
Some health officials, including York Chow, Hong Kong's secretary for food and health, have raised questions about a possible change in the virus or if asymptomatic H5N1-infected chickens might be contributing to the spread of the virus.
Hans Troedsson, the WHO's representative in China, told China Daily, "The fact that this is the highest number [of human infections] for a single month in China reminds us that the virus is entrenched and circulating in the environment."
China's agriculture ministry said that not all human cases have links to poultry outbreaks, and it said that, of 37 human cases reported in the country since 2005, only 4 were linked to poultry outbreaks, according to the China Daily report.
Vincent Martin, a senior technical adviser in FAO's Beijing office, said he met with Chinese authorities to discuss surveillance findings in seven provinces, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported today. "The Ministry of Agriculture in China has been extremely proactive in investigating the situation in domestic poultry in provinces where these cases have occurred," he told AFP.
"So far, despite a large number of samples from poultry being collected and laboratory tested, no evidence of infection in poultry has been found to explain these human cases," Martin said.
Avian influenza experts have said that the size and make-up of China's poultry population creates a difficult surveillance task. They said that low levels of outbreak reports could be related to rigid vaccination requirements, but suboptimal vaccination can mask symptoms without stopping viral shedding.
See also:
Dec 19, 2008, OIE report
http://www.oie.int/wahis/reports/en_imm_0000007623_20081219_120841.pdf
Jan 21 CIDRAP News story "China's recent H5N1 cases raise transmission questions"

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/feb0609avian.html