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  • Asian conference addresses lasting bird flu threat

    Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2...lu-threat.html

    Asian countries address lasting bird flu threat
    The Asia News Network (Vietnam News), Vietnam | Tue, 04/24/2012 2:55 PM


    Experts from countries hit hardest with the H5N1 virus have arrived in Ho Chi Minh City to discuss ways to prevent and control avian influenza amid continuing outbreaks.

    The three-day conference that opened yesterday is addressing the evolution and geographic spread of new viral strains that are gradually responding less to existing vaccines and control measures.

    Of the 602 human cases to date, nearly 60 per cent of them were fatal, the conference heard.

    Over the past 10 years, more than 300 million poultry have been culled globally due to H5N1.

    The technical and policy discussion for prevention and control of H5N1 HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) is hosted by the government of Viet Nam with support from the US Agency for International Development.

    It gathers senior officials from five highly affected countries, including Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Indonesia and Viet Nam, along with representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand that have also been affected by H5N1.

    In the past few years, a newer variant of the H5N1 virus, referred to as clade (an organism from the same family) 2.3.2.1, has emerged and expanded its geographic range from Southeast Asia to Europe, East Asia, and South Asia.

    Some variants of the clade are different enough from other H5N1 HPAI clades so that poultry vaccinations are becoming ineffective in some countries.

    Speakers at the conference were told that nearly all H5N1 human infections were the result of the transmission of the virus from poultry to people.

    The H5N1 virus is still considered a serious pandemic threat because of its continued presence in poultry in numerous countries, its tendency to quickly mutate and change, its ability to infect humans and its continuing high mortality rate.

    Experts estimated the average fatality rate for people who contract the disease at about 60 per cent...

  • #2
    Re: Asian conference addresses lasting bird flu threat

    Experts discuss lingering threat of bird flu

    At a conference to discuss ways to prevent and control H5N1 bird flu virus in highly affected areas and in neighboring countries, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) stated that Vietnam has reported the most number of bird flu cases.

    Diep Kinh Tan, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, added at the three-day conference in Ho Chi Minh City on April 23, that infections have reduced in Vietnam thanks to it adopting effective preventive measures.

    Vietnam has mobilised the entire state machinery, from the centre to the local level to fight the disease; besides also maintaining a close cooperation between the health and agriculture sectors, said Tan.

    Tan expects that the conference will help formulate steps to take in the future and practical and effective options to adopt, to combat the disease. It is also important to continue to build strong national responses and effective regional and inter-country cooperation to address H5N1 and other potentially-serious zoonotic diseases.

    Nine countries participated in the conference to discuss how to improve methods to prevent and control avian influenza amid continuing outbreaks and how best to address the on‐going evolution and geographic spread of new viral strains that are increasingly less responsive to existing vaccines and control measures.

    Hosted by MARD and the Ministry of Health with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), this technical and policy level discussion for prevention and control of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) gathered senior officials from five highly‐affected countries such as Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Indonesia and Vietnam along with representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. . . .

    more at: http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Health/2012/4/100874/
    http://novel-infectious-diseases.blogspot.com/

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