Europe 'still not ready to cope with flu pandemic'

[Theresa42]

Europe 'still not ready to cope with flu pandemic'
By Andrew Jack in London and Raphael Minder in Brussels
Published: February 11 2006 02:00 | Last updated: February 11 2006 02:00

If a flu pandemic were to hit Europe in the next few months, officials would struggle to cope with information overload and the absence of clear co-ordination and decision-making authority.

These were among the key lessons drawn from a secretive European Union-wide flu pandemic simulation held last November, the findings of which are being finalised ahead of a briefing to senior politicians in the weeks ahead.

"Common Ground", co-ordinated by the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) on behalf of the European Commission, was designed to test the extent to which the EU could cope with a public health emergency.

Its findings will be particularly welcome as reports yesterday identified fresh outbreaks of the lethal H5N1 bird flu strain in Greece and Nigeria. China also reported its eighth human death from the virus.

Officials have stressed that the exercise was a considerable success, highlighting areas for improvement, and showing progress in areas identified as problems by a previous exercise.

But a number of participants have expressed concern with the shortcomings the simulation brought to light.

During the two-day simulation, participants drawn from government, international agencies and pharmaceutical companies across the EU struggled to discern what information was of value when a centralised computer network was inundated with reports of local outbreaks.

There was also confusion as to which agencies or governments would take critical decisions, such as the point at which vaccine manufacturers should switch from producing current seasonal flu doses to a pandemic strain.

A preliminary briefing obtained by the Financial Times stressed the need for "a simplification of the interaction between different co-ordinating institutions and agencies".

It also calls for efforts to improve "the functionality of the existing communications systems", the development of "visual information tools" and greater co-ordination between member states to share messages.

In a recent interview with the FT, Markos Kyprianou, the EU's health commissioner, lamented delays on the part of member states in informing Brussels about their preparations for seasonal vaccination. Orders had to be placed this month if vaccines were to be ready in time for next winter's flu, he said.

Mr Kyprianou said he fully recognised that responsibility for building up stocks was not a Brussels competence, but warned that Brussels could then not be asked to play a co-ordinating role - either for seasonal flu or for a possible emergency anti-viral stock for bird flu - if it was kept in the dark about national measures. "I need numbers,'' he said.

* Following the discovery of infected swans in Greece, Brussels said yesterday that it had asked Greece to create a safety cordon, disinfect poultry farms and increase overall precautionary steps, pending the outcome of testing expected this weekend.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/2728e5c4-9a...0779e2340.html

[DB]

Italy and Greece report bird flu cases in swans

Italy and Greece report bird flu cases in swans

The Associated Press

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2006
ROME Italy's health minister said Saturday that the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain had been detected in swans in the country - the first time the virus has been detected in Italy.

Also, Greece's agriculture minister confirmed Saturday that tests conducted in a British laboratory on samples from three swans in northern Greece revealed that they had died of the H5N1 strain of the virus.

Samples from the dead swans, found near the northern city of Thessaloniki, were sent Thursday to the EU reference laboratory in Weybridge, England, to determine whether the birds had the lethal H5N1 strain.

The virus was found in swans in three Italian regions: Puglia and Calabria in southern Italy, and Sicily, said Health Minister Francesco Storace. The swans had arrived from the Balkans, he said.

"It's certain that the virus has reached Italy," Storace told reporters after briefing the Cabinet on the situation.

Storace said there we no human cases of infection reported, and sought to reassure Italians that the outbreak posed no immediate threat to humans and only affected birds.

"It's a relatively safe situation for human health, less so for animal health," said Storace.

He did not give the exact number of the birds that had been infected by the virus. But he said most of the 17 swans who were found dead were likely infected with H5N1.

Testing was conducted in at a laboratory in the northern city of Padua, and more analyses were underway, Storace said. Further results were expected as early as Saturday afternoon.

The ministry was looking at taking precautions in the areas where the virus was detected, such as limiting movement of animals.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/11/europe/web.bflu

[Clytie]

Deadliest form of bird flu found in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria

Deadliest form of bird flu found in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria

By Sophie Goodchild, Chief Reporter : Independent Online Edition

Published: 12 February 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article344939.ece




Scientists have confirmed that wild swans in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria have tested positive for the deadly strain of bird flu.

More than 20 swans in the three countries have died from the H5N1 strain which experts say was probably brought by cold weather in the Balkans.

Laboratories in Padua, in Italy, and Weybridge, in Britain, made the identification yesterday.

H5N1 has killed birds in 20 countries and infected at least 166 people, killing 88 of them. The "majority" of the 17 dead swans found in southern Italy tested positive for the lethal strain and all three swans ound in northern Greece were killed by it.

To limit the spread of the virus, Italy has banned the transport of live birds in six regions for 21 days, which is the incubation period of the virus, and are warning people about the disease.

Francesco Storace, the country's health minister, said that some of the dead birds had been killed by the high-pathogenic type of bird flu, meaning it kills almost all birds that are infected very quickly. "The good news is that these were wild animals," said Mr Storace at a press conference in Rome.

The Greek government said that it had discovered the H5 virus in a wild goose on the island of Skyros and was investigating to see if it was also killed by the H5N1 strain.

However, the country's ministers say they do not need to take additional safety measures as the country has been on bird flu alert for months after the disease spread to nearby countries such as Romania and Turkey.

The European Commission said the disease was last week detected in wild swans in the Bulgarian wetland region of Vidin, close to the Romanian border. Bird flu reached Romania in October.

The Bulgarian authorities also informed the commission of other suspected cases in wetlands close to the Black Sea.

[Clytie]

More cases of bird flu in Europe (in birds)

More cases of bird flu in Europe

NICHOLAS CHRISTIAN
The Scotsman
Sun 12 Feb 2006
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=221252006

BIRD flu has been detected in migratory birds in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria.

Tests showed that dead swans found in all three countries carried the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus. However, none of the latest reports indicated humans had caught the disease.

Italy's health minister said it was the first time the H5N1 strain had been detected in the country. The virus was found in swans in three Italian regions: Puglia and Calabria in southern Italy, and Sicily, said health minister Francesco Storace. The swans had arrived from the Balkans, he said.


"It's certain that the virus has reached Italy," Storace told reporters after briefing the Cabinet on the situation.

Storace added that there were no human cases of infection reported, and sought to reassure Italians that the outbreak posed no immediate threat to humans and only affected birds.

"It's a relatively safe situation for human health, less so for animal health," said Storace.

He did not give the exact number of birds that had been infected by the virus. But he said most of the 17 swans who were found dead were likely infected with H5N1.

The ministry was looking at taking precautions in the areas where the virus was detected, such as limiting movement of animals.

Meanwhile, Greece's agriculture minister confirmed that tests conducted in a British laboratory on samples from three swans in northern Greece revealed that they had died of the H5N1 strain of the virus.

Samples from the dead swans - found near the northern city of Thessaloniki - were sent on Thursday to the EU reference laboratory in Weybridge, Surrey, to determine whether the birds had the lethal H5N1 strain.

And the European Union confirmed that bird flu found in wild swans in Bulgaria was caused by the deadly H5N1 virus.

"The disease was detected in wild swans in the Bulgarian wetland region of Vidin, close to the Romanian border, last week," the European Commission said in a statement.

It added that tests conducted by the Weybridge laboratory have confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus.

[Mellie]

Bird flu hits (wild birds in) western Europe

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world...707899,00.html

Bird flu hits western Europe

John Hooper in Rome
Sunday February 12, 2006
The Observer

Bird flu has reached western Europe for the first time, it was announced yesterday, as three new countries reported wild birds infected with the H5N1 strain.

Italy's health minister, Francesco Storace, said that tests carried out on swans found dead in Sicily and the south of mainland Italy showed that the birds had the deadly variant, as did three migratory swans found dead at Thessaloniki, the Greek government confirmed.

Speaking after a press conference in Rome, Storace said: 'Of the 17 dead swans, the majority [of deaths] were as a result of H5N1. But that does not mean all [were].' He said he was awaiting further test results from a government-run laboratory in Padua.

In Taranto, Puglia, a bird died of one of the most virulent varieties of the disease. 'The virus has got to Italy,' Storace said. But he appealed to the public not to panic or to stop eating chicken. 'Chicken has nothing to do with it,' he said.

Concern over bird flu has taken a heavy toll on Italy's poultry sector as the virus has edged westwards. Yesterday a spokesman for one of the country's largest agricultural co-operatives said that it had already caused 30,000 lay-offs and a loss of sales amounting to ?550m.

Storace said the remaining swans were discovered dead or sick on Sicily near Catania, Messina and Syracuse.

'The migratory routes from the south appear to have moved towards Italy because of exceptional cold in the Balkan region,' he added. 'We can be relatively calm about human health but there are reasons to be concerned about veterinary health.'

A spokesman for the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: 'These latest cases of swans being infected with bird flu does not affect our assessments of the risks to the UK. The swans' migratory routes do not come through this country.'

Bird flu was also confirmed in wild swans found dead in Bulgaria. They had died of the H5N1 virus. 'The disease was detected in wild swans in the Bulgarian wetland region of Vidin, close to the Romanian border,' the European Commission said in a statement.

In Bucharest, Romanian officials said yesterday that new cases had been found in fowl in the Danube delta, Europe's biggest wetland.

H5N1 has killed at least 88 people in Asia and the Middle East and prompted the slaughter of millions of birds since 2003. But all the human deaths so far are thought to have been caused by direct contact between the victims and infected birds.

The virus is not known to have mutated into a form that could be spread from person to person. If it were to do so, experts have warned, it could spark a global pandemic.

The focus of attention had earlier switched to Africa after the discovery of the virus in Nigeria.

[Mellie]

G8 warning as bird flu spreads

G8 warning as bird flu spreads

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18122858-23109,00.html

From: Agence France-Presse
From correspondents in Moscow

February 12, 2006

THE Group of Eight industrial powers warned overnight of the risk of a bird flu pandemic, just hours before news broke that the deadly H5N1 virus had spread to Italy, Greece and Bulgaria.
"We acknowledge the risk of a possible avian flu pandemic and its potential economic and financial impacts," G8 members Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States said in a statement after talks.

Shortly after the statement was released, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria announced that tests had confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 virus. The Italian and Greek cases were the first identified within the European Union.

The disease, which has killed nearly 90 people, most in Asia, was found in wild swans in all three countries, according to information from the countries' authorities and from the European Commission.

Detection of the virus within the European Union continues the alarmingly rapid spread of the disease, which was confirmed last week to have crossed into Africa for the first time.

The disease has spread to at least four poultry farms in Nigeria and many other suspected outbreaks have been reported.

"We call on the donor community to provide financial support to poor countries fighting the epidemic," said the G8 statement issued after finance ministers wrapped up talks in a heavily guarded Moscow hotel.

Finance ministers here welcomed the results of a Beijing donors' conference last month, which won funding commitments from more than 90 countries and international organizations of 1.9 billion dollars.

They also confirmed their commitments made in Beijing.

"Donor coordination and harmonisation in this area are critical," the G8 ministerial statement said.

The spread of the disease to Africa, which is ill-equipped to fight disease, has led to fears bird flu may get out of control, infecting more humans and providing more opportunities for the virus to mutate into a form able to jump from human to human.

"Some of the poorest developing countries lack the resources, for example, to pay farmers adequately to get rid of sick chickens," World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz said.

"It is very much in the interest of the richest countries to help finance preventative measures in the poorer countries," he said.

According to a report by the Asian Development Bank, a human pandemic caused by a mutation of the bird flu virus and affecting 20 percent of people in the region would cost one hundred billion dollars a year in Asia and lower trade in goods and services by 14 percent.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu found in Nigerian poultry is the same virus previously detected in Turkey, Europe, China and Southeast Asia, which suggests it was brought to west Africa by migrant birds, an expert with the World Organisation for Animal Health said Friday.

Around 100,000 chickens have died in the northern Nigerian state of Kano from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, according to a local source.

The strain can be picked up by humans in close proximity to diseased birds, and can be lethal, but in its present form cannot be transmitted from person to person.

In Indonesia, hospital staff said a 27-year-old Indonesian woman who tested positive for bird flu had died. On Thursday, a 22-year-old woman died after local tests showed she had the virus.

Samples from the two women have been sent to a Hong Kong laboratory accredited by the World Health Organisation for confirmation. If confirmed, they would be Indonesia's 17th and 18th fatalities from H5N1.

[Sally Furniss]

EU battens down hatches as bird flu hits meat sales


EU battens down hatches as bird flu hits meat sales

14 February 2006
PARIS: The arrival of bird flu in the European Union prompted governments across the region today to bolster their defences against the deadly H5N1 virus as farmers braced for a plunge in poultry consumption.

Italy, Greece and Bulgaria reported their first cases of the virus that has now also spread from Asia to Africa, killed around 90 people and led to the destruction of millions of birds.
With the discovery of the disease in Nigeria, Europe's governments had focused on the threat from returning migratory birds in the spring, but the new cases have added an extra urgency.
In Rome, farmers group Coldiretti said poultry sales had plunged more than 50 per cent after the news at the weekend.
"The knee-jerk reaction of the market resulted in a fall of more than 50 per cent in the consumption of chicken meat, which risks wrecking the poultry sector," it said.
Another Italian farm group, CIA, said losses for the industry due to bird flu fears could top one billion euros.

In France, the farm minister urgently asked national food agency AFSSA for advice in light of the latest developments.
Dominique Bussereau said the law ordering poultry to be kept inside, currently applicable in 58 of the country's 96 departments, could soon be extended to the whole of the country.
And German authorities may bring forward their ban on keeping poultry outside due to start on March 1. Farm Minister Horst Seehofer was also considering a ban on poultry markets.
In Spain, authorities were reviewing their controls on Monday and as far away as Sweden, the agriculture board said testing for the virus would soon be stepped up to more areas.
In Bulgaria, wetlands where infected birds have been found were cordoned off and people warned over contact with waterfowl.
The country's chief vet Zheko Baichev said his teams were prepared to cull birds and cut off villages if the deadly disease jumped to domestic birds.
Large signs reading "Danger from bird flu" and "Infected Zone" were installed over the weekend at the two Black Sea lakes near the Romanian border where H5 infected swans have been found. The lakes have been quarantined and veterinarians said stray dogs and wild foxes will be killed if seen there.
Croatia and Bosnia banned imports of live birds and poultry products from Slovenia, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria. Croatia also stepped up border control of passengers and cars coming from the countries. Bosnia ordered all poultry to be kept indoors.
French poultry sales were still down some 15 per cent, and had been particularly hit by a drop in sales to its main markets in the Middle East, where demand had fallen due to bird flu.
Industry officials in Greece said poultry sales had plunged 95 per cent since Saturday.
In Bulgaria, consumption was expected to plummet by another 20 per cent after already dropping 30 per cent since the autumn when the virus was detected in neighbouring Romania and Turkey.
Bulgaria has produced around 80,000 tonnes of poultry meat last year and exported 10,000 tonnes, mainly to the EU.
The poor Balkan state is one of Europe's main producers of foie gras ? it produces around nine per cent of the total sold in Europe ? and more than 600 tonnes of the delicacy have piled up in warehouses due to rejected orders.
"Around 99 per cent of the goose liver produced in Bulgaria is exported to France and Germany, so these producers will suffer the most from an export ban," Ivan Angelov, chairman of the Poultry Production Board, said.
Romania, which has found bird flu in 29 villages since October, raised duties on poultry imports to protect producers, who said the sector was on the brink of collapse.
"The government decided to raise custom duties to 70 per cent from 45 per cent for six-months in a bid to protect producers who amassed huge stocks because of bird flu (fears)," government spokeswoman Oana Marinescu told a news briefing.
The US and Brazil account for 83 per cent of Romania's overall poultry imports.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3572105a6026,00.html

[Mellie]

Bird Flu Hits Western Europe (summary)

Bird Flu Hits Western Europe (summary)

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Bird_Flu_Hits_Western_Europe.html

By Kate Walker
Oxford, England (UPI) Feb 13, 2006
Reports of avian-influenza outbreaks in poultry came from Bulgaria, Slovenia, Romania, Greece and Italy this weekend, marking the disease's arrival in Western Europe.

H5N1 was found in Sicily and in Puglia and Calabria in southern Italy over the weekend, marking the virus' westernmost foray into Europe.

The Italian government has prohibited the transport of all animals potentially susceptible to avian flu in the affected regions, banned bird hunting and set up 2-mile quarantine zones and 6-mile surveillance zones around the areas the virus was initially detected.

A 29-year-old Greek man has been hospitalized in Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city, with avian-influenza symptoms. He has been placed under quarantine, and confirmation of avian-influenza infection is expected in two days.

The man kept birds in Kalohori, a village near Thessaloniki. Over the weekend three dead swans found near Thessaloniki were confirmed to have died from avian flu.

Romania discovered a potential outbreak of avian influenza in poultry near the Black Sea Monday.

Rapid tests conducted on a number of birds found dead in a courtyard in Topraisar indicated the likely presence of an H5 strain of avian influenza. All remaining birds in the courtyard were killed and the area quarantined. Further precautionary measures, including culling, are on hold until the cause of death is confirmed.

Over the weekend suspected cases of avian influenza were discovered in Romania's Danube River delta, although authorities are awaiting confirmation.

Slovenian authorities announced what it is believed will be the country's first case of avian-influenza infection Sunday.

Initial tests performed on a swan found near the Austrian border indicated that it died from H5N1 infection. The test results are currently being confirmed by the European Union Reference Laboratory in Weybridge, England.

Slovenian authorities responded to the discovery by banning the keeping of poultry outdoors, introducing widespread veterinary inspections and setting up a 2-mile quarantine zone and a 6-mile surveillance zone.

Dead swans found in Vidin, Bulgaria, last week were confirmed this weekend to have been killed by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

Bulgarian authorities have restricted movement in the area the swans were found and have advised farmers to keep all poultry indoors.

Meanwhile:

-- A Nigerian family living near the farm that last week was reported to have seen 46,000 birds die from avian influenza is being tested for bird flu.

Samples were taken from the family following reports that two children were ill. The children appear to be "in fairly good condition ... but we are still observing them," Abdulsalam Nasidi, a federal Health Ministry official, told Mainichi Daily News.

-- A World Health Organization laboratory in Hong Kong has confirmed that two women who died in Jakarta last week were infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.

Their deaths mark Indonesia's 17th and 18th deaths from bird flu.

-- An Indonesian man who died an hour after being hospitalized Friday may have been infected with avian flu.

The 23-year-old, who worked in the poultry industry, was hospitalized Friday with flu-like symptoms. Samples have been taken for testing, and results are expected this week.

-- A married Indonesian couple who have been hospitalized with avian-flu-like symptoms may represent the country's fifth infection cluster.

The couple, who are still awaiting confirmation of avian-influenza infection, fell ill after coming into contact with sick chickens near their home.

Indonesia has more clustered infections -- cases of infection amongst relatives or people living in close quarters -- than anywhere else in the world, although no cluster has yet shown signs of human-to-human transmission.

-- The Chinese government confirmed the country's eighth death from avian influenza Saturday.

The victim was a 20-year-old woman who fell ill in late January after killing birds she kept at home, according to the government statement. She died Feb. 4.

The woman's friends and associates have been monitored for signs of avian-influenza infection, but none has displayed any flu-like symptoms.

-- Iraqi doctors are investigating six possible cases of avian-influenza infection in the south of the country.

A 25-year-old Amaran fisherman who kept birds in his garden died recently after having exhibited flu-like symptoms for two weeks. Samples taken from the fisherman are currently being tested for avian influenza.

Five of the fisherman's cousins who had been living with him and been in contact with his birds are also being tested for signs of infection.

-- Belgian health officials have tested a dead swan found near the Dutch border for avian influenza and are awaiting results.

It is not believed that the swan died from avian influenza, and the officials are merely following procedure in having the bird tested.

"This is normal procedure. We have tested several birds. It is most likely that it died a natural death," said a Belgian food agency spokeswoman.

Source: United Press International

[ukcz]

Deadly bird flu found in northern Europe

Deadly bird flu found in northern Europe

Two dead swans on the island of R?gen on Germany?s Baltic coast have been found to be carrying H5N1 bird flu, the first time the virus has been found in northern Europe.

This means that ?we can now, in principle, consider the bird population of Europe infected?, says Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, who heads a programme monitoring Dutch wild birds for flu. ?I fear it might be endemic in Europe by now,? he told New Scientist.

As a consequence, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and France have ordered farmers to bring outdoor chickens inside. They had planned such measures for March when migrant birds start arriving from Africa, where H5N1 has spread in Nigeria and possibly Niger. But even countries that have found no infected birds now fear they may already be exposed.

The UK, however, has not ordered chickens indoors. ?There is a low risk of the imminent arrival of the virus in the UK,? a spokesman at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told New Scientist. He says DEFRA is ?in touch with experts on bird migratory patterns? in case this changes.
Indicator species

But some migration experts say that the discovery of the German swans suggests there is a good chance the virus is already in Britain. ?If dead swans in the UK are monitored you?ll probably find H5N1,? says Bj?rn Olsen of Umea University in Sweden, who runs Europe?s biggest monitoring programme for flu in wild birds.

One reason, he says, is that the dead swans in Germany might have just arrived, fleeing the cold winter farther east, and died from the stress of travel coupled with the virus they were already carrying. Such winter travellers also head to Britain.

But no one knows whether infected swans stay healthy enough to travel. They might also have been infected after arrival on Rugen. ?The swans are probably just an indicator species,? says Osterhaus. ?They were most likely infected because they shared water with infected ducks?, which remain healthy even when carrying the virus.

Summer in Russia
?Some ducks are perfectly capable of picking up the virus then migrating,? agrees Olsen. Some ducks now in Rugen would have summered in Siberia, where H5N1 caused numerous outbreaks in poultry in the summer of 2005 and was found in wild birds. All the viruses found in Europe and Siberia so far have been genetically very similar, and close to the H5N1 found in wild birds at Qinghai Lake in China in spring 2005.

?Some male ducks that are in Britain now could have been in Siberia last summer,? warns Olsen.

The map showing where H5N1 has so far been found ? the Caspian, eastern Mediterranean and Black seas, northern Nigeria and now the Baltic coast of Europe ? is starting to resemble maps of wintering spots for ducks that summer in Russia. Tens of thousands of ducks of several such species winter in the UK. They are also in southern Spain, and on the North Sea and Atlantic coasts of Europe.

But just because the virus is in wild birds does not mean it must affect European poultry or people, the scientists say, as long as poultry are shielded. Both Osterhaus and Olsen insist that any attempts to cull wild birds will not solve the problem, and could just make matters worse by scattering birds.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8728

[DB]

Re: Deadly bird flu found in northern Europe

Basically they are saying.

It's ok Britain. You can announce you have it now.

[viamede]

Swans not big culprit in spread of bird flu in EU

INTERVIEW - Swans not big culprit in spread of bird flu in EU

By Anna Mudeva
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Most of the European Union's known cases of bird flu have been in swans -- but they are not the species most guilty of spreading the deadly H5N1 virus around the continent, a leading scientist said on Thursday.

Dr Albert Osterhaus, a virologist at Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands, told Reuters the pattern of the outbreaks of the disease in four EU countries in the last few days showed other infected wild birds were to blame.

Swans seen swimming in lake Zbilje, central Slovenia in this February 14, 2006 file photo. Most of the European Union's known cases of bird flu have been in swans -- but they are not the species most guilty of spreading the deadly H5N1 virus around the continent, a leading scientist said on Thursday. (REUTERS/Srdjan Zivulovic)

Most of the cases of H5N1, which can kill humans in its highly pathogenic form, confirmed so far in Germany, Italy, Austria and Greece have been in dead swans. Germany also found the strain in a hawk.

"Swans are highly susceptible to the virus -- they drop dead. There are other birds which get infected but they do not become sick and they can spread the disease," said Osterhaus, a chairman of the European scientific working group on influenza.

"Swans fly not more than 50 km (30 miles) a day. But looking at the way the disease has spread -- one day it's in Italy, a day later it's in the north of Germany -- that makes us believe that there are other bird species spreading the disease."

He said a team of Dutch scientists were carrying out experiments to find out which birds got infected with H5N1 and what their susceptibility to the virus was.
Transmission of H5N1 to domestic flocks could devastate the EU's 20 billion euro ($24 billion) poultry and egg industry, and many governments have ordered chickens to be kept indoors to prevent contact with wild birds.

WILD DUCKS

The Netherlands had an outbreak of a different strain of bird flu in 2003 that led to the culling of 30 million birds, more than a third of the country's total.
Osterhaus and colleagues said in a study last year that wild ducks, especially mallards, carried more than a half-dozen different types of avian flu virus and could be used to track and predict outbreaks.

The researchers said their study confirmed the conventional wisdom that wild birds carry the relatively harmless viruses that eventually mutate into highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Scientists have suggested that migratory birds play an important role in the spread of the bird flu virus. H5N1, which originated in Asia, has killed over 90 people there as well as in Turkey and prompted culls of millions of chickens.

Osterhaus said cats were also vulnerable to bird flu and could catch the disease by eating infected wild birds. "We know for sure that cats can get infected, dogs possibly too," he said, adding it was not clear whether other animals were at risk.

http://thestar.com.my/services/print...c=worldupdates

[Bruce]

Bird flu arrival fills Europe with air of apprehension

Bird flu arrival fills Europe with air of apprehension

Livia Borghese and Jia-Rui Chong / Los Angeles Times

Western Europe has been preparing for months for the arrival of bird flu, with health officials urging calm in the face of the spreading epidemic.

Apparently, no one was listening very well.

"The feathered death -- it has landed," blared a headline from the Berlin newspaper, BZ.

"Bird flu psychosis," was how Italian television Rai News 24 described the national mood.

The lethal bird flu, known as H5N1, crossed into Western Europe this week for the first time with the discovery of infected birds in Italy, Greece, Germany and Austria. On Friday, France reported it had a probable case of bird flu in a dead duck.

Since first emerging in Hong Kong in 1997, the virus has spread across Asia, reaching Turkey in October. European health officials had prepared emergency plans and began getting the word out that the virus only rarely affected humans.

Despite their reassurances, the reality of the virus' arrival sent parts of the continent into hyperventilation.

Since the beginning of the week, the Italian health ministry reported that it has received over 13,000 phone calls to a special bird-flu hotline to report dead birds or ask for advice.

Health Minister Francesco Storace toured the southern provinces on Monday where infected swans had been found.

"We have to keep calm," he said, according to Italian media reports. "The problem is restricted to wild waterfowl. The illness has not affected poultry, and we can continue to eat chicken."

Poultry sales have since plunged 70 percent.

The Italian Farmers Confederation published the results of a poll carried out across the country showing that eight out of 10 consumers admitted they would not buy chicken, even though thorough cooking destroys the virus.

Umberto Borelli, head of the confederation's animal production department, said the economic impact has been "dramatic."

"We are losing everyday 6 million Euros, over $7 million," he said.

Italians are already claiming the virus has killed its first human victims.

Last Sunday, in Gozzano, a village in the Veneto region where 50 percent of all the Italian farms are concentrated, Claudio Rubello, a 49-year-old trucker, killed his wife and child, and slit his own throat after losing his job delivering chickens.

"He was very worried because we told him there'd be less work because of the crisis," a trucking company official told the newspaper, La Repubblica.

The virus has so far infected 169 people worldwide, killing 91, according to the World Health Organization. Scientists are worried that more human infections could allow the virus to mutate into a form that would be easily transmissible, leading to a pandemic.

So far, no human cases have been reported in Western Europe, said Maria Cheng, a WHO spokeswoman in Geneva.

She said Western Europe has a well-developed public health infrastructure and could probably respond to outbreaks more quickly than Africa, Asia and the Middle East, where the virus has already appeared.

In Germany, officials quickly mobilized to counter the anxiety over the virus.

Authorities had reported that two swans and a goshawk died from bird flu on the Baltic island of Rugen, close to the village of Trent. A German lab later confirmed another 10 wild birds with the disease.

Horst Seehofer, minister for Agriculture and Consumer Protection, addressed the national parliament Thursday on bird flu. He ordered all poultry breeders to immediately take all animals into indoor coops and banned poultry markets.

Mohamed Hafez, head of Institute for Poultry Diseases at the Berlin Free University, told the German news agency DPA: "Everybody is afraid now, but there is no reason for panic. We have to keep cool now and react in an appropriate way."

The continual calls for calm by officials across Europe has had some effect.

Austrian authorities ordered restrictions on poultry sales, and prohibited bird markets and pheasant hunting only in areas they deemed "high risk."

Ulrich Herzog, bird flu coordinator for the Austrian Ministry of Health, said the Alps are a "natural barrier" for migratory birds, so "it's not very likely that the whole country will be affected by bird flu."

Borghese reported from Rome and Chong from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Alissa J. Rubin in Vienna and Christian Retzlaff in Berlin contributed to this report. Elisabeth Penz in the Times Vienna Bureau also contributed to the report.

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