Outbreak in Afghanistan?

[Susie]

Afghans find H5 bird flu, strain not yet known
13 Mar 2006 09:03:26 GMT

Source: Reuters


KABUL, March 13 (Reuters) - The H5 sub-type of bird flu has been found in five birds in Afghanistan but the strain of the virus was not yet known, the government and the United Nations said on Monday.

"H5 has been found in five samples in Afghanistan. The N sub-type, we're expecting that to be determined, possibly in a matter of hours," U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news conference.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL101098.htm

[Lizbeth]

Re: Outbreak in Afghanistan?

H5 bird flu found in Afghanistan

Associated Press

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060313.wafghanflu0313/BNStory/Front

Kabul ? The first case of bird flu has been detected in Afghanistan and there's a high risk that tests could prove it to be the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, a UN agency said Monday.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said five swab samples from backyard poultry farms in Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad tested positive on Monday for H5, and that tests were under way to discern the subtype.

"There's a high risk that the virus detected is H5N1, but other possibilities remain at this time," an FAO statement issued in Kabul said.

Afghanistan has not reported a case of bird flu before. Last month, the FAO warned that an outbreak was virtually unavoidable and chided the government and donor countries for being slow to prevent it.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed or forced the slaughter of tens of millions of chickens and ducks across Asia since 2003, and recently spread to Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Health officials fear H5N1 could evolve into a virus that can be transmitted easily between people and become a global pandemic.

That has not happened yet, but at least 97 people have died from the disease worldwide, two-thirds of them in Indonesia and Vietnam, according to figures by the World Health Organization.


The FAO statement said the bird flu samples tested were "associated with high mortality" and the results so far indicated "that a highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected at more than one site in Afghanistan.

"At this time, the specific subtype of H5 influenza cannot be determined," it said.

In its warning last month, the FAO said Afghanistan lies at a crossroads for migratory birds that are potential carriers of the virus, which has already been detected in countries in the region, such as Iran and India.

The public veterinary system in the war-battered country remains weak and there's still no quarantine system to check imported poultry at borders.

[Waltz]

Re: Outbreak in Afghanistan?

Afghan leader says shun chickens, flu test awaited
(Reuters)

14 March 2006

KABUL - Afghans should avoid touching chickens, President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday, as the country awaited test results to determine if bird flu found in five chickens is the deadly H5N1 strain.

There is a high risk the H5 bird flu subtype found in two different places in Afghanistan is H5N1, the United Nations said. Results of tests to determine the strain are expected later on Tuesday or on Wednesday.

“Don’t touch chickens at the moment, until this virus is finished,” Karzai told farmers at an agriculture meeting in Kabul.

The H5 subtype of the bird flu virus was confirmed in three chickens in Kabul and two in the eastern province of Nangarhar on Sunday.

No suspected human cases of the disease have been reported in Afghanistan, the Health Ministry said.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said there was a high risk the virus was the deadly H5N1 strain that has infected 177 people, killing 98 of them, in parts of Asia and the Middle East since 2003.

Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that passes easily between humans and trigger a pandemic that could kill millions.

Most people are infected by handling sick birds or their droppings but the World Health Organisation says eating well-cooked chicken meat and eggs are safe.

There is concern that Afghanistan, with weak veterinary and health sectors after decades of war, will struggle to contain an outbreak.

Agriculture officials say they don’t even have protective suits that should be worn if authorities order a cull of poultry flocks.

Adding to concerns, most Afghan farmers and chicken traders are illiterate and know little about bird flu.

Authorities have made announcements on television and through mosques urging people not to hunt wild birds because of the risk from avian flu, but there has been little information about the danger to poultry.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2006/March/subcontinent_March526.xml&section=subcontinent&col=