Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms June 2007

[Gert van der Hoek]

Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

The Associated Press

Published: June 11, 2007

JAKARTA, Indonesia: Chickens infected by bird flu in Indonesia are now mostly symptom-free, confounding efforts to fight the virus in the world's hardest hit country, an Agriculture Ministry official said Monday.

"It's really giving us a headache," said Musni Suatmodjo, the director of animal health. "Chickens are testing positive for the H5N1 virus, but they are staying healthy" making it difficult to identify which are infected.

Bird flu has killed at least 189 people since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in 2003, 79 of them in Indonesia, according to the World Health Organization.

The virus remains difficult for people to catch, but experts fear it could eventually mutate to a form that spreads more easily between humans, sparking a global pandemic that could kill millions.

John Weaver, of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, noted that several researchers have said many infected chickens appear to be surviving in Indonesia, triggering questions about whether the virus may have become less pathogenic.

"It's a very important question," he said on the sidelines of an international bird flu conference in the capital Jakarta. "But we haven't yet answered it."
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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/11/asia/AS-GEN-Indonesia-Bird-Flu.php


There are several postings (from Commonground I think, :tiphat: ) referring to a-symptomatic chickens in Indonsesia.

I'll try to find them later today, or maybe some else can find them.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

Indonesia finds asymptomatic H5N1-infected poultry

Mon 11 Jun 2007, 10:12 GMT

[-] Text [+] JAKARTA, June 11 (Reuters) - Indonesia has found traces of H5N1 bird flu in apparently healthy-looking poultry, making it tougher to detect the disease in the country hardest hit by the virus, officials said on Monday.

Sick or dead chickens are used as a sign of H5N1 infection, but the appearance of "asymptomatic" chickens means humans could become more easily infected with bird flu. Indonesia has the world's highest death toll from the disease, killing 79 people.

"The poultry death rate is not so high, but there is a trend that chicken or poultry are infected by the virus but they don't die. So, the H5N1 virus is not fatal to poultry," Musny Suatmodjo, director of animal health at the agriculture ministry, told a news conference.

Bird flu is endemic in poultry in many parts of Indonesia, which has been struggling to contain the disease because millions of backyard chickens live in close proximity to people across the archipelago.

Contact with sick fowl is the most common way people become infected. Globally, 189 people have died of H5N1 infection since the virus reappeared in Asia in late 2003.

While bird flu is essentially a poultry disease, scientists are worried about the virus's ability to adapt to new environments and hosts. They fear this increases the chances of the virus mutating into a form that can jump easily between people, triggering a pandemic.

For the first six months of this year, 12,000 birds have died of bird flu or been culled, while last year about 1.75 million poultry either died of the disease or were culled, Suatmodjo said.

Authorities fear healthy-looking poultry could shed the virus in their faeces, increasing the risk of spreading bird flu to people.

"The poultry deaths have come down. But there's something that we need to be cautious about. There is concern shedding may occur," Bayu Krisnamurthi, the bird flu commission chief, told reporters.

"There are some cases where humans were infected with the virus although there was no sick or dead poultry in their surroundings. But it can't be a general conclusion yet," he said, adding the commission was being cautious about this indication.

Hong Kong-based researchers have also detected such "asymptomatic" chickens and other poultry in mainland Chinese markets in recent years, which they believe were responsible for most of the H5N1 human infections there.

One published study of faecal samples taken from healthy poultry in markets in China in recent years found that one percent were infected with the virus.

The Indonesian Bird Flu Commission said last week the H5N1 bird flu virus in Indonesia might have undergone a mutation that allows it to jump more easily from poultry to humans. (Additional reporting by Tan Ee Lyn in Hong Kong)

http://africa.reuters.com/commodities/news/usnJAK342083.html?rpc=401&

 

[gsgs]

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

send the samples, so it can be figured out

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

Traces of H5N1 bird flu found in Indonesian poultry

Last Updated 12/06/2007, 03:38:47

Indonesia's agriculture ministry says it has found traces of the H5N1 bird flu in apparently healthy-looking poultry.

It says this is making it tougher to detect the disease in the country hardest hit by the virus.

Sick or dead chickens are used as a sign of H5N1 infection.

Indonesia has the world's highest death toll from the disease.

So far it has killed 79 people.

Authorities in Indonesia fear healthy-looking poultry could shed the virus in their faeces, increasing the risk of spreading bird flu to people.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1948194.htm

 

[FluBossie]

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

Indonesia finds asymptomatic H5N1-infected poultry

Mon 11 Jun 2007, 10:12 GMT


The Indonesian Bird Flu Commission said last week the H5N1 bird flu virus in Indonesia might have undergone a mutation that allows it to jump more easily from poultry to humans. (Additional reporting by Tan Ee Lyn in Hong Kong)
http://africa.reuters.com/commodities/news/usnJAK342083.html?rpc=401&

Dr. niman,

Could this mutation be a H1N1 from 1918 mutation by coincidense, and does it mean a reassortment with the common human H1N1 flu or a reassortment with a bad 1918 pandemic flu? This question is maybe too early to ask.

 

[HenryN]

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

Dr. niman,

Could this mutation be a H1N1 from 1918 mutation by coincidense, and does it mean a reassortment with the common human H1N1 flu or a reassortment with a bad 1918 pandemic flu? This question is maybe too early to ask.

There has never been a report of H5N1 naturally reassorting with a human gene, and no evidence that the Indonesia sequences have anything remotely resembling a human gene segment.

 

[FluBossie]

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

Re: Bird flu-infected chickens in Indonesia showing no symptoms

There has never been a report of H5N1 naturally reassorting with a human gene, and no evidence that the Indonesia sequences have anything remotely resembling a human gene segment.

The Indonesian Commission said their might be a mutation that allows it to jump more easily from poultry to human.
The question i asked was only a thought from myself and a thougt about if their could be a connection with the changes found in the ten year old femal in Egypt, witch had N98D.

I think I was a lot of confused about Egypt and made a connection with Indonesia
Sorry Dr. Niman.