Treyfish
Moderator
H5N1 in wild Hawk in Japan was Qinghai strain
As announced by the government's Ministry of the Environment on
Tuesday [18 Apr 2007], a wild Mountain Hawk Eagle -- which had been
found alive during January 2007 in the village of Sagara, Kumamoto
Prefecture, Kyusyu Island, but which had died shortly afterwards --
was found to be infected by H5N1 virus belonging to the Qinghai Lake strain.
This strain was similar to the strain found in 2 chicken farms in
Miyazaki and Okayama Prefecture this year [2007].
Confirmation was by gene analysis by the team of Tottori University.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The submitter/translator, who preferred to remain unnamed, added the
following remarks:
"1. The Mountain Hawk Eagle's scientific name is _Spizaetus
nipalensis orientalis_; its Japanese name is Kumataka.
2. The official name of the investigation team is: Avian Zoonoses
Research Center, The Faculty of Agriculture of Tottori University.
The Avian Zoonoses Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori
University includes 3 departments, [each] with one Professor and one
Associated Professor. The above news items do not specify which
department or person performed the gene analysis.
3. Sagara town is located in Kumamoto Prefecture, some 570 miles
[917.3 km] SWW from Tokyo and just 60 miles [96.6 km] south of
Kumamoto city, the prefecture's capital."
For the location of Kumamoto Prefecture, see map at
<http://www.multimap.com/map//map/browse.cgi?lat=32.7885&lon=130.715&scale=20000000&icon=x>.
A picture of the Mountain Hawk Eagle is available at
<http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~kumataka/p.kumataka>.
The above information is in agreement with the cited findings of a
task force, appointed by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries, included in posting 20070216.0587. Discussing possible
routes of H5N1 introduction into Japan, they concluded that the H5N1
strain identified in 4 farms was identical to the one that killed
thousands of wild birds at Qinghai Lake in western China starting in
2005. The strain was also similar to one found in duck droppings in
South Korea in January 2007. Koichi Otsuki, a professor of veterinary
microbiology at Kyoto Sangyo University, was quoted saying that it
was possible the virus was brought to western Japan by a route that
went through China and the Korean Peninsula. - Mod.AS]
[This not unexpected report fills out the recent findings of infected
falcons being imported into Saudi Arabia and a similar concern over
falcon imports into Kuwait. What part wild falcons play in the
epizootiology of this disease must remain a matter of conjection and
speculation. Logically sick birds are more likely to fall prey to a
falcon than healthy birds and it may be that the chain of infection
stops at that point for wild falcons. - Mod MHJ]:tiphat:
http://tinyurl.com/2mru4n
As announced by the government's Ministry of the Environment on
Tuesday [18 Apr 2007], a wild Mountain Hawk Eagle -- which had been
found alive during January 2007 in the village of Sagara, Kumamoto
Prefecture, Kyusyu Island, but which had died shortly afterwards --
was found to be infected by H5N1 virus belonging to the Qinghai Lake strain.
This strain was similar to the strain found in 2 chicken farms in
Miyazaki and Okayama Prefecture this year [2007].
Confirmation was by gene analysis by the team of Tottori University.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The submitter/translator, who preferred to remain unnamed, added the
following remarks:
"1. The Mountain Hawk Eagle's scientific name is _Spizaetus
nipalensis orientalis_; its Japanese name is Kumataka.
2. The official name of the investigation team is: Avian Zoonoses
Research Center, The Faculty of Agriculture of Tottori University.
The Avian Zoonoses Research Center, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori
University includes 3 departments, [each] with one Professor and one
Associated Professor. The above news items do not specify which
department or person performed the gene analysis.
3. Sagara town is located in Kumamoto Prefecture, some 570 miles
[917.3 km] SWW from Tokyo and just 60 miles [96.6 km] south of
Kumamoto city, the prefecture's capital."
For the location of Kumamoto Prefecture, see map at
<http://www.multimap.com/map//map/browse.cgi?lat=32.7885&lon=130.715&scale=20000000&icon=x>.
A picture of the Mountain Hawk Eagle is available at
<http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~kumataka/p.kumataka>.
The above information is in agreement with the cited findings of a
task force, appointed by Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries, included in posting 20070216.0587. Discussing possible
routes of H5N1 introduction into Japan, they concluded that the H5N1
strain identified in 4 farms was identical to the one that killed
thousands of wild birds at Qinghai Lake in western China starting in
2005. The strain was also similar to one found in duck droppings in
South Korea in January 2007. Koichi Otsuki, a professor of veterinary
microbiology at Kyoto Sangyo University, was quoted saying that it
was possible the virus was brought to western Japan by a route that
went through China and the Korean Peninsula. - Mod.AS]
[This not unexpected report fills out the recent findings of infected
falcons being imported into Saudi Arabia and a similar concern over
falcon imports into Kuwait. What part wild falcons play in the
epizootiology of this disease must remain a matter of conjection and
speculation. Logically sick birds are more likely to fall prey to a
falcon than healthy birds and it may be that the chain of infection
stops at that point for wild falcons. - Mod MHJ]:tiphat:
http://tinyurl.com/2mru4n
