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Poultry Surviving Bird Flu Infection May Threaten Human Health
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=afhASkp8W55k&refer=healthcare
By Karima Anjani and Jason Gale
June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu-infected poultry in Indonesia that show no signs of the disease may heighten risks to humans, though more research is needed to establish the cause of their infection, scientists said.
Indonesia has recorded fewer poultry deaths from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza this year than last year, and some fowl in infected backyard coops haven't died from the lethal virus, Musny Suatmodjo, Indonesia's director of animal health, told reporters in Jakarta yesterday.
Scientists are conducting surveys of poultry to gauge the frequency of asymptomatic H5N1 infections, their cause and risks to people. Four of every five human H5N1 cases have been fatal in Indonesia. Of 15 cases confirmed there last month, doctors weren't able to identify the cause of infection in eight of them.
``If there's virus circulation and the animals appear clinically healthy, then it can be a human health risk because people keep on handling those animals'' without being aware of the risks, said Christianne Bruschke, a veterinarian leading an avian influenza project for the World Organization for Animal Health.
Bruschke spoke in an interview yesterday in Jakarta, where she addressed the International Avian Influenza Virus Vaccination Seminar.
Indonesia is under international pressure to control H5N1, which threatens to mutate into a form capable of spreading easily between people, setting off a deadly pandemic.
During the past two years, 99 Indonesians are known to have been infected with the virus, 79 of them fatally. Globally, 190 people have died from H5N1 and a further 121 have survived infection, according to World Health Organization statistics last updated yesterday.
More Infectious?
It's possible that the H5N1 virus is capable of infecting humans more easily than it used to, Bayu Krisnamurthi, chief executive officer of Indonesia's committee on avian and pandemic flu, said last week.
Indonesians should be ``cautious'' when handling poultry because they may be shedding the virus without showing symptoms of disease, Krisnamurthi told reporters yesterday. ``It can't be a general conclusion yet'' and further scientific studies are needed to support the hypothesis, he said.
About 7,000 chickens, quails and other poultry are recorded to have died of H5N1 in Indonesia so far this year, compared with 1.5 million in the whole of 2006, the agriculture ministry's Suatmodjo said.
Fowl Deaths
Fewer recorded poultry deaths from H5N1 could be attributed to many factors, including immunity to the virus and changes in the virus itself, said John Weaver, a senior adviser with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Jakarta.
``At this stage, we haven't got clear evidence that there has been any change'' that has altered the virus's pathogenicity, he said. ``Maybe the public is less inclined to report the disease now because there's no benefit'' in doing so.
Indonesia's vaccination program aimed at controlling poultry outbreaks may also be obscuring infections, said Bruschke of the World Organization for Animal Health.
``If you implement a vaccination program, it's extremely important that you also implement a monitoring program and keep checking whether there's still virus circulation,'' she said.
The Indonesian government allocated 60 million doses of vaccine for poultry this year, enough to protect about a fifth of the 285 million chickens raised in backyards across the country, an archipelago of about 18,000 islands.
To contact the reporters on this story: Karima Anjani in Jakarta at kanjani@bloomberg.net ; Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=afhASkp8W55k&refer=healthcare
By Karima Anjani and Jason Gale
June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu-infected poultry in Indonesia that show no signs of the disease may heighten risks to humans, though more research is needed to establish the cause of their infection, scientists said.
Indonesia has recorded fewer poultry deaths from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza this year than last year, and some fowl in infected backyard coops haven't died from the lethal virus, Musny Suatmodjo, Indonesia's director of animal health, told reporters in Jakarta yesterday.
Scientists are conducting surveys of poultry to gauge the frequency of asymptomatic H5N1 infections, their cause and risks to people. Four of every five human H5N1 cases have been fatal in Indonesia. Of 15 cases confirmed there last month, doctors weren't able to identify the cause of infection in eight of them.
``If there's virus circulation and the animals appear clinically healthy, then it can be a human health risk because people keep on handling those animals'' without being aware of the risks, said Christianne Bruschke, a veterinarian leading an avian influenza project for the World Organization for Animal Health.
Bruschke spoke in an interview yesterday in Jakarta, where she addressed the International Avian Influenza Virus Vaccination Seminar.
Indonesia is under international pressure to control H5N1, which threatens to mutate into a form capable of spreading easily between people, setting off a deadly pandemic.
During the past two years, 99 Indonesians are known to have been infected with the virus, 79 of them fatally. Globally, 190 people have died from H5N1 and a further 121 have survived infection, according to World Health Organization statistics last updated yesterday.
More Infectious?
It's possible that the H5N1 virus is capable of infecting humans more easily than it used to, Bayu Krisnamurthi, chief executive officer of Indonesia's committee on avian and pandemic flu, said last week.
Indonesians should be ``cautious'' when handling poultry because they may be shedding the virus without showing symptoms of disease, Krisnamurthi told reporters yesterday. ``It can't be a general conclusion yet'' and further scientific studies are needed to support the hypothesis, he said.
About 7,000 chickens, quails and other poultry are recorded to have died of H5N1 in Indonesia so far this year, compared with 1.5 million in the whole of 2006, the agriculture ministry's Suatmodjo said.
Fowl Deaths
Fewer recorded poultry deaths from H5N1 could be attributed to many factors, including immunity to the virus and changes in the virus itself, said John Weaver, a senior adviser with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Jakarta.
``At this stage, we haven't got clear evidence that there has been any change'' that has altered the virus's pathogenicity, he said. ``Maybe the public is less inclined to report the disease now because there's no benefit'' in doing so.
Indonesia's vaccination program aimed at controlling poultry outbreaks may also be obscuring infections, said Bruschke of the World Organization for Animal Health.
``If you implement a vaccination program, it's extremely important that you also implement a monitoring program and keep checking whether there's still virus circulation,'' she said.
The Indonesian government allocated 60 million doses of vaccine for poultry this year, enough to protect about a fifth of the 285 million chickens raised in backyards across the country, an archipelago of about 18,000 islands.
To contact the reporters on this story: Karima Anjani in Jakarta at kanjani@bloomberg.net ; Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net