Bird Flu Returns to China and Thailand

[Fidel]

Bird Flu Returns to China and Thailand

 

 

Jul 6, 9:02 PM (ET)

 

By STEPHANIE HOO

 

 

BEIJING (AP) - China and Thailand reported new outbreaks of bird flu, the highly contagious disease that health experts fear could sicken humans.

 

Thailand's Deputy Africulture Minister Newin Chidchob on Wednesday said fresh outbreaks of bird flu were confirmed in two central provinces where thousands of chickens died recently.

 

"The result of lab tests in Ayuthaya and Prathumthani provinces have confirmed the existence of bird flu H5N1 virus," Newin Chidchob said.

 

The outbreak in China was the first report of the avian illness since China declared it had "stamped out" the disease nearly four months ago. Tests at a farm in the southeastern province of Anhui have confirmed chickens died of bird flu, the government said on state-run television.

 

Bird flu has also been confirmed on farms in Vietnam in recent days.

 

Although the newest cases have affected only poultry, health experts have said they fear bird flu might mutate and spread from person to person.

 

At its height earlier this year, the disease ravaged flocks throughout Asia. It also spread to from birds to humans in Vietnam and Thailand, killing 24 people. About 100 million chickens across the region were slaughtered to halt its spread.

 

China declared it had defeated the disease in March after killing 9 million chickens and other poultry. But it warned that the disease might come back with warmer weather.

 

"It's not surprising that it has come back," said Roy Wadia of the World Health Organization in Beijing. "It stays in the environment a long time."

 

The farm, in the city of Chaohu near a lake of the same name, has been quarantined, China Central Television said.

 

Authorities killed all the poultry within two miles of the affected farm and vaccinated poultry within three miles, the report said.

 

It said the outbreak was under control.

 

"I think the experience that China had several months ago has prepared it well," Wadia said.

 

In Hong Kong, which maintains border controls with mainland China, the government said it was suspending live bird and poultry imports from Anhui province.

 

Wadia said the U.N. agency was monitoring China's outbreak as well as other cases in Asia.

[Guest]

The Thai government is trying to cover it up...AGAIN. They got caught...AGAIN.

[elef]

BIRDFLU: Govt confirms new outbreak

 

Published on Jul 7, 2004

 

 

Lab tests positive on Ayutthaya birds, as new scares reported in China, Vietnam

 

Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob conceded yesterday that bird flu has likely resurfaced, after an outbreak devastated the multibillion baht poultry industry early this year.

 

At the same time, outbreaks of the deadly virus have also been reported in eastern China and in Vietnam.

 

?But I think it will not be as serious as the first outbreak,? Newin said, following reports of the avian influenza attacking poultry farms in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani.

 

The results of lab tests on the Ayutthaya chickens confirming the cause of their deaths should be available tomorrow, he said.

 

Only about 7,000 of the 30,000 chickens raised at the large farm had died suddenly, which was strange as the virus could have infected and killed all the chickens at about the same time, he said.

 

Yukol Limlamthong, directorgeneral of the Agriculture Ministry?s Livestock Development Department, said he received the reports about the suspected birdflu case on Saturday and alerted the World Organisation for Animal Health.

 

The governor of Ayutthaya was instructed on Saturday to investigate the reports, as he has the authority to order a mass culling of all fowl within five kilometres of the farm, Yukol said.

 

Breeder Veera Sriprasong said the authorities waited too long to check whether the birds on his Somkid chicken farm in Ayutthaya?s Phak Hai district had died of avian flu.

 

?Since my report about suspicious chicken deaths, it took 13 days for the authorities to come back to demand the slaughter of all my remaining chickens. During that time about 600 of them died every day. I want to ask who will be responsible for their deaths. The authorities promise to give financial help for culled fowls only,? Veera said.

 

Pathum Thani livestock chief Samkan Thammarat confirmed new birdflu cases in Muang district. More than 100 chickens had died gradually over the past month at a farm in Tambon Bangkadi, he said.

 

?We sent samples of some dead birds for lab tests, which took one week to conclude that they died of bird flu,? Samkan said, adding that all 850 chickens at the farm would be killed.

 

Governor Wichit Wichaisarn said he already received reports of the birdflu infections in his province and had instructed livestock officials to check closely on Tambon Bangkadi to ensure that the fatal disease would not spread further.

 

So far, no human infections have been reported.

 

The country?s frozen chicken exports will definitely take a hit, if the bird flu reemerges, the association of chicken breeders warned.

 

Chaweewan Kampha, president of the association and an executive with CF Farm Co, said this bad news comes when chicken exports have not yet fully recovered.

 

?Recently, the European Union extended its ban on imports of raw chicken meat from August 15 to December 15. It could review this in the face of fresh poultry deaths,? she said.

 

Breeders have reduced their production capacity by half as demand has dropped as low as 11 million carcasses a week, from 22 million prior to the bird flu epidemic early this year.

 

The EU still allows cooked chicken imports from Thailand.

 

The ban on raw chicken meat imports was first imposed in late January after the Thai government confirmed the presence of bird flu in the country.

 

However, Newin said he did not believe the recurrence of bird flu in Ayutthaya would hurt the country?s poultry exports, as the outbreak was in a very limited area and the situation was under control.

 

The last documented case of H5N1 was the dead chickens found on a university research farm in the northern city of Chiang Mai in May.

 

The government declared on May 14 that it was all but certain that the country was free of the disease.

 

Vietnam last week issued an emergency directive urging local governments to prevent a major bird flu epidemic in the wake of new outbreaks in the Mekong Delta.

 

China yesterday confirmed a fresh outbreak of bird flu. Dead chickens were found on a farm in Anhui province on Saturday, and tests have since confirmed that they died of bird flu, the government said on staterun television.

 

Since the farm is in an isolated area and the birds were hatched locally, agriculture experts believe the disease was brought to the area by migrating birds, the report said.

 

 

 

The Nation

[elef]

Rebuke over new birdflu coverup

 

Agriculture Ministry permanent secretary Banpot Hongthong yesterday attacked the Livestock Department for covering up the second round of bird flu that hit Ayuthaya 10 days ago.

 

Banpot said he did not understand why the Livestock Department had not reported to him since June 23, when a lab test detected avian influenza in chicken droppings on the farm of Veera Sripramong in Ayuthaya?s Pakhai District. He said he received the report on the second round of avian flu in Ayuthaya from Livestock Department directorgeneral Yukol Limlamthong on July 5.

 

?The directorgeneral did not report [earlier] to me. Otherwise I would have drawn up steps to stop the spread. If there is another epidemic, exports will be hit. I do not understand why [Yukol] had to conceal anything. I have already reprimanded him,?? he said.

 

The Livestock Department ordered Somkid to cull all his chicken within 24 hours. The department also collected droppings from all chicken farms within a fivekilometre radius for testing.

 

The department also banned the movement of chickens at Lop Buri checkpoint. A fact finding panel is probing Somkid?s farming records, to determine where he bought and sold his poultry and what vaccinations he gave his chickens.

 

As of July 2, 407,338 chicken farmers have requested compensation to the tune of Bt1.9 billion as a result of the 60 million chickens killed during the bird flu scare. Up to 180,000 farmers have been given compensation totalling Bt1 billion.

 

The Nation

[MaiLuk]

>>Since the farm is in an isolated area and the birds were hatched locally, agriculture experts believe the disease was brought to the area by migrating birds, the report said.<<

 

At the risk of exposing myself as an ignorant city dweller, do chickens migrate?

 

Wonder if people will be scared off of visiting asia again or will they not take it so seriously this time.

[Guest]

They only cross the road.

[Yehtmae]

Big_Kahuna said:

They only cross the road.

 

Why?