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Taiwan: Top official resigns over H5N2 scandal

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: Bird-Flu, Poultry, Poultry Disease, Taiwan

COVER-UP? A journalist said he sent a dead chicken to authorities on Dec. 25 that he suspected had died of H5N2, but officials told him the virus wasn’t highly pathogenic

By Lee I-chia / Staff Reporter

(Taipei Times) Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine director Hsu Tien-lai (許天來) resigned yesterday amid allegations he covered up a bird flu outbreak, a day after authorities announced they had culled thousands of chickens.

The Council of Agriculture yesterday said Hsu’s resignation had been approved and that his case has been sent to the Control Yuan for investigation.

The council held an emergency press conference on Saturday to announce that specialists had confirmed strains of the H5N2 avian influenza virus in Changhua County and Greater Tainan were highly pathogenic and that 57,500 chickens had been culled to prevent the virus from spreading.

Hsu said the chickens from the reported sites had all been culled and sanitizing measures had been completed within a 3km perimeter around the sites.

Yang Wen-yuan (楊文淵), a division director at the bureau, said in addition to the two cases in Changhua and Tainan, another case of H5N2 had been reported in Changhua as well as two in Nantou County, but so far on-site investigations had not revealed signs of exceptional clinical symptoms.

Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Wang Cheng-teng (王政騰) reiterated that it has been scientifically proven that H5N2 only inflects birds and does not affect humans.

Wang said export losses for egg products was estimated at between NT$500 million (US$17 million) and NT$700 million.

A new director of the bureau has not yet been chosen, Wang said.

According to Kevin H. J. Lee (李惠仁), a freelance journalist who spent more than six years investigating avian influenza in Taiwan and directed a documentary entitled A Secret That Can’t Be Exposed (不能戳的秘密), the council concealed the truth about the virus.

Lee began his investigation after a mass outbreak of avian influenza in Changhua in 2004, filming in chicken coops across the country and even dissecting dead chickens to procure tissue samples for testing.

On Dec. 25 last year, Lee sent a dead chicken that he suspected was infected with H5N2 avian influenza, along with the location of the farm in Changhua County, to the bureau, but the bureau responded by saying that the virus was not highly pathogenic.

“In the process of my investigation, I discovered the situation is very different to what the council tells us. I discovered that the council has lied about the whole thing since 2004,” Lee said.

“After analyzing the sampled genes, it was concluded that the avian influenza found is an endemic avian influenza viral strain,” Hsu said on Saturday. “The first case was found in Changhua on Dec. 27 and it has been dealt with this morning. It was only yesterday [Friday] that the case was determined to be highly pathogenic.”

Responding to questions from the media on why the bureau initially denied Lee’s claim, but now says the virus is highly pathogenic, Hsu said clinical and laboratory results lead to different conclusions — it had a low clinical death rate, but genetic testing showed signs that it was highly pathogenic according to the intravenous pathogenicity index method described by the World Organization for Animal Health.

Huang Li-min (黃立民), a pediatrician at National Taiwan University Hospital, said the virus might have existed for quite some time in Taiwan and that if people had frequent contact with the birds, there was a possibility of infection.

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South African ostrich industry hit hard by HPAI

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: Bird-Flu, Game Animals and Bird, Ostrich, Poultry, Poultry Farms, South Africa, Urdu

A strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza is devastating the South African commercial ostrich industry with 41,000 birds already been reported culled.

Officials say the H5N2 virus, which was first detected in the Western Cape Province last April, does not pose a threat to humans but could mutate and affect poultry.

African authorities have imposed an exports suspension of ostrich products and banned restocking until the entire region is declared virus-free. Officials say farmers whose animals were culled have received compensation of 50 million rand ($6.5 million) but warn that the impact on the industry, which accounts for up to 80% of the world's ostrich products, is still severe.

"The industry estimates that it is losing more than 100 million rand ($13 million) per month which is very serious," says Wouter Kriel, the spokesman for the Western Cape Provincial Department of Agriculture. "The situation cannot continue indefinitely and we very urgently need to try and get the industry back on its feet again".

South Africa is the global leader in ostrich farming. Its industry exports 90% of its output, generates about 1.2 billion rand ($155 million) a year and provides thousands of direct job opportunities.

Anton Kruger, head of the South African Ostrich Business Chamber, the business body representing the industry, says that meat-exporting farms that were spared the virus are also suffering the strain, hit by the European Union import ban on all ostrich meat from the area.

Last month, authorities announced that the seventh round of surveillance for the H5N2 virus were negative. If the next round of tests also yields negative results, then the government can deem the outbreak to be over - it is only then that South Africa can apply to the European Union, their biggest importer of ostrich meat, to lift their ban and farmers can start restocking.

But Kruger says even if the ban is lifted "it will take at least three years for the industry to recover," affecting the livelihood of the area's farmers.

Source: CNN / OIE

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Bird flu: Poultry farms face Rs 200 crore loss

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: Bird-Flu, Financial Loss, India

BHUBANESWAR: A month after bird flu was first detected in the state on January 8, it is feared thousands of poultry farms in the state would down shutters for ever.

"In areas where the fowls were culled, farmers are getting compensation for their damage. But those outside the 3-km radius of the three epicentres are facing a tougher time. Prices have nosedived and there is restriction on the transport of poultry. There are at least 3,000 farms that can't survive these market conditions," said Odisha Poultry Farmers Association president P K Rout on Tuesday.

"Start-up farms who had taken loans are doomed," he said.

While the price of chicken has come down to one-fourth, eggs have become cheaper by Re 1. Normally, per day business of poultry meat is worth around Rs 7 crore, with Odisha producing 36 lakh eggs every day. The sale now is estimated to be around less than Rs 3 crore a day, Rout said.

In a desperate attempt to sell meat, the farms are organizing free sale of chicken dishes in cities. "But it is difficult to restore people's faith. It will take at least a month after the last case is detected for the sale to normalize. If fresh cases pour in, the trouble will worsen," Rout said.

Animal husbandry department director Benudhar Dash said actual assessment of financial loss beyond the 3-km radius of the epicentres can't be made yet, but conceded the damage will be very high. "Many farmers may be unable to transport the products to sell," he said.

The avian flu was first detected in Keranga area of Khurda district, followed by Betanati in Mayurbhanj. It was confirmed in Bhubaneswar-based Central Poultry Development Organization (CPDO) farm on Friday.

While culling continued for the third day in Bhubaneswar, the government sent fresh samples from Angul and Jagatsinghpur districts to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) at Bhopal. Dash said after detection of flu in the sophisticated CPDO farm inside Bhubaneswar, the government is taking no chances. "We have sent fresh samples from Jagatsinghpur and Angul. The results are awaited," he said.

Poultry industry in Odisha has an estimated turnover of Rs 2,500 crore. There are around 12,000 farms employing 70,000 people directly and over 50,000 indirectly, Rout said. Besides in-house consumption, poultry products from the state are transported to Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Angul, Bhadrak, Balasore, Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts have high concentration of poultry farms.

Times of India

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Poultry exports hit after flu outbreak in Odhisa, Meghalaya

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: Animal Disease, Bird-Flu, Export, India, Poultry

(Economic Times) Poultry companies are exercising caution with the outbreak of bird flu in parts of Odisha and Meghalaya, though they think it could be temporary and may not spread to other regions. But egg exporters aren't lucky thanks to an export ban in place for the next six months.

Bird cull which began in the two states is expected to carry on for a few days. The two states have put a quarantine procedure in place.

Coimbatore-based Suguna Poultry, which has a market share of 15% in the Rs 600-crore poultry industry of Odisha, is watching the situation. Sales have not been impacted yet. "Our business is concentrated in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, where the flu has not spread so far," said B Soundararajan, managing director of Suguna Poultry Farms.

Its supply to Meghalaya from its unit in Assam too hasn't been affected. Suguna is India's largest broiler chicken producer with about 70 lakh birds and claims to be the world's 10th biggest.

Andhra Pradesh, a major supplier of poultry products to Odisha, has seen a slowdown in sales. "We sell about 3 lakh hatching eggs and chicks to Odisha. This has been hit," said Ram Reddy, president of Andhra Pradesh Poultry Breeders Association.

Venkateshwara Hatcheries, which has a good presence in the Northeastern states, has stopped supplies as a precautionary measure. "We sell around 40,000 eggs a day to parts of the Northeast, of which Meghalaya accounts for around 15%. At the outbreak of the bird flu, we have stopped our supplies for the time being," said T Venkateshwara Rao, a director with the company.

The regions bordering Bangladesh have been susceptible to avian flu. "In the past seven months, poultry exports from India have been banned due to the outbreak of bird flu in West Bengal and the Northeast. We were just receiving export orders from Middle East countries when the Indian government confirmed bird flu. Exports will not be allowed now," said Poultry Federation of India president Satish Pal.

India export poultry products to the Middle East and Saarc countries from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

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Poultry exports hit after flu outbreak in Odhisa, Meghalaya

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: Animal Disease, Bird-Flu, Export, India, Poultry

Bird cull which began in the two states is expected to carry on for a few days. The two states have put a quarantine procedure in place.

Its supply to Meghalaya from its unit in Assam too hasn't been affected. Suguna is India's largest broiler chicken producer with about 70 lakh birds and claims to be the world's 10th biggest.

India export poultry products to the Middle East and Saarc countries from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

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Taiwan reports first H5N2 bird flu of 2012 at Changhua poultry farm

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: Animal Disease, Bird-Flu, Poultry, Taiwan

(China Post) The China Post news staff--Taiwan has reported its first H5N2 bird flu case this year after test results confirmed that chickens at a poultry farm in Changhua County were infected with the virus.

Despite the infection, the farm has not logged unusual death rates, contrary to rumors that a large number of its chickens have died, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) said.

But the farm has already been put under quarantine, and banned from transporting its chickens outside. Its eggs, however, are still allowed to be sent to the market after pasteurization, the bureau said.

The BAPHIQ started investigating the case after being alerted to the virus situation at the farm on Dec. 27.

It inspected the farm daily, and twice collected samples — on Dec. 30 and Jan. 4 respectively. The samples tested positive of the H5N2 virus, results released yesterday showed.

But the chickens of the farm have not shown any obvious pathological symptoms, the BAPHIQ said.

The BAPHIQ said that as of Jan. 6, it had completed the inspection of 115 poultry farms in the area, and no unusual deaths had been detected. It added it will continue monitoring the situation in the area.

All quarantine measures will continue to be in place until the all safety concerns are cleared, the bureau said.

According to figures from the nation's chicken farm association, the supply of eggs has remained normal in the past three months, totaling 25 million.

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Taiwan reports first H5N2 bird flu of 2012 at Changhua poultry farm

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: Animal Disease, Bird-Flu, Poultry, Taiwan

The BAPHIQ started investigating the case after being alerted to the virus situation at the farm on Dec. 27.

It inspected the farm daily, and twice collected samples — on Dec. 30 and Jan. 4 respectively. The samples tested positive of the H5N2 virus, results released yesterday showed.

But the chickens of the farm have not shown any obvious pathological symptoms, the BAPHIQ said.

All quarantine measures will continue to be in place until the all safety concerns are cleared, the bureau said.

According to figures from the nation's chicken farm association, the supply of eggs has remained normal in the past three months, totaling 25 million.

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Hong Kong Bans Some Poultry Imports After China Avian Flu Death

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: Bird-Flu, China

(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong suspended poultry imports from the area in southern China where a man died from the H5N1 bird flu virus, according to a statement posted today on the region’s Centre For Food Safety website.

The import of live, chilled and frozen poultry along with eggs from the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where the man died, will be suspended for 21 days, according to the statement.

The ban covers a 13-kilometer (8-mile) radius around the man’s home, it said.

Hong Kong began culling more than 17,000 birds last month after the bird flu virus was found in a chicken carcass at a local wholesale market.

Avian flu is a serious public health concern with the potential to cause a deadly pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Since 2003, more than 500 people have been infected with the H5N1 strain worldwide and about 60 percent have died, according to the Atlanta-based agency.

--Editors: Paul Tighe, Nicholas Wadhams

To contact the reporter on this story: Wendy Mock in Hong Kong at wmock3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net

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Hong Kong Bans Some Poultry Imports After China Avian Flu Death

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: Bird-Flu, China

The import of live, chilled and frozen poultry along with eggs from the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where the man died, will be suspended for 21 days, according to the statement.

The ban covers a 13-kilometer (8-mile) radius around the man’s home, it said.

Hong Kong began culling more than 17,000 birds last month after the bird flu virus was found in a chicken carcass at a local wholesale market.

--Editors: Paul Tighe, Nicholas Wadhams

To contact the reporter on this story: Wendy Mock in Hong Kong at wmock3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net

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China bird flu victim dies in Shenzhen city

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: Bird-Flu, China, WHO

A man who had been diagnosed with China's first case of bird flu in more than a year has died in the southern city of Shenzhen, health officials say.

The 39-year-old bus driver was admitted to hospital with pneumonia but tested positive for the bird flu virus.

The H5N1 bird flu strain has a high level of mortality, killing up to 60% of humans infected with it.

Positive tests on a dead market chicken last week prompted nearby Hong Kong's government to issue an alert.

Hong Kong authorities culled 17,000 chickens after three birds were found to have died from the H5N1 bird flu strain.

It also banned imports and the sale of live chickens for three weeks after the infected chicken carcass was found at a wholesale market.

But it was not clear whether the chicken came from a local farm or was imported.

The Shenzhen victim had not been in contact with poultry, nor travelled recently, China's Ministry of Health told Hong Kong health authorities.

In November 2010, a 59-year-old woman was isolated in Hong Kong with bird flu but survived.

In October 2011 a 29-year-old woman confirmed to have contracted the virus died on the Indonesian island of Bali.

The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 332 people since 2003.

The virus has been eliminated from most of the 63 countries infected at its 2006 peak, which saw 4,000 outbreaks across the globe, but remains endemic in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

China's Ministry of Agriculture warned last month that the bird flu virus seemed to exist widely in the poultry markets of mainland China, particularly in the south.

Research fears

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has expressed deep concern about the way research was being carried out on the H5N1 virus, which can be fatal if transmitted to humans.

Such work carried significant risks and must be tightly controlled, said the WHO.

Scientists in the Netherlands and the US said last week they had discovered ways in which the virus might mutate so it can spread more easily to - and between - humans and other mammals.

The US government has asked the scientists not to publish full details, in case the information is used to produce a biological weapon.