//02 Sep 2011
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) have downplayed the significance of a new H5N1 avian influenza variant that the FAO warned about this week.
In an Aug 29 statement, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said a new H5N1 strain called clade 2.3.2.1 had emerged recently in Vietnam and China and that existing poultry vaccines were ineffective against it. The statement also cited recent increases in H5N1 bird outbreaks and warned about a possible major resurgence of the virus.
The WHO said that its Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System recognised the H5N1 variant in February. "Based on available information, this evolution of the H5N1 virus poses no increased risk to public health," the WHO statement said. "It is not considered unusual because influenza viruses are constantly evolving, especially in areas where they circulate regularly in poultry."
The OIE made similar points stating that the emergence of clade 2.3.2.1 is a result of minor genetic changes that typify the natural evolution of the virus.
"This is not immediate cause for alert but, as with the emergence of any new strain, reinforces the need for sustained monitoring of viruses in animal populations so that changes in viruses circulating in the field are detected at an earliest stage and that most appropriate disease control strategies are chosen to best protect animal and public health, the OIE said.
The agency also commented that avian flu vaccines, like human flu vaccines, need to be tested regularly to see if they are effective against the viruses in circulation. The OIE reference laboratory in Harbin, China, has developed a vaccine that, in trials, has protected poultry from clade 2.3.2.1, the statement said. Once available for field use, the vaccine will be employed in countries where the new variant has been identified.
"Registration and manufacturing of a poultry vaccine with the new seed strain is in progress," the OIE said.
Source: Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy CIDRAP
Related websites:
World Health Organization (WHO)
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)
Showing posts with label H5N1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label H5N1. Show all posts
05 September 2011
20 April 2011
FAO: Eliminating H5N1 will take more than 10 years
//18 Apr 2011
Because of deep-rooted barriers, there is little chance that H5N1 avian influenza can be expelled within the next 10 years from the six countries where it remains entrenched, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says in a new report.
Most of the 60-plus countries that reported H5N1 in 2006 have eliminated it since then, but it remains endemic in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, and Egypt, notes the report, titled "Approaches to Controlling, Preventing and Eliminating H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Endemic Countries."
The FAO says the elimination effort faces three major obstacles in these countries: the structure of the poultry industry, the quality of veterinary and animal production services, and the level of commitment by all sectors.
Further, the report says "there is no guarantee that the current incremental approach will eliminate H5N1 HPAI." The goal may require innovative measures such as new, easily deliverable poultry vaccines and genetic manipulation of poultry to make them resistant to the virus.
As long as H5N1 outbreaks continue, so will the risk of the virus evolving into a human pandemic strain, the report notes. Several of the H5N1-endemic countries have had human H5N1 cases this year, with Egypt leading the list with 22 confirmed cases so far.
[Source: CIDRAP]
Because of deep-rooted barriers, there is little chance that H5N1 avian influenza can be expelled within the next 10 years from the six countries where it remains entrenched, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says in a new report.
Most of the 60-plus countries that reported H5N1 in 2006 have eliminated it since then, but it remains endemic in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, and Egypt, notes the report, titled "Approaches to Controlling, Preventing and Eliminating H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Endemic Countries."
The FAO says the elimination effort faces three major obstacles in these countries: the structure of the poultry industry, the quality of veterinary and animal production services, and the level of commitment by all sectors.
Further, the report says "there is no guarantee that the current incremental approach will eliminate H5N1 HPAI." The goal may require innovative measures such as new, easily deliverable poultry vaccines and genetic manipulation of poultry to make them resistant to the virus.
As long as H5N1 outbreaks continue, so will the risk of the virus evolving into a human pandemic strain, the report notes. Several of the H5N1-endemic countries have had human H5N1 cases this year, with Egypt leading the list with 22 confirmed cases so far.
[Source: CIDRAP]
14 March 2011
H5N1 virus detected on major poultry farm in India
//14 Mar 2011
On a major breeding farm in Ghandigam, India, the bird flu virus H5N1 has been detected. All the animals on the farm in addition to all the birds in a radius of 6 miles have been culled.
The farm has a capacity of 4,000 layer birds. When 380 chickens on the farms died, laboratory tests reveiled that the animals died from the H5N1 virus.
In 2006, H5N1 was first detected in India. No human infections have been reported since then.
On a major breeding farm in Ghandigam, India, the bird flu virus H5N1 has been detected. All the animals on the farm in addition to all the birds in a radius of 6 miles have been culled.
The farm has a capacity of 4,000 layer birds. When 380 chickens on the farms died, laboratory tests reveiled that the animals died from the H5N1 virus.
In 2006, H5N1 was first detected in India. No human infections have been reported since then.
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