Avian Influenza Situation Updates: Archive

Last updated December 19, 2005

• Human Cases: Numbers at a Glance
• New News
• New USAID Actions
• Upcoming Actions

Human Cases: Numbers at a Glance

New News

• New suspected poultry outbreaks in Romania: Suspected outbreaks of H5N1 in poultry spread to an additional village in Romania, bringing the number of villages affected to 21. Officials warned that migratory birds could be carrying the virus farther south toward neighboring Bulgaria.
  
  
• China reports sixth human case of H5N1: A 35-year-old man in Jiangxi Province of eastern China tested positive for H5N1 on December 15, becoming the country’s sixth confirmed human infection with the deadly strain of bird flu. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson in Beijing, the H5N1 is now largely entrenched in the environment in China, which is home to the world’s largest poultry population.
  
  
• Indonesia confirms ninth human bird flu fatality: Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari announced Indonesia’s ninth human fatality from H5N1 avian influenza (AI), following test results from a 35-year-old West Jakarta man who died late last month. A 25-year-old woman who died on November 29 was also confirmed to have been infected with H5N1, and Ministry of Health officials said they also investigated the possibility that several members of a family in West Java were infected by the virus. Health experts are closely watching possible clusters of cases within families or neighborhoods for signs of human-to-human virus transmission.
  
  
• North Africa gears up for bird flu threat: Morocco and neighboring Algeria have drawn up plans to combat the spread of deadly bird flu among bird populations that experts believe could arrive in North Africa within months. The main threat is seen as coming early next year, when migratory birds return from other parts of the continent.
  
  
• Ukraine records first bird flu outbreak: On December 15, a Russian laboratory detected H5N1 in Ukrainian poultry samples. Two days later, Ukraine announced that samples tested in England confirmed those preliminary results. A state of emergency has been declared in four Crimean villages where more than 1,600 chickens and geese have died of the disease. Dead birds found over the past two months in the Black Sea peninsula tested positive for the H5 subtype, officials said. Subsequent testing to determine if the virus is H5N1 is ongoing.
  
  
• North Korea increases AI reporting: A steady stream of reports issued by North Korea on preparations to combat bird flu is raising concerns about a possible new outbreak of the disease. North Korea had an outbreak of the H7 avian flu virus earlier this year. In the past month, North Korea's official KCNA news agency has made five statements about the country’s effort to prevent bird flu and has also covered the subject on state TV and radio.
  

New USAID Actions

• USAID supporting early surveillance, communications to prevent H5N1 in Ethiopia: USAID has reprogrammed $600,000 from existing surveillance funds for Ethiopia, one of the countries along the Great Rift Valley that is at greatest risk of AI due to the large numbers of migratory birds that are likely to arrive in the coming weeks or months. The funds will help provide technical assistance to the ministries of agriculture and health, develop laboratory and communications capacity, and procure personal protective equipment for first responders. USAID provided $15,000 in emergency funding to analyze samples to test dead pigeons found in Addis Ababa and the Eastern Somali region for H5N1 infection. The samples, which were negative for H5N1, were tested with support from the U.S. Navy Medical Research Unit in Cairo.
  
  
• USAID finalizing plans to bolster bird flu response in Ukraine, Romania: USAID plans to provide $251,000 in Ukraine and $500,000 in Romania to support a rapid response to recent H5N1 outbreaks. The funding, which has been reprogrammed from other activities, will support communications campaigns to reduce the risk of human exposure to infected animals and provide technical assistance and training to animal health workers.
  
  
• USAID intensifies communications campaign in Southeast Asia to prepare for flu season: In partnership with the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Veterinarians Without Borders, USAID is providing training in December 2005 for 5,000 private and public veterinarians and local “paravets” (trained community volunteers) who serve more than a million clients in 10 high-risk provinces in Vietnam. In Cambodia, USAID is sponsoring training for government officials, animal and human health authorities, and journalists, and is working with the government to help develop key messages designed to reduce behaviors that facilitate the spread of H5N1. By January, community-based communications activities, including village-level demonstrations on prevention and containment, will be under way in 10 high-risk provinces in Vietnam and six in Cambodia.
  
  
• Workshop aims to mobilize community to prevent spread of H5N1: In Hay Tay, Vietnam, local community leaders and information officers attended a USAID-supported training workshop where they learned strategies for effectively communicating information about AI to public audiences. With the presence and opening declaration of Vice Minister Do Quy Doan – who was not originally confirmed to attend – the training workshop received the highest approval and support from the Vietnamese government for AI communications activities.
  
  
• Tanzania takes aggressive measures to stem potential bird flu cases: Tanzania’s Ministry of Health has alerted all district medical officers to collaborate closely with local council authorities and involve wildlife and veterinary experts in AI awareness raising and advocacy. The Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority has recommended and is enforcing a ban on importation of poultry and poultry products from affected countries. In addition, with support from USAID and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), veterinary and wildlife groups are collecting specimens from migratory birds for laboratory examination.
  
  
• Guatemala, Bolivia prepare to cope with potential AI pandemic: With USAID assistance, Guatemala’s ministries of health and agriculture held a joint workshop to present the first draft of the country’s “National Avian Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan.” USAID health personnel were featured on an early morning radio talk show to discuss and raise public AI awareness. In Bolivia, USAID officials participated in a coordination meeting to exchange ideas with partners and explore ways to plan and implement a common approach to a potential pandemic. A plan will be developed to raise awareness and propose a joint response.
  

Upcoming Actions

• Japan, WHO to host meeting to discuss early response strategies to prevent a pandemic: On January 12-13, USAID will accompany a U.S. delegation to Tokyo, where bilateral and multilateral partners will work to develop detailed plans for deploying national and international stockpiles of antiviral drugs and other health commodities to support emergency outbreak containment.