Hong Kong schools close early amid flu fears

"Hong Kong officials gave kindergarten and primary school kids an early break for the Easter holiday in the midst of a widespread flu outbreak. Health Secretary York Chow made the decision late Wednesday to call off classes for two weeks, through March 28.

'All primary schools, special schools and kindergartens and child care centers will be closed in the hope of slowing down the spreading of flu and provide a chance for schools to clean up and make a better environment,' Chow said.

The government has ordered an investigation as three children have died in the last week of the outbreak. One of them was seven-year-old Law Ho-Ming, who was admitted over the weekend with flu-like symptoms. He died on Tuesday. Officials say five of his classmates are sick and hospitalized, while 30 others are displaying similar flu-like symptoms. By imposing the two-week break from school, health authorities are hoping to slow the spread of influenza.

'The decision was made due to a rising trend of flu infections within the community,' Chow said. 'We estimate this peak season of influenza will continue for a few weeks.'

Hong Kong is putting into action a plan devised after a deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) five years ago. The flu-like illness killed 299 people between February and May of 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

Chow said the current outbreak doesn't appear to be anything more than a normal flu virus. Still, parents, teachers and children are taking extra precautions to keep the virus from spreading and many can be seen wearing surgical masks for protection. Health officials hope that by keeping hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong school kids apart for a couple weeks they can break the infection cycle."

Full Story here: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/13/hk.flu/

New cases in Egypt

"Health authorities in Egypt announced last week that another child has been hospitalized with the H5N1 avian virus, the country's second case in a child in less than a week.
The 8-year-old boy from the Fayoum district about 85 km's south of Cairo, was hospitalized in Cairo last week after becoming sick with a fever and experiencing breathing difficulties and pulmonary inflammation.
His case which has yet to be confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO), will take the number of cases in Egypt to 47.
Health officials say the boy is receiving oseltamivir (Tamiflu).
Earlier this month (March 4th) a 25-year-old woman, also from Fayoum governorate, died of an H5N1 infection but health officials say there appears to be no connection between the boy and the woman.
Egypt has reported four H5N1 cases in the last two weeks including the one fatality.
There have been no reports so far on how the boy may have picked up the bird flu virus and most cases to date in Egypt have been in women or girls, who are the primary caretakers of poultry, however the last two infections have been in boys and infected poultry could be the culprit."

Full story available here: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=36071

3rd H5N1 Death in China

A 44-year-old woman named Zhang was the third victim of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza in China this year. The migrant worker fell sick on February 16th and was admitted to the hospital on February 22nd for her flu-like sypmtoms. Despite treatment, her condition continued to deteriorate and she died on February 25th in south China's Guangdong Province. Her death was confirmed by the Chinese Ministry of Health last Tuesday, February 26th as a reuslt of H5N1 infection. China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention had confirmed tests for H5N1 and it was found that Zhang had had contact with infected poultry that had died from the disease.
Story retreived from: http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/h5n1/

Violence greets culling team in West Bengal

On Tuesday morning, a 10-member team of the Animal Resources Development department were attacked by angry farmers in West Bengal's bird flu hit Murshidabad district where they were to begin culling poultry suspected of having H5N1. Culling has been taking place in the District since February 22.

Angry villagers injured five of the team members after blocking them from culling poultry in the quarantine area. The district minister said the team was accompanied by two homeguards, but they fled the scene when the attack began. "Five of the injured were taken to the primary health centre where they were discharged after first aid," the District Minister said Tuesday.

After two weeks of continuous culling, 700,000 birds set to be culled remain. Culling in the area has been suspended but is expected to start again on Friday, February 29.

Full Story via H5N1 blog: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata/Culling_team_members_beaten_up_five_injured_in_Murshidabad/articleshow/2817332.cms

CARE Laos Press Release: National Hotline Launch

National Avian Influenza Hotline launched

The National Avian Influenza (AI) Hotline was officially launched on Monday 18th February, 2008 by Dr Bounlay Phommasack, Director of the National Avian and Human Influenza Coordination Office. The ceremony was attended by AI stakeholders in Laos including representatives from ……………………

The AI hotline aims to provide a national service for the public of the Lao PDR to receive information regarding avian influenza, or to make reports on suspected cases of avian influenza. The hotline has been developed in partnership with the National Avian and Human Influenza Coordination Office (NAHICO), the United Nations Avian and Human Influenza Coordination Office (UNAHI), the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and CARE, and is funded through US-CDC. UNICEF, the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and FAO, have provided significant support to the promotion of the hotline, which is essential to ensuring its success.

To access the hotline, callers dial ‘166’, which is a free call number. Calls are answered by call operators trained to answer a wide variety of questions regarding avian influenza. If a caller is using the hotline to make a report regarding suspected avian influenza in poultry or humans, then the call operator will take the details and refer the report to the appropriate government agency, which will then follow up with appropriate representatives at the provincial or district level for further investigation.

Although in its early days, the hotline has already proven successful. On 5 February, 2008, a call was made to the hotline reporting that 500 poultry and 2 pigs had died in Long District, Luangnamtha Province. This report was followed closely by animal health authorities and, following testing, on 11 February, 2008, NAHICO confirmed a new outbreak of AI in poultry in Luangnamtha Province. ‘We are glad to have had this hotline in place as it enabled quick and direct reporting of this recent outbreak’, said Ms Monica Spedding, CARE AI Projects Coordinator.

Early reporting is critical in the control of Avian Influenza. If reporting is carried out in a timely fashion, authorities are better able to control the spread of the disease. Through the AI hotline, common obstacles to reporting such as fuel and telephone call costs, and time factors are removed.

To reach the cost free hotline, dial ‘166’ from any landline or mobile telephone. It is open from 7am – 6pm, Monday to Friday.

China Reports 2nd H5N1 Fatality in a month

"A man died of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain in southern China in the second confirmed case in a month, China's Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

The 41 year-old resident of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region developed bird flu symptoms on February 12 and died on February 20, two days after being admitted to a local hospital. He became the 18th H5N1 fatality on the country's record.

On January 24, the virus killed a 22 year-old resident of the central Hunan Province.

In both deaths, the source of infection has yet to be established."

Full story here: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080221/99808646.html

Vietnam Officials: More H5N1 infections expected

After two H5N1 deaths, which were related to the H5N1 outbreaks in four provinces last week, Vietnamese health officials warn that more infections and possibly deaths are expected over the next few weeks. Causing particular alarm is that all three deaths in 2008 have been from provinces with no previous H5N1 infections.

The National Institute for Infectious and Tropical Diseases and the Central Pediatrics Hospital in Hanoi have received an unreported number of patients with H5N1-like symptoms, including high temperatures and respiratory problems.

Clinical tests at the Central Pediatrics Hospital have been negative for H5N1, but patients are still under close watch. The National Institute has not yet reported clinical results for their patients.

Full Story: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2008/02/769544/