Four Asian, Latin American nations report new avian flu cases

Over the past 2 weeks, Mexico, Taiwan and Vietnam have recorded new cases of the highly pathogenic form of the disease in poultry. A milder variant has been detected in two more turkey flocks in Chile.

(sharafmaksumov | Bigstock)
(sharafmaksumov | Bigstock)

An H7N3 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus was detected in 6 more poultry flocks in central Mexico, in the state of Jalisco. These outbreaks bring the country’s total since April of this year to 30, with more than 1.03 million birds lost through mortality or culling.

According to the official report from the Mexican animal health agency, Senasica, to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the outbreaks occurred September 18-25. Almost 4,800 poultry were involved in total, all in flocks described as “backyard,” and ranging in size from 318 to 1,855 birds. All registered elevated mortality and clinical symptoms. One of the outbreaks was in Encarnacion de Diaz, while the rest were all in Lagos de Moreno. These municipalities are in the Altos Norte region in the north-east of Jalisco.

There is a low prevalence of the H7N3 virus in Jalisco, according to Senasica, and vaccination is permitted with prior authorization from the agency.

Taiwan reports detection of 2 HPAI virus variants in poultry

In its long-running battle against the H5N2 HPAI virus, Taiwan has reported one new outbreak to the OIE. This started on September 28, according to the Council of Agriculture report to the OIE. Almost 1,000 native chickens died out of a flock of more than 35,000 near the city of Taixi in Yunlin. The remaining birds were destroyed. It was the 40th outbreak linked to this virus variant in the county so far this year.

On the same date, a second outbreak of HPAI linked to the H5N5 virus subtype was detected in Taiwan. This affected another flock native chickens, and led to the mortality of 775 out of the almost 19,000 birds in Pingtung county. The rest of the flock was also destroyed.

A previous outbreak linked to the H5N5 virus was just a few days earlier in meat ducks in the neighboring area of Kaohsiung city. Cases in that flock had been detected as the result of active surveillance.

In recent news, more than 1,450 chicken carcasses have been destroyed at a slaughterhouse after the H5N2 HPAI virus was detected. The birds had been reared on a farm in Chiayi county, according to Focus Taiwan. An abnormal level of mortality was observed at the premises in the Bade district of Taoyuan city. Following the discovery, the frozen carcasses were destroyed, and the surrounding area was disinfected.

This was the first time in 2019 that HPAI had been detected in Taoyuan. More than 8,800 birds have been culled or destroyed as the result of 16 detections of HPAI viruses at all Taiwanese slaughterhouses so far this year.

Vietnam reports HPAI near Cambodia, Laos border

Two months after the last reported outbreak, Vietnam’s agriculture ministry has informed OIE about more cases of HPAI linked to the H5N6 virus variant.

Latest to be affected was a village flock of 980 birds in Kon Tum. In the Central Highlands region of Vietnam, this province borders Cambodia and Laos. The affected district — Ngoc Hoi — lies on the international frontier. All the birds have been destroyed after showing signs of the disease.

This was the fourth outbreak of HPAI to be officially reported in Vietnam since June of this year. Previous cases were in two southern provinces, and the Red River Delta region in the north of the country. Official reports do not point to any direct links between the outbreaks. In each case, the source of infection is reported to be unknown or inconclusive.

Nepal declares previous HPAI situation 'resolved'

Nepal’s agriculture ministry first reported the return of the H5N1 HPAI virus to the OIE in March of this year, but the situation now seems to have been resolved.

According to official reports, there were 11 confirmed outbreaks of the disease across several zones in the country, and more than 100,000 poultry have been lost to the disease through mortality or culling. The most recent cases were in Lumbini in the south of the country in early May. Since that time, no sample has tested positive for the virus for a period of more than 90 days, according to the ministry.

Kazakhstan free of HPAI

OIE has declared that Kazakhstan is fee of HPAI, according to KazInform.

Reports from the country’s animal health agency to the OIE indicate there have been no outbreaks of HPAI since early 2017. H5N8 HPAI virus was detected in two wild swans found dead in the Caspian Sea in January of that year. No further detections of HPAI virus in wild birds or domestic poultry have been reported by Kazakhstan to the OIE since that time.

More low-pathogenic avian flu virus cases reported by Chile, Dominican Republic

Chile’s agriculture ministry has reported the detection of a low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) virus of the H7N6 subtype at two more farms in the state of Valparaiso. The first cases were detected in 16-week-old fattening turkeys at the result of active surveillance prior to slaughter at Los Tilos in the Hijuelas region on October 10. Two days later, the same virus was detected in an epidemiologically related flock of 15-week-old birds in nearby Romeral. All 79,188 turkeys have been slaughtered.

After confirmation of the infection, all poultry movements around the outbreaks were halted. After 4 series of sampling in the area, there have been no positive test results, according to the ministry. Surveillance continues.

These were the first cases to be detected in Chile for more than 4 weeks. At the end of August, the first flock was found to be infected in the Los Nogales region, and this was followed 2 weeks later by a second flock of turkeys in the same region.

In the Dominican Republic, an H5N2 LPAI virus variant was first detected in November of 2018 in the northern province of Puerto Plata. This was followed by a further 7 outbreaks in neighboring Espaillat.

The agriculture ministry has now followed up with a report to the OIE of a further 10 confirmed outbreaks starting between December 27 last year and June 2. Two were in small backyard flocks, but the other affected premises were commercial farms with broilers or laying hens. A total of over 455,000 poultry were involved in these outbreaks, including more than 5,000 that died.

As well as further outbreaks in the previously affected provinces, there were also cases in the National District, Salcedo, La Vega, San Jose De Ocoa, and Santiago. These cover a broad section of the center of the country from the north to the south coast.

Quarantine imposed in South Korea

Officials in South Korea are carrying out additional surveillance of poultry at a market in Gwangju, reports Yonhap. The move followed the detection of avian flu virus in the droppings of wild birds found in the area, which is around 330 kilometers south of the capital, Seoul.

View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.

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