 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
News
Hong Kong Officials Find New Case of Bird Flu
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: The Star Online, 18 Dec 2002 [edited]
<http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/12/18/latest/9219HongKong&sec=latest>Health officials said samples from several chickens found dead in a poultry
shop on Wed, 18 Dec 2002 tested positive for avian flu in the second
outbreak of the viral disease this month.A probe will be conducted to determine whether more than 20 chickens from
the retail outlet on Hong Kong's rural Lantau Island had the same strain of
virus that once killed 6 people here, authorities said.As a precaution, 60 other birds from the shop were immediately slaughtered,
the Food and Environment Hygiene Department said in a statement. Officials
also ordered the shop closed Thu, 19 Dec 2002 for disinfecting, it said.Earlier this month, the Hong Kong Jockey Club found 31 dead birds in a park
in the center of a horse track. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation
Department found 2 geese among the dead birds that tested positive for
avian flu.It remained unclear whether the geese contained the deadly H5N1 virus,
which crossed over from birds to humans in 1997 and prompted officials to
slaughter all 1.4 million chickens in Hong Kong. Officials have since held
mass poultry slaughters and imposed stricter hygiene standards on the industry.EQUINE INFLUENZA IN USA (July/August 2002)
Since mid July, cases of acute upper respiratory disease among yearling in central Kentucky have been diagnosed as equine influenza at the Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center using the Directigen test kit. Several of the horses had been at the recent yearling Sales or in contact with horses that had been at the Sales. Clinical signs are generally mild, including pyrexia and coughing. Similar signs have also been reported among 2-year-old horses at several racetracks in the north east of the USA. At least one isolate has been obtained, and further information including typing of the virus and the effect of vaccination will be reported, as results become available.
EQUINE INFLUENZA IN ISRAEL
From the end of Dec 2001 until 10 Feb 2002, 26 serum samples from clinical suspected horses were received at the Kimron Veterinary Institute (KVI), Beit-Dagan. The samples were collected throughout the southern part of Israel, from the Southern Arava to the Heffer valley in central Israel. The sera were examined at the influenza laboratory at KVI's Department of Avian Diseases. It was concluded that this year's outbreak in horses was caused by influenza A virus subtype H3N8 (equine subtype 2). One isolate of an H3 influenza virus was obtained from a nasal swab of a horse from Cannot, mid-south Israel. The outbreak was notified to proMED by Dr Hagai Yadin.
QUALITY CONTROL OF EQUINE INFLUENZA VACCINES (International Symposium - Budapest, 10-11 December 2001)
Strasbourg 14.12.2001 - The current epidemiological situation and the licensing requirements in Europe and the Americas as well as the recommendations stipulated by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) were presented during these two days of exchanges and lively discussions. Issues related to the standardisation and quality control of equine influenza vaccines were critically reviewed and the contribution of current standards to vaccine efficacy and batch consistency of the vaccines were discussed. Finally the future perspectives and challenge in the development and quality control of the vaccines were addressed.
It was recommended to develop the present surveillance network, under the leadership of OIE, to facilitate a system, similar to the one for human influenza, which allows rapid adaptation of the vaccine strains to the current field strains and fast track licensing for the updated vaccine sin Europe. The usefulness of the serological batch potency test in the guinea pig was questioned. Manufacturers were encouraged to use systematically the currently available common EDQM/OIE reference preparations and to report the results to the EDQM so that data will be available for future revision of the monograph. Efforts will be made to harmonise the quality requirements applied in Europe and the US to enable manufacturers to develop vaccines for both markets without duplication of work. This symposium was considered as an important step towards the improvement of the quality of equine influenza vaccines.
As part of its international activities, the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines of the Council of Europe (EDQM) has organised, in collaboration with the OIE, this scientific symposium on the quality control of equine influenza vaccines. This symposium brought together 50 representatives from 16 countries (Europe, US, Canada and South Africa), from academia, national and supra-national licensing authorities, vaccine manufacturers and epidemiological/diagnostic centres.
A free download of the proceedings of this meeting are available on the European Pharmacopoeia web site at http://www.pheur.org/site/page_dynamique.php3?lien=R&lien_page=11&id=21
EQUINE RESPIRATORY DISEASES
An electronic textbook on Equine Respiratory Diseases (Ed. P. Lekeux) is now available on the International Veterinary Information Service web site. The contents page can be viewed at http://www.ivis.org/