Zoonotic Bird Flu News since 8 Sep till 28 Oct 2021

China reports 3 more human cases of H5N6 bird flu [BNO News, 28 Oct 2021]

Three more people in mainland China have tested positive for H5N6 bird flu, officials say.

Experts have called for increased surveillance amid a rising number of human cases during the past few months.

The Guangdong Provincial Health Commission said in a statement on Thursday that a 52-year-old man from Dongguan City had tested positive for H5N6 bird flu. “The patient is currently being treated at a designated hospital in Dongguan,” the commission said.

Other details about the man’s condition were not immediately released, and the statement from the health commission did not say how the man was infected. It said the risk of human-to-human transmission is believed to be low.

Another case was reported in Yongzhou in Hunan Province, where a farmer has been hospitalized in critical condition. The 66-year-old man fell ill in late September and samples collected from poultry in his backyard were found to be positive for bird flu (H5), according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Another case, involving a 58-year-old woman from Hunan Province, was disclosed by Chinese officials at a WHO meeting in September, according to a new report from the agency. The woman fell ill on August 28 but the case had not been reported to the public. Details about her condition have not been released.

Chinese officials are providing only limited information about human cases of H5N6 bird flu and it often takes weeks before cases are publicly reported by WHO. Most cases are first reported by the Hong Kong Health Department, which is closely monitoring human cases.

Only 52 people have been infected with H5N6 bird flu since the first confirmed case in 2014, but 20 of them were reported during the past 4 months, and more than half of all cases were reported this year alone. Click here for a list of all human cases to date.

H5N6 bird flu is known to cause severe illness in humans of all ages and has killed nearly half of those infected, according to WHO. There are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission but a 61-year-old woman who tested positive in July denied having contact with live poultry.

A study which was published by China’s Center for Disease Control in September identified several mutations in two recent cases of H5N6 bird flu. “The increasing trend of human infection with avian influenza virus has become an important public health issue that cannot be ignored,” the researchers warned.

Thijs Kuiken, professor of comparative pathology at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, also expressed concern about the rising number of cases. “It could be that this variant is a little more infectious (to people) … or there could be more of this virus in poultry at the moment and that’s why more people are getting infected,” Kuiken said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

Earlier this month, a WHO spokesperson said increased surveillance is “urgently required” to better understand the rising number of human cases. The spokesperson added that the risk of human-to-human transmission remains low because H5N6 has not acquired the ability for sustained transmission among humans.

Meanwhile, a report from the European CDC expressed concern about the detection of H5N6 viruses with markers for mammal adaptation. “The additional reports of transmission events to mammals, e.g. seals and a fox as well as seroepidemiological evidence of transmission to wild boar, could indicate evolutionary processes, including mammal adaptation with the possibility to acquire the ability to transmit to humans,” the report said.

Bird flu strikes endangered S.African cormorants [Macau Business, 28 Oct 2021]

Bird flu is ravaging South Africa’s endangered Cape cormorants, killing as much as five percent of the world’s remaining population, a conservation group said Wednesday.

“We know that we have over 12,000 dead cormorants so far, which is most likely underreported,” said Katta Ludynia, research manager for the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds.

The long-necked birds live along the coast from South Africa to Angola, and they number only 234,000 adults.

About 500 are dying every day from avian influenza, but not all beaches are monitored and some corpses may have washed out to sea, Ludynia said.

The strain of bird flu is not dangerous to humans, but spreads quickly through cormorant colonies.

The deaths include many chicks, as this is the breeding season.

The bird flu outbreak comes as cormorants are already under pressure from declining fish stocks, especially those of sardines.

Lack of food may have weakened their defences, helping to account for the high death toll.

Early this year, hundreds of cormorant chicks were abandoned in a startling incident that conservationists said may have also been caused by hunger.

“There is very high commercial fishing pressure on sardines, but there have also been environmental pressures related to climate change,” Ludynia said.

Bird flu cannot be treated in cormorants. Ludynia said the only solution is to stop the spread by removing carcasses quickly and euthanising birds that show symptoms before they can spread it further.

AI outbreak in the Netherlands prompts nationwide housing order [Poultry World, 27 Oct 2021]

By Fabian Brockotter

An outbreak of highly pathogenic H5 Avian Influenza on a farm in the middle of the Netherlands has prompted the Dutch department of agriculture to implement a nationwide housing order for all commercially held poultry as of 26th of October 2021.

Near the town of Zeewolde highly pathogenic bird flu (H5) was diagnosed at a farm with organic laying hens. The Ministry of agriculture confirmed that it concerns a farm with 2 houses, 1 with approximately 24,000 birds, the other with approximately 12,000. In 1 house the hens showed signs of bird flu. Samples were tested and found positive for HPAI serotype H5.

Nationwide measures
As a result of this outbreak and due to increasing finds of dead wild birds in Northern parts of the Netherlands and of infected wild birds in Germany, the agriculture minister has implemented a nationwide housing order for commercially kept poultry as of 12 noon on 26 October. In this way it wants to reduce the risk of the bird flu virus being introduced from wild birds to other farms in the Netherlands.

Transport restrictions
To prevent the virus from spreading, the birds on the infected farm in Zeewolde are being culled by the authorities. Minister Schouten has also immediately announced transport restrictions for poultry farms in a zone of 10 kilometers around the affected farm in Zeewolde.
This transport ban applies to poultry, eggs, poultry manure and used litter, as well as other animals and animal products from commercial poultry farms. There are no other poultry farms within a radius of 1 kilometer around the infected farm. There are 6 other poultry farms in the area of 3 kilometers around the farm. These farms are sampled and examined for bird flu. There are 9 other poultry farms within the 10-kilometre zone which are affected by the transport restrictions.

Germany reports bird flu outbreak at goose farm [TODAY, 27 Oct 2021]

PARIS - Germany reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu at a goose farm in the northern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Wednesday.

The outbreak at a farm of 663 birds in Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein, started on Oct. 22 and was confirmed on Oct. 23, the OIE said, citing a report from German authorities. REUTERS

Sharp increase in avian flu cases in PRC sparks concern [台北時報, 27 Oct 2021]

A sharp increase in the number of people in China infected with avian influenza, or bird flu, this year is raising concern among experts, who say a previously circulating strain appears to have changed and might be more infectious to people.

China has reported 21 human infections with the H5N6 subtype of avian influenza this year to the WHO, compared with only five last year, it said.

Although the numbers are much lower than the hundreds infected with H7N9 in 2017, the infections are serious, leaving many critically ill and at least six dead.

“The increase in human cases in China this year is of concern. It’s a virus that causes high mortality,” said Thijs Kuiken, professor of comparative pathology at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Most of the cases had come into contact with poultry and there are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission, said the WHO, which highlighted the rise in cases in a statement on Oct. 4.

It said further investigation was “urgently” required to understand the risks and the increase in infections in people.

Since then, a 60-year-old woman in Hunan Province was admitted to hospital in a critical condition with H5N6 influenza on Oct. 13, a Hong Kong government statement said.

While human H5N6 cases have been reported, no outbreaks of H5N6 have been reported in poultry in China since February last year.

China is the world’s biggest poultry producer and the top producer of ducks, which act as a reservoir for flu viruses.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could not be reached for comment on the rise in H5N6 cases in humans. However, a study published on its Web site last month said that the “increasing genetic diversity and geographical distribution of H5N6 pose a serious threat to the poultry industry and human health.”

Avian influenza viruses constantly circulate in domestic and wild birds, but rarely infect people. However, the evolution of the viruses, which have increased as poultry populations grow, is a major concern because they could change into a virus that spreads easily between people and cause a pandemic.

The largest number of H5N6 infections have been in Sichuan Province, although cases have also been reported in neighboring Chongqing and Guangxi, as well as Guangdong, Anhui and Hunan provinces.

At least 10 were caused by viruses genetically very similar to the H5N8 virus that ravaged poultry farms across Europe last year and also killed wild birds in China. That suggests the latest H5N6 infections in China might be a new variant.

“It could be that this variant is a little more infectious [to people] ... or there could be more of this virus in poultry at the moment and that’s why more people are getting infected,” Kuiken said.

China vaccinates poultry against avian influenza, but the vaccine used last year might only partially protect against emerging viruses, preventing large outbreaks, but allowing the virus to keep circulating, said Filip Claes, regional laboratory coordinator at the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases at the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Scores of seabirds dying as Dyer Island becomes new hotspot for avian flu [TimesLIVE, 26 Oct 2021]

The outbreak of avian influenza among wild seabirds in the Western Cape is enduring, with Dyer Island in the Overberg now the major hotspot.

Anton Bredell, the minister for local government, environmental affairs and development planning in the Western Cape, said on Tuesday all efforts are being taken to manage the situation, with the primary focus on responding swiftly to areas where dead and sick birds are found and then implementing a cleanup.

“Dyer Island is an important wild bird breeding colony in the Overberg region. Sadly we continue to find roughly 500 birds per day on the island dying or dead.”

By far the majority of the dead birds reported during the outbreak are Cape Cormorants, he said.

The Disaster Management Centre has asked the public across the province to report unusual behaviour or mortalities in any birds to their local municipality, conservation authority or state veterinarian. The SPCA and NSPCA may also be contacted.

Ghana government approves over GH¢40m to contain bird flu - Minister [Ghana Business News, 26 Oct 2021]

Government has approved GH¢43,984,017.70 to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to combat the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and strengthen institutional capacity against any future occurrences.

The amount will cover the procurement of 33 cross country 4×4 vehicles, 275 motorbikes, compensation payments to farmers, active disease surveillance of domestic and wild birds’ population, stamping out, de-contamination and disposal materials, among others.

Approved has also been given for the urgent recruitment of 1100 veterinary officers for effective prevention, detection and control of animal diseases in the country.

Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, who announced this on Monday at a media briefing in Accra, said 50 per cent of the officers would be recruited immediately, while the rest would be taken over a two-year period -2023 and 2024.

The Minister said a nine-member Ministerial Committee with membership from allied institutions would be established to oversee the effective implementation of an action developed for containing the HPAI.

The Committee will be supported by three-member committees at the regional and district levels for coordination, monitoring and evaluation purposes.

Dr Akoto said the interventions were necessary because the disease had reached emergency proportions and needed to be contained with all the urgency and seriousness it deserved to save lives and cost.

He said the economic cost to Government in terms of loss of livelihoods of farmers, production, productivity and investments, particularly the Government’s Rearing for Food and Initiative, would bring the poultry industry down to its knees and compromise the self-sufficiency agenda of the nation in food production.

Ghana has experienced HPAI outbreaks in 2007, 2015, 2018 and 2021, leading to a high mortality of birds running into thousands, loss of livelihoods and investments.

Records from the Ministry indicate that in the 2015 outbreak, a total of 148,000 birds were destroyed nationwide; the highest till date.

The 2021 outbreak was recorded in July, out of which seven out of the 16 regions were affected with a total of 261, 137 birds destroyed through culling and natural deaths.

HPAI is a virulent zoonotic disease easily transferable from birds to humans. It occurs through direct contact with infected birds, contaminated feed, fomites and interaction between farm hands.

Avian influenza - Bird flu identified at a wildbird rescue centre in Worcestershire [GOV.UK, 26 Oct 2021]

The risk of public health from the virus is very low and poses a very low food safety risk for UK consumers

The UK Chief Veterinary Officer has confirmed a case of avian influenza (bird flu) at a wildbird rescue centre in Worcestershire today.

Wild birds migrating to the UK from mainland Europe during the winter months can carry the disease and this can lead to cases in poultry and other captive birds.

All birds on site will be humanely culled. A 3km and 10km temporary control zone has also been put in place around the infected premises to limit the risk of the disease spreading.

UK Health Security Agency advises that the risk to public health from the virus is very low and the Food Standards Agency has made clear that bird flu poses a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. The premises does not supply poultry, meat or eggs to the commercial food chain.

UK Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said:
H5N1 avian influenza has been confirmed at a wildbird rescue centre in Worcestershire. We have taken swift action to limit the spread of the disease and any birds at risk of infection will now be humanely culled.

UK Health Security Agency has confirmed that the risk to public health is very low and the Food Standards Agency has said that bird flu poses a very low risk to food safety for UK consumers.

As we move into the higher risk period over winter bird keepers should pay extra attention to the health of their birds. Anybody who suspects disease should report it to their vet or APHA immediately. The best way to tackle this disease is for poultry keepers to ensure that they have strong biosecurity measures in place.

Dr Gavin Dabrera, Consultant Epidemiologist, UK Health Security Agency, said:
Avian influenza is primarily a disease of birds and the risk to the general public’s health is very low. The regional UKHSA Health Protection Team is working closely with Defra to closely monitor the situation and will be providing health advice to persons at the site as a precaution.
It is generally important to not touch any sick or dead birds and to make sure to wash your hands thoroughly with soap after contact with any animal.

A Food Standards Agency spokesperson said:
On the basis of the current scientific evidence, the Food Standard Agency advises that, avian influenzas pose a very low risk to UK consumers through the food chain.

Properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, remain safe to eat.

A detailed investigation is in progress to determine the most likely source of this outbreak.

There are some simple measures that all poultry keepers should take to protect their birds against the threat of avian flu. These apply to people running a large commercial farm, keeping a few hens in their back garden and those rearing game birds.

These include:
• Keep the area where birds live clean and tidy, control rats and mice and regularly clean and disinfect any hard surfaces
• Keep chickens and turkeys completely separate from ducks and geese
• Conduct regular maintenance checks on their sheds
• Clean moss off the roofs, empty gutters and remove vegetation between sheds where birds are kept
• Draw up contingency plans for storing bedding and dealing with pests
• Place birds’ feed and water in fully enclosed areas that are protected from wild birds, and remove any spilled feed regularly
• Put fencing around outdoor areas where birds are allowed and limit their access to ponds or areas visited by wild waterfowl
• Clean and disinfect footwear before and after entering premises where birds are kept
Poultry keepers and members of the public should report dead wild birds to the Defra helpline on 03459 33 55 77 and keepers should report suspicion of disease to APHA on 03000 200 301. Keepers should familiarise themselves with our avian flu advice.

Dutch order poultry indoors after avian flu outbreak [Phys.org, 26 Oct 2021]

Dutch health authorities on Tuesday ordered all poultry to be kept indoors to curb an outbreak of highly contagious bird flu.

The decision comes after the H5 strain of bird flu was discovered at a poultry farm in the central Flevoland province, the Dutch agriculture department said.

"About 36,000 birds were also slaughtered on the farm to prevent the virus from spreading," it added in a statement.

The outbreak is the second to hit the Netherlands this year after a similar outbreak in February when a southern turkey farm was infected.

The Netherlands was worst hit in 2003, when a deadly strain of H7N7 avian influenza broke out, killing at least one person and infecting 255 flocks, leading to the culling of 30 million birds according to the National Library of Medicine.

Rise in H5N6 bird flu may be explained by more-infectious variant, experts worry [Livescience.com, 26 Oct 2021]

By Nicoletta Lanese
China has reported 21 cases of the H5N6 subtype of bird flu this year, compared with only five last year, leaving experts concerned that the strain currently circulating is more infectious than past versions of the virus, Reuters reported.
Scientists first identified H5N6 avian influenza in poultry in Laos in 2013, according to a 2020 report in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID). And since 2014, a total of 49 confirmed cases of humans infected with H5N6 have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the WHO's Avian Influenza Weekly Update.
The 21 cases reported in China this year have resulted in at least six deaths and left many of the remaining infected people critically ill. "The increase in human cases in China this year is of concern. It's a virus that causes high mortality," Thijs Kuiken, a professor of comparative pathology at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, told Reuters. According to the EID report, human H5N6 infections have a 67% mortality rate.
Related: Going viral: 6 new findings about viruses

The WHO has confirmed that, among the 21 infected individuals in China, most came into contact with poultry, and there have been no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission, Reuters reported.
"Currently available epidemiologic and virologic evidence suggest that A(H5N6) influenza viruses have not acquired the ability of sustained transmission among humans, thus the likelihood of human-to-human spread is low," a WHO spokesperson told BNO News on Oct. 5. The spokesperson also stated that wider geographical surveillance of affected areas in China and nearby regions is "urgently required" to understand the recent uptick in human cases.
It could be that the H5N6 currently circulating is a new variant that infects humans more easily than past versions of the virus, Kuiken told Reuters. Or there may be a significant increase in H5N6 among poultry, which could result in more human exposure to the virus.

Rise in human bird flu cases in China shows risk of fast-changing variants: experts [Reuters, 26 Oct 2021]

By Dominique Patton

BEIJING, Oct 26 (Reuters) - A jump in the number of people in China infected with bird flu this year is raising concern among experts, who say a previously circulating strain appears to have changed and may be more infectious to people.

Over 10 500 endangered seabirds killed by avian flu outbreak in Western Cape, authorities say [News24, 23 Oct 2021]

By Nicole McCain

Around 500 endangered Cape cormorants a day are dying of avian flu on Dyer Island.

Off the Western Cape coast, the island is home to a breeding colony of Cape cormorants and has been hardest hit by an outbreak of avian flu.

The outbreak was announced by the Western Cape government last week.

The disease appeared to be concentrated among sea birds in the western and southern parts of the province, News24 previously reported.

As of Friday, more than 10 500 Cape cormorants have died.

The country had less than 60 000 breeding pairs before the outbreak.

According to Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning MEC Anton Bredell, Dyer Island remained the worst-affected area.

He added the outbreak remained a "very complex situation".

"These are wild seabirds, and there are reports coming in from various areas across the coastal region of the province, which is a very large area to manage. We are very grateful for the teamwork and efforts given by multiple partners in managing this situation."

Avian influenza is a highly contagious viral disease. There is no cure and no preventative treatment. Treating affected birds is futile and poses a serious risk of disease spread.
Therefore, sick birds are euthanised.

Bredell said reports of dead seals in some coastal regions were unrelated to the avian flu outbreak.

"Recent reports of dead seals found along some coastal regions are not currently a cause for concern as there is no evidence suggesting these deaths may be as a result of exposure to the avian influenza.

Bird flu outbreak on Dyer Island causing mass deaths [Mail and Guardian, 20 Oct 2021]

By Eunice Stoltz

An outbreak of avian influenza has been recorded on Dyer Island, situated off the coast of Gansbaai in the Overberg area of the Western Cape, that has led to the mass death of wild seabirds.

The province’s local government, environmental affairs and development planning MEC, Anton Bredell, said the outbreak has occurred because the island is a breeding colony “where the birds are in close proximity to one another”.

Managed by CapeNature, Dyer Island is internationally recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and hosts the vulnerable African penguins, endangered bank cormorant and roseate tern, among others.

“At the moment the Cape cormorant species is most affected, however, we are particularly concerned about the bank cormorant, a unique species of cormorant which is extremely rare and may also be affected,” Bredell said in a press statement on Tuesday.

In an earlier statement announcing the outbreak on 14 October, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) said that “the first Cape cormorants were only diagnosed with this disease in mid-September and cases have increased very rapidly over the last week. Careful surveillance is being done wherever Cape cormorants congregate.”

According to Sanccob, mitigation measures include the removal of carcasses and sick birds, which are euthanised because they could further spread the virus.

“The next 14 days will be critical, and we continue to ask the public to work with us and not to approach or transport any sick or dead birds,” said Bredell, adding: “It is a very complex situation to manage considering these are wild seabirds all along the coast of the Western Cape.”

Other hotspots include De Mond Nature Reserve and the Bergrivier municipality, where the outbreak was first recorded.

A strain of bird flu was first detected in wild seabirds in May this year, but the mass fatalities recorded since 14 October are believed to be as a result of the start of the breeding season.
Over the past weekend, an estimated 700 dead birds were recovered daily across the province where organisations such as Sanccob, SANParks and BirdLife South Africa as well as local veterinarians removed dead and sick birds.

The virus does not pose a risk to people, but they can transmit it from infected birds to healthy ones when their clothes or hands are contaminated. Members of the public are urged to report unusual mortalities in any birds to their local municipality, conservation authority or state veterinarian here.

Macau reports new human case of H5N6 bird flu in Hunan [The Poultry Site, 20 Oct 2021]

Macau’s Health Bureau (SSM) released a statement saying that a case of H5N6 avian influenza has been identified in a 60-year-old patient in Hunan province, China.

The statement says that the patient is in a 60-year-old female farmer who lives in Changde, a city in northern Hunan. She began displaying symptoms on 3 October and was admitted to hospital on 13 October. She is still in critical condition. Health authorities believe that she contracted bird flu after coming in contact with dead poultry.

prefecture-level city in the northwest of Hunan. The statement said that the patient started to feel unwell on October 3 and was hospitalised on October 13, pointing out that she was still in critical condition yesterday. The statement underlined that the patient had contact with dead poultry.

Chinese health authorities are encouraging the public to abide by biosecurity protocols and avoid contact with poultry droppings and dead birds.

Farmers urged to prepare for bird flu risk this winter [FarmingUK, 13 Oct 2021]

Poultry farmers and keepers are being urged to prepare for this winter's potential bird flu outbreaks after dozens of cases were reported last year.

The UK is currently free from avian flu, but over the last year 26 outbreaks were confirmed in kept poultry and captive birds and in over 300 wild birds.

In response, UK-wide measures were introduced to protect poultry from infection from wild birds, including a requirement to temporarily house birds and a ban on bird gatherings.

As winter approaches, the risk of migratory wild birds infecting domestic poultry will rise, according to the UK's four Chief Veterinary Officers' new warning.

They said it was therefore 'vital' that poultry farmers and bird keepers took urgent action to improve biosecurity standards.

In a joint statement, the CVOs said: “As winter approaches we need to be ready for the increased risk of disease that migrating birds pose to our flocks.

“We encourage keepers across the UK to implement strong biosecurity practices now, including regular shed maintenance checks, cleaning and disinfecting footwear and signing up for our email and text alerts.

"Making these tasks a regular fixture of your disease control plans now will make a significant difference in the fight against avian flu this winter and for years to come.”

Bird keepers have been told to maintain good biosecurity practises, such as cleaning footwear, feeding birds indoors, and minimising contact with wild birds.

Farmers and keepers should register their birds on the Great Britain Poultry Register (GBPR), the CVOs said. For those with 50 or more birds, this is a legal requirement.

It comes after British scientists developed a new bird flu vaccine, which they say could provide rapid protection and reduce the virus's spread substantially.

The new vaccine generates a faster and stronger immune response in chickens against the H9N2 strain, compared to the current industry standard inactivated virus vaccine.

Professor Munir Iqbal, of the Pirbright Institute said: "Our improved vaccine could help prevent the spread of flu, which is essential for protecting poultry welfare, increasing food production, and reducing the risk of avian influenza spreading to humans."

Results revealed that the vaccine was both fast acting and effective, with birds producing antibody responses as early as six days after vaccination.

They also shed significantly less flu virus when challenged with a natural flu strain, indicating the birds would be less likely to spread infection.

Elsewhere in the world, Russia confirmed in February the first case of bird flu strain H5N8 being passed from poultry to humans.

The cases, discovered in seven poultry plant workers based in south Russia, were reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Outbreaks of the highly contagious H5N8 strain were reported in the UK last winter, but only in poultry.

Avian influenza strains such as H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2 have been known to spread to humans.

Russia reports severe bird flu at two poultry farms, OIE says [Successful Farming, 13 Oct 2021]

by Sybille de La Hamaide,& Gus Trompiz

PARIS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Russia has reported outbreaks of highly pathogenic bird flu at two poultry farms in the southern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Wednesday.

Citing a report from Russia's veterinary authorities, the Paris-based OIE said the virus found was of serotype H5 but gave no further details.

Russia, China each report one case of bird flu among humans this year [TASS, 11 Oct 2021]

According to Anna Popova, the incidents have been registered and acknowledged by the World Health Organization

KAZAN, October 11./TASS/. One episode where a human was infected with bird flu was reported in Russia this year, and one more was recorded in China this past summer, Chief of Russia’s sanitary watchdog, Anna Popova, told journalists on Monday.

"This year, two cases of the bird flu virus getting into the human population were reported.

These incidents have been registered and acknowledged by the World Health Organization. [One] in the Russian Federation <…>, and this past summer, the same episode was reported in China," said Popova, who heads the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing.

Earlier, Popova said that the system of monitoring a possible trans-species transmission of flu, in particular from birds to humans, had been organized in Russia.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus in Wild Red Foxes, the Netherlands, 2021 [CDC, 11 Oct 2021]

BY JACKIE LINDEN

With their respective poultry sectors hard hit by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the 2020-2021 season, authorities in France and Poland are making preparations to avoid a repeat of the massive losses incurred.

Jolianne M. Rijks , Hanna Hesselink, Pim Lollinga, Renee Wesselman, Pier Prins, Eefke Weesendorp, Marc Engelsma, Rene Heutink, Frank Harders, Marja Kik, Harry Rozendaal, Hans van den Kerkhof, and Nancy Beerens

Abstract
We detected infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus clade 2.3.4.4b in 2 red fox (Vulpes vulpes) cubs found in the wild with neurologic signs in the Netherlands. The virus is related to avian influenza viruses found in wild birds in the same area.

On May 10, a red fox Vulpes vulpes cub (cub 1) displaying abnormal behavior was found in Bellingwolde, the Netherlands, and taken into care of a wildlife rescue center. Upon entry, the 6- to 8-week-old cub was slightly dehydrated and showed at intervals of <30 minutes lip retraction, rapid opening and closing of mouth, excessive salivation, skin twitching, head shaking, and body tremors (Figure; Video). The cub first seemed to improve, but on May 12 it reacted aggressively when touched. Subsequently, we observed difficult swallowing and labored breathing. The cub seemed blind and stopped eating. As the situation further deteriorated, we humanely euthanized the cub on May 16. On May 13, the center received another 6- to 8-week-old red fox cub (cub 2) found ≈900 m from cub 1. Cub 2 was hypothermic and dehydrated. It had seizures and died overnight.

Retrospectively, we concluded that the mother of the cubs was likely a vixen found walking circles on May 10, ≈975 m direct distance from cub 1 and ≈90 m from cub 2. The vixen reacted very aggressively to capture, responding to sound but blind. The vixen had a fresh elbow fracture, probably caused by a road traffic accident. We humanely euthanized her the same day and sent her carcass for destruction.

Although rabies lyssavirus is unlikely in the Netherlands, European bat 1 lyssavirus is endemic in serotine bats (Eptesicus serotinus) (1). To exclude lyssavirus infection in the fox cubs, we performed a direct fluorescent antibody test on smears of brain tissue in accordance with World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) protocol
(https://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Health_standards/tahm/3.01.17_RABIES.pdfExternal Link). Test results were negative.

Subsequently, we tested brain samples for avian influenza virus by using a PCR detecting the influenza A virus matrix gene, followed by the subtype-specific H5-PCR on the hemagglutinin gene, as described previously (2). The samples from both cubs tested positive (Table), and we subtyped the virus as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) influenza virus A subtype H5N1.
We isolated the HPAI H5N1 virus from the brain of cub 1 by inoculation of the samples into 10-day-old embryonated special pathogen–free chicken eggs.

During April–May 2021, large numbers of dead barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) were reported in the northern part of the Netherlands, and later other species of waterfowl and birds of prey were also found dead. A selected number of dead wild birds were submitted for AI diagnostics and tested positive for HPAI H5N1 virus. We performed whole-genome sequencing of the HPAI H5N1 viruses found in wild birds and the 2 foxes as previously described (3) and conducted genetic and phylogenetic analyses to study the relationship between these viruses. Phylogenetic analysis of the gene segments (Appendix 1 Figure 1–8) showed the viruses detected in wild birds and the 2 foxes were in the same cluster and highly related. We classified the viruses as H5 clade 2.3.4.4b viruses, which were related to other HPAI H5N1 viruses detected in wild birds and poultry in Europe during 2020–2021. The HPAI H5N1 viruses detected in the foxes were not related to zoonotic H5N1 strains infecting humans in Asia and did not contain any known zoonotic mutations (data not shown). The sequences of the viruses detected in cub 1 (GISAID [https://www.gisaid.orgExternal Link] accession no. EPI_2194218) and cub 2 (GISAID accession no. EPI_2194219) were identical; the closest related virus was identified in a white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) near the village of Noordlaren. We observed only 6 aa differences: mutations A152T and T521I in polymerase basic protein 2 (PB2); M644V in polymerase basic protein 1; A336T in nucleoprotein; L22S in neuraminidase protein; and D209N in nonstructural protein (Appendix 1 Figure 1–8). Whether these changes are associated with adaptation of the avian virus to mammal species remains unknown.

These 2 cases of infection with H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b virus in wild red fox cubs underscore the need to raise awareness that HPAI viruses are not only zoonotic but also infect other mammal species. HPAI infection should be on the list of differential diagnoses for animals that have signs of respiratory or neurologic disease. The detection of virus in the brain suggests systemic infection of the cubs. The clinical signs were largely consistent with those reported in other natural infections of carnivores with HPAI H5 subtypes (4–7). Whether the fox cubs were infected through the parents or by eating infected bird carcasses is unclear (cubs start eating solid food at 4 weeks of age). Carnivores are known to be at risk for avian influenza virus infection upon ingesting infected birds (4,5,8). We did not test for virus shedding in these cubs, but virus shedding has been observed in experimental infection of 6- to 10-month-old red foxes with HPAI H5N1 clade 2.2 virus (8).

The United Kingdom reported infection of a red fox and seals in an animal shelter with a related HPAI H5N8 clade 2.3.4.4b virus (9), and Russia reported infection in poultry workers (10). These findings suggest that HPAI H5 clade 2.3.4.4b viruses may sporadically transmit from birds to mammals, including humans. Virus evolution and adaptive mutations must be closely monitored to rapidly identify viruses with increased zoonotic potential.

Dr. Rijks is a postdoctoral researcher at the Dutch Wildlife Health Centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Her primary research interests are wildlife diseases and epidemiology.

Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the authors and submitting laboratories of the sequences from the GISAID EpiFlu Database (Appendix 2).

References
1. Van der Poel WH, Van der Heide R, Verstraten ER, Takumi K, Lina PH, Kramps JA. European bat lyssaviruses, The Netherlands. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005;11:1854–9. DOI
2. Beerens N, Heutink R, Bergervoet SA, Harders F, Bossers A, Koch G. Multiple reassorted viruses as cause of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) virus epidemic, the Netherlands, 2016. Emerg Infect Dis. 2017;23:1974–81. DOI
3. Beerens N, Heutink R, Pritz-Verschuren S, Germeraad EA, Bergervoet SA, Harders F, et al. Genetic relationship between poultry and wild bird viruses during the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N6 epidemic in the Netherlands, 2017-2018. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2019;66:1370–8. DOI
4. Marschall J, Hartmann K. Avian influenza A H5N1 infections in cats. J Feline Med Surg. 2008;10:359–65. DOI
5. Songserm T, Amonsin A, Jam-on R, Sae-Heng N, Pariyothorn N, Payungporn S, et al. Fatal avian influenza A H5N1 in a dog. Emerg Infect Dis. 2006;12:1744–7. DOI
6. Lee K, Lee EK, Lee H, Heo GB, Lee YN, Jung JY, et al. Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N6) in domestic cats, South Korea. Emerg Infect Dis. 2018;24:2343–7.
7. Hu T, Zhao H, Zhang Y, Zhang W, Kong Q, Zhang Z, et al. Fatal influenza A (H5N1) virus Infection in zoo-housed Tigers in Yunnan Province, China. Sci Rep. 2016;6:25845.
8. Reperant LA, van Amerongen G, van de Bildt MW, Rimmelzwaan GF, Dobson AP, Osterhaus AD, et al. Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) infection in red foxes fed infected bird carcasses. Emerg Infect Dis. 2008;14:1835–41. DOI
9. ProMED. Avian influenza (45): Europe (UK, Croatia) seal, fox, wild bird, HPAI H5N8. ProMED 2021 Mar 17. http://www.promedmail.orgExternal Link, archive no. 20210317.8252821.
10. ProMED. Avian influenza, human (02): Russia, H5N8, first case. ProMED 2021 Feb 21. http://www.promedmail.orgExternal Link, archive no. 20210221.8204014.

Russia, China each report one case of bird flu among humans this year [TASS, 11 Oct 2021]

According to Anna Popova, the incidents have been registered and acknowledged by the World Health Organization

KAZAN, October 11./TASS/. One episode where a human was infected with bird flu was reported in Russia this year, and one more was recorded in China this past summer, Chief of Russia’s sanitary watchdog, Anna Popova, told journalists on Monday.

"This year, two cases of the bird flu virus getting into the human population were reported.

These incidents have been registered and acknowledged by the World Health Organization.
[One] in the Russian Federation <…>, and this past summer, the same episode was reported in China," said Popova, who heads the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing.

Earlier, Popova said that the system of monitoring a possible trans-species transmission of flu, in particular from birds to humans, had been organized in Russia.

WHO calls for surveillance to explain rise in human cases of H5N6 bird flu [BNO News, 5 Oct 2021]

The World Health Organization (WHO) says increased surveillance is urgently required to better understand what’s behind a recent spike in human cases of H5N6 bird flu in mainland China.

Only 48 people have been infected with H5N6 bird flu since the first confirmed case in 2014, but a third of those were reported in mainland China during the past 3 months alone. Half of all cases were reported during the past 12 months.

“Wider geographical surveillance in the China affected areas and nearby areas is urgently required to better understand the risk and the recent increase of spill over to humans,” a WHO spokesperson told BNO News.

H5N6 bird flu is known to cause severe illness in humans of all ages and has killed more than half of those infected. While there are no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission, a 61-year-old woman who tested positive in July denied having contact with live poultry.

“Currently available epidemiologic and virologic evidence suggest that A(H5N6) influenza viruses have not acquired the ability of sustained transmission among humans, thus the likelihood of human-to-human spread is low,” WHO said.

The spokesperson added: “Due to the constantly evolving nature of influenza viruses, WHO continues to stress the importance of global surveillance to detect virological, epidemiological and clinical changes associated with circulating influenza viruses that may affect human (or animal) health and timely virus and information sharing for risk assessment.”

A study published by China’s Center for Disease Control in September reported several mutations in two cases of H5N6 and described the spread of the virus as a “serious threat” to the poultry industry and human health.

“The increasing trend of human infection with avian influenza virus has become an important public health issue that cannot be ignored,” the researchers said.

On Thursday, a report from the European CDC expressed concern about the detection of H5N6 viruses with markers for mammal adaptation. “The additional reports of transmission events to mammals, e.g. seals and a fox as well as seroepidemiological evidence of transmission to wild boar, could indicate evolutionary processes, including mammal adaptation with the possibility to acquire the ability to transmit to humans,” the report said.

Gain-of-function research: all in the eye of the beholder [Salon, 28 Sep 2021]

By CHARLES SCHMIDT

Should work done on coronaviruses in Wuhan, China, be considered “gain-of-function” research? Opinions differ

In 2012, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) organized a meeting after two laboratories independently reported eye-opening results. In both labs, researchers had managed to alter the avian H5N1 flu virus so it could spread through the air among ferrets, an animal often used in virology to model the development and spread of pathogens in mammals. This particular flu virus kills 60 percent of the humans it infects, but the virus's spread is limited to those who eat or handle infected poultry. The new lab-altered viruses, on the other hand, had been mutated in ways that allow them to spread on air droplets like seasonal flu.

At the NIH meeting, researchers applied a new term — gain-of-function — to this type of high-risk research, which can have the effect of making viruses more deadly, more transmissible, or otherwise more able to flourish. Proponents say this research is essential for developing new therapies and vaccines and understanding how viruses cause pandemics. But critics say any insights from these experiments aren't worth the risk of a lab-created virus reaching the outside world. The debate has only grown more heated in the context of this current pandemic, with some asking whether SARS-CoV-2 could have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, where researchers studied coronaviruses.

During Congressional hearings in May and July, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky accused the NIH and Anthony Fauci, the long-time director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), of supporting the Wuhan facility's studies, which Paul claimed were in violation of a temporary federal pause on gain-of-function research funding announced in 2014. Fauci denied the experiments in question were, in fact, gain-of-function — a response that prompted Paul to retort that he was "trying to obscure responsibility for 4 million people dying around the world from a pandemic."

There's no evidence NIH-funded research sparked the pandemic. But the dispute underscores widespread confusion surrounding gain-of-function research, which is now a flashpoint in the broader debate over lab experiments with dangerous viruses. That Paul and Fauci could arrive at such different conclusions about the same work gets to the heart of a thorny problem: When it comes to gain-of-function research, "no one agrees on what it is," says Nicholas Evans, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, who specializes in biosecurity and pandemic preparedness.

In the most basic sense, gain-of-function, or GOF, research refers to the introduction of a mutation that enhances a gene's functional properties — farmers have arguably practiced it for thousands of years through plant breeding. But definitions applied in virology have also narrowed over time, such that some researchers now maintain that in the strictest sense of the term — increasing virulence or transmissibility in humans — "no GOF experiments have been performed," says Stanley Perlman, a virologist at the University of Iowa.

Absent consensus, public views on gain-of-function are vulnerable to polarized rhetoric, and policy makers continue to struggle with how to regulate the research. "No one knows exactly what counts as gain-of-function, so we disagree as to what needs oversight, much less what that oversight should be," Evans says.

During the H5N1 research, Ron Fouchier, from Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Yoshihiro Kawaoka, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the University of Tokyo, both virologists, wanted to understand how pandemic flu viruses might evolve. Working in biosafety level-3 labs used for studies of dangerous pathogens that might transmit through the air, they used a variety of techniques to alter the virus' genome, introducing changes that altered its behavior. The results from both labs showed that with only a few gene mutations, H5N1 could become an airborne spreader in mammals without having to go through the typical process of combining with other viruses in an intermediate host, such as a pig or rodent.

Although the changes to the virus also appeared to make it less virulent — none of the ferrets infected with the viruses through the air died — the finding confirmed that H5N1 poses a pandemic threat; it also created an international uproar, and many scientists were divided over the experiments. Some expressed support. Fauci, for instance, during a press conference marking publication of the Fouchier paper, acknowledged the possibility that a scientist working with an altered virus might become infected, causing an outbreak or even a pandemic.
Still, the benefits of "stimulating thought and pursuing ways to understand better the transmissibility, adaptation, pathogenicity" of H5N1, he added, "far outweigh the risk." Others accused Fouchier and Kawoaka of being reckless, prompting the two virologists and their colleagues to agree to a temporary moratorium on the research.

Then in 2014, in the wake of a series of biosafety incidents involving microbiology experiments at U.S. government facilities, including one in which samples of a relatively benign avian flu virus were inadvertently contaminated with H5N1 by influenza researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the NIH announced a pause on new funding for gain-of-function studies. According to the U.S government's phrasing, the pause was specifically directed at "gain-of-function research projects that reasonably may be anticipated to confer attributes to influenza, MERS [Middle East Respiratory Syndrome], and SARS [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome] viruses such that the resulting virus" is either more deadly or better able to spread in mammals.

In all, 18 laboratories were affected. Their new grant funding was frozen, and researchers in these labs were asked to put their gain-of-function work on hold while a team of experts undertook what became a three-year effort to craft new federal oversight policies.

During this time, however, and with Fauci's approval, the NIAID continued to supply funding to the Wuhan investigators, who were trying to predict where the next coronavirus outbreak might come from. During his July spat with Fauci, Paul singled out a 2017 research paper co-authored by Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based nonprofit group through which the NIAID money was channeled. (EcoHealth's press officer, Robert Kessler, declined to make anyone available for an interview, and said in an email: "We've not conducted gain-of-function research, so aren't really good authorities to speak on the subject.")

Over the course of the five-year project, the investigators took fecal samples from cave bats in Yunnan, China, about 1,000 miles southwest of Wuhan, and isolated close relatives of the coronavirus that causes SARS. Then, using a method called reverse genetics, they attached surface "spike" proteins from those newly identified microbes to a different SARS-like coronavirus called WIV1. (Coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, use their spikes to attach to other cells and initiate an infection, but for these experiments the researchers used an engineered form of WIV1 that lacked spike proteins of its own).

Daszak and the Wuhan team wanted to know if these lab creations — called chimeras — could infect human airway cells. As it turned out, several could, which suggested that natural coronaviruses outfitted with the the same spikes used in making the chimeras might also be able to infect people. This information, the team concluded presciently, "highlights the necessity of preparedness for future emergence of SARS-like diseases."

Citing this research, Paul said that the Wuhan scientists had manipulated coronaviruses that only infect animals in nature so that they "gain the function of infecting humans." These experiments, he claimed, "fit the definition of the research that the NIH said was subject to the pause." Fauci disagreed, countering that the Kentucky senator, long a thorn in the side of federal agencies working on Covid responses, did "not know what he was talking about."

So who was right? There is no consensus within the research community. The NIAID declined to make Fauci or anyone else available to Undark for an interview, but embedded in Paul's argument are two points of contention among scientists. One is the question of whether the backbone virus, WIV1, fits within any of the three viral categories specified in the pause.

WIV1 is about 90 percent genetically similar to the virus that causes SARS disease in people, but it is not a SARS virus per se. Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University and a staunch critic of gain-of-function research, claimed in an email to Undark that the pause was "expressly intended by policy makers to refer to clades (e.g., groups) of viruses, and not a single virus." Seen this way, WIV1, being in the SARS-like clade, would have been subject to the pause's funding restrictions.

When Undark asked NIAID to comment, media relations staff replied by email that the pause applied specifically to "all influenza viruses as well as two specific coronaviruses: MERS and SARS-CoV-1 [which is a more precise term for the virus that causes SARS]." When Undark put that response to Ebright, he responded that the NIAID was "lying, brazenly" since the actual 2014 policy language never made this distinction. Susan Weiss, a microbiologist who works with coronaviruses at the University of Pennsylvania, points out that "there's the letter of the law and the spirit of the law," but as to which applies in this debate, she adds, "I don't know."
The second point of contention is whether the chimeras generated in Wuhan were enhanced in ways that made them more deadly or transmissible than WIV1 itself. WIV1 in its natural, unmodified form already infects human cells in a dish, so replacing its own spikes with those from other coronaviruses adds no gain of function in that respect. Still, some chimeras were more pathogenic in exposed mice than unmodified WIV1, according to experimental summaries obtained and published by The Intercept on Sept. 9, as part of its ongoing Freedom of Information Act litigation against the NIH: "Three chimeras produced 10,000 times more virus in the mice's lung tissue than unmodified WIV1, and one caused the mice to lose significant weight."

According to the grant's stipulations, the researchers at that point should have ceased the experiments. But The Intercept reported that the NIH concluded the restrictions on GOF research did not apply in this case, and there is no evidence that the research was stopped. Whether the chimeras would also be more pathogenic in people is unclear. No WIV1 infections in people have been reported, so its ability to spread and cause disease among humans is also unknown. Perlman says that just because the virus and its engineered chimeras infect isolated human cells in a petri dish does not mean they can infect cells in an actual person, where viruses are subject to immune defenses and other challenges.

"We don't know what it will take" to infect humans, Perlman says. "That's where the murkiness lies."

* * *
In 2017, after deliberating during the three years of the pause, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH, produced an oversight system that didn't even mention gain-of-function. Called the PC30 Framework, the system focused instead on how and whether to fund projects on so-called "enhanced potential pandemic pathogens," or PPPs.
Where the pause was limited to influenza, MERS, and SARS viruses, the PC30 Framework had a broader scope: PPPs could include any highly transmissible pathogen that can spread uncontrollably and cause widespread human disease and death. Enhanced PPPs were defined as having been altered to become even more transmissible and deadly. (Natural pathogens either circulating in nature or recovered from it were excluded from the policy, as were efforts to sequence pathogens or use them to make vaccines.)

A committee at the Department of Health and Human Services is now tasked with making final decisions about what is and is not a gain of function experiment. But longtime critics of federal oversight still aren't pleased. Ebright claims that apart from two projects carried over from prior to 2017¬ — the Fouchier and Kawaoka research on H5N1 — there are no public records of any reviews being performed, suggesting that "the NIH doesn't flag projects for review, nullifying the policy."

Arturo Casadevall, a microbiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, co-authored a 2020 editorial in the journal mBIO, reporting that both PC30 reviews to date have been made behind closed doors, despite guidance from the White House at the time the framework was released encouraging a transparent process.

Transparency could ensure that reviewers are free of conflicts of interest. But given the politics surrounding gain-of-function, the possibility that others may use public information for nefarious purposes, and the way researchers associated with gain-of-function have been attacked in the press and on social media, transparency might also deter potential reviewers from participating. In an email to Undark, Casadevall acknowledged that "some people in the coronavirus field have gotten death threats." Still, he added, "it should possible to open the documents and conclusion of the review while shielding the reviewers. This is what we do in an academic literature peer review."

The broader public was recently offered a glimpse of peer review when a quasi-anonymous group of self-described "Twitter detectives" released a grant proposal EcoHealth submitted to the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in early 2018. EcoHealth and its partners, which included the Wuhan Institute of Virology, wanted to inoculate wild bats in China with proteins from chimeric coronaviruses, reasoning that vaccinated bat immune systems would block viral replication and thus lessen the risk of the virus spilling over into local populations. According to the leaked documents, whose authenticity has only been indirectly verified, DARPA rejected the $14 million proposal, in part over concerns that the way the researchers proposed to engineer the viruses would put it in the GOF category.

Gain-of-function research accounts for just a tiny sliver of the federal research portfolio, and the scientists who spoke with Undark were hard pressed to identify many important discoveries made through this line of research.

Casadevall cited the work of Fouchier and Kawaoka, which, he says, showed unequivocally that H5N1 had the capacity of airborne spread among mammals. "You could not have learned by any other experiments," he says. "Now we know that humanity faces a huge threat from all this bird flu; it just hasn't happened yet." And some pointed to the work of Ralph Baric, a virologist at the University of North Carolina, who pioneered the experimental techniques used in Wuhan.
Through a spokesperson, Baric declined to be interviewed for this article, citing a request from his university that he refrain from speaking to the press. Yet in a recent interview with MIT Technology Review, he claimed that this experimental method was instrumental in allowing him to identify high-risk SARS-like coronaviruses and test drugs against them. Fauci asserted in a 2012 editorial that the need to stay ahead of pandemic threats is the primary justification for gain-of-function research. However, Simon Wain-Hobson, a microbiologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, counters that "no one can predict the next pandemic, and if you can't do that, then the whole raison d'etre for gain-of-function falls apart."

Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist who works on virology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, agrees. "When you talk about an experiment in which the consequences of an accident are a global pandemic — it's really hard to even put that into a risk-benefit analysis," he says. SARS-CoV-2, he added, emerged in Wuhan "right under the noses of people doing this work, and nothing they did was useful in stopping it."

For his part, Casadevall steers towards the middle ground, and worries that if society overreacts against gain-of-function research, the field might become over-regulated, and then the experiments will never get done. "Not all pathogens have the same pandemic potential," he says. "And it would be really good if humanity knew which ones are more dangerous."
* * *
UPDATE: An earlier version of this piece incorrectly suggested that evolutionary biologist Jesse Bloom believed gain-of-function experiments being conducted in the Soviet Union might have caused the 1977 global epidemic of H1N1 flu. Bloom never said this, and the reference has been removed.

The risk of avian influenza transmission from wild waterfowl to poultry is negligible [Floridanewstimes.com, 28 Sep 2021]

A study by Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) shows that the risk of airborne transmission of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus from infected wild birds is negligible. The study paid particular attention to the aerial movement of particles from wild waterfowl droppings near poultry farms during the avian influenza risk season (October-March). We also considered aerosolation, in which the exhaled breath and cough of wild waterfowl infected with the avian influenza virus invade the ventilation system of the poultry farm. As a precaution, it is important to remove the carcasses of wild waterfowl and other wild birds that have died from highly pathogenic avian influenza from their habitat as soon as possible. Otherwise, corpse-eating scavengers may disperse their feathers. Dead wild bird feathers, and wild birds that have died from highly pathogenic avian influenza, contain the virus, which can survive for long periods of time in those feathers.

Introducing the virus into poultry
“Wild waterfowl such as ducks, geese, swans and seagulls are a natural repository of avian influenza virus. These wild waterfowl excrete the avian influenza virus when infected, which is important for introducing the virus into poultry. Can play a role in wild duck bird If you are infected with bird flu, it can invade those poultry farms if they accumulate near the poultry farms. For example, it can be attached to boots, clothing, or utensils, bedding can be brought outside the poultry house, or it can be brought in through a rat or rat with dung on its fur or legs.

In addition, previous experience suggests that the avian influenza virus can be transported from one farm to another if it is produced in large quantities by a large number of infected chickens in the poultry house. The project investigated whether the avian influenza virus could infect the poultry from wild birds infected near the poultry, “said Armin Elbers, research project leader and senior epidemiologist at WBVR.

Risk analysis
The focus of this risk analysis of aerial transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus from aerosols produced by the exhalation or cough of wild waterfowl contaminated feces or wild waterfowl infected with the avian influenza virus is so. It may be mitigated by using a windbreak mesh selected for the risk of a flu route.

In this study, a semi-quantitative risk analysis was performed by extensive literature review and field experiments were performed to investigate the potential for aerial movement of falling particles of birds during the high-risk avian influenza season. Identified the relevant building block.

Czech Republic reports H5 bird flu outbreak, first since May [Nasdaq, 28 Sep 2021]

By Robert Muller

PRAGUE, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The Czech Republic recorded an H5 bird flu outbreak at a small, non-commercial farm in the central region of the country, killing five geese of the nearly 30-bird flock, the State Veterinary Administration said on Tuesday.

The rest of the flock had to be culled and a protective perimeter was established around the farm to monitor poultry movements, the administration said.
It is the first bird flu case in the country since May.

S China's Dongguan reports one case of H5N6 avian flu [Global Time, 23 Sep 2021]

Dongguan, in South China's Guangdong Province, reported one new case of H5N6 bird flu on Tuesday, the second confirmed case in the province after a woman was infected with the virus on August 19 in Huizhou. Experts assessed that the case was a random and the risk of transmission of the virus is low at the current stage.

According to the Health Commission of Guangdong Province, the diagnosed patient surnamed Li, a 53-year-old male, is currently being treated at a designated hospital in Dongguan.

Experts pointed out that the H5N6 avian influenza virus is highly pathogenic to fowls. Since it was first discovered in poultry in China in 2008, it has gradually replaced the H5N1 avian influenza as the main virus prevalent in China's poultry farms and live poultry markets.

But in its natural state, the H5N6 avian influenza virus mainly infects birds and infections in humans rarely occur. As of the end of March 2021, only 25 human infections have been reported worldwide, and all are dispersed cases.

On April 12, the H5N6 avian flu was found in wild birds in Shenyang, a city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, which marked the first confirmed cases of the flu in China this year.

After May 2014, H5N6 human infection cases have been reported in several places in China, including Sichuan, Guangdong, Yunnan and Jiangxi provinces, where at least four people have died.

Experts from the Health Commission of Guangdong Province concluded that the emergence of the case was random and the risk of transmission of the virus is relatively low now. However, they warned that although the H5N6 avian influenza virus rarely infects humans, it should be given high priority and remain under surveillance to avoid the spread of the epidemic by human factors.

Introduction of infection routes for bird flu season 2020-2021 investigated [Mirage News, 16 Sep 2021]

Commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Utrecht University in collaboration with the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), Sovon, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR), and Royal GD researched the entry routes of the highly pathogenic bird flu in the 2020-2021 season. It reviewed the results from source and contact research, estimates of the entry time, and virus similarities for the infected farms.

Additionally, the biosecurity and numbers and types of wild birds were determined on-site.
WVBR conducted a genetic analysis that examined the similarities between the viruses found on the 12 farms that were infected. The genome sequences from the viruses found in poultry and wild birds were defined and compared. It demonstrated that there was an identical virus at the farms in Altforst and Puiflijk. It may be that these two farms were infected from the same source, but it cannot be excluded that the virus was transported between the farms. The viruses at the other ten farms were not identical and were related to viruses found in wild birds. This means independent introductions from wild birds caused the infection at those farms. This study shows that swift diagnostics and repression of the virus is very effective in the Netherlands which resulted in no or very limited spread to other farms during the HPAI H5N8 epidemic in 2020-2021.

France facing highly contagious virus as flu spreads across Europe - warning issued [Daily Express, 16 Sep 2021]

By KATIE HARRIS

A BIRD flu outbreak has been discovered in France as the virus spreads in Europe.

The outbreak in Aisne was announced by officials on Wednesday evening. It comes as the virus is spreading in Europe with cases detected in Belgium and Luxembourg.

A statement said: "A clinical suspicion has just been confirmed today by the national reference laboratory in a farmyard located in the town of Aubenton.

"Like several European countries, France is facing a new episode of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI)."

The origin of the outbreak in Aisne is the "purchase of poultry in a Belgian market", according to officials.

Anyone who has bought birds from markets in Florenville, Arlon, Chimay, Tournai, Bastogne, Charleroi, Anderlecht is being urged to consult a vet if animals show symptoms of the virus.

However, a ban has not been imposed on the movement of poultry.

The prefecture is calling for "everyone's vigilance" in order to "detect any possible case at the first signs".

It comes after France raised its bird flu alert last week following the discovery of the H5N8 strain among ducks, hens, turkeys and pigeons at a household in the Ardennes region.
The ministry said the animals were slaughtered as a precaution.

It said: "The health situation regarding highly pathogenic avian influenza is worrying.

"Since August 1, 25 cases have been detected in Europe among wild and captive birds."
Two cases were also reported last week in Belgium.

One was at a bird merchant and one at a private home.

Another was detected at a home in Luxembourg that has been linked to the merchant in Belgium.

The latest cases prompted France to increase its risk assessment to "moderate" from "negligible".

The change means poultry will be kept indoors in some areas.

Tatarstan is under threat of the bird flu — RealnoeVremya.com [Realnoe vremya, 13 Sep 2021]

By Sergey Afanasyev

“Private farms are the weakest link, there is zero protection”

Veterinarians have urged Tatarstan farmers to “urgently slaughter” mature poultry. The goal is to prevent the appearance and spread of a highly pathogenic flu bird in the republic.

“There was a dull in summer, thank God, but migratory wild birds in autumn are a direct threat of spreading the flu, especially in the last years. The highly pathogenic flu is especially dangerous,” warned vice head of the Main Veterinary Office of the Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers Gabdulkhak Motygullin.

The functionary urged directors of poultry farms, especially small private farms, do not “self-diagnose,” if the poultry are dying or behaving strangely (refuse to eat), urgently go to regional veterinary services.

“While the owner is doing experiments with drugs, we can miss the precious time to localise the flu,” Motygullin noted.

Countrymen and farmers, especially large farms, must isolate their poultry from wild migratory birds, particularly wild ducks. In 2020, precisely the latter became the cause of the spread of the bird flu in Tatarstan. Veterinarians also urge farmers to protect their farms because in case of infection and an outbreak, all the poultry will have to be burnt

“In Tatarstan, we have a lot of poultry, about 18 million commercial poultry. Private farms are the weakest link, there is zero protection, therefore their poultry cannot have access to water.”

As veterinarians are controlling the situation in the republic, more than ten outbreaks of the bird flu have been registered in Astrakhan, Rostov, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen, Krasnodar Oblasts and in Dagestan and Tuva. Specialists emphasise that though the viral disease hits the vascular and central nervous system, there might be no bird flu symptoms, it is nearly impossible to diagnose this disease after the poultry dies.

“We cannot redirect the birds”
According to orders of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, owners must keep the poultry enclosed without contact with wild birds. They also must provide access to their birds on specialists’ every request and inform agencies in case of mortality or strange behaviour.

Poultry are prohibited from being brought from other regions without the authorities’ consent and corresponding documents. Those who sell the poultry, first of all, must regularly disinfect transport.

Vice head of the Tatarstan office of Russia’s agriculture watchdog Yevgeny Ivanov noted that the situation in Russia is relatively not bad, 18 flu outbreaks have been registered. To compare, in Europe, they total over 500, around the world, there have been more than 1,000 cases in 2021. But this also concerns specialists because Tatarstan farmers buy pedigree poultry mainly in Europe. Samples are taken to prevent the virus from entering the territory of Russia during customs clearance.

“The situation is calm now. But the threat persists. The bird flu started to spread in Tatarstan in 2020 precisely in Chelyabinsk, gradually it came here together with migratory birds,” Ivanov paid attention.”

Tatarstan is in a risk zone due to its location at the confluence of two rivers, the Volga and Kama Rivers, said Rinat Chispiyakov, vice director of the Animal and Vegetal Life Protection Office of the Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers and head of the Tatarstan State Committee for Biological Resources. According to him, the republic has very rich waters, this is why wild bird migration arteries cross our republic. All migratory birds stop by in Tatarstan in autumn, thus increasing the risk of bringing the bird flu.

“There were several cases of the flu that arrived in Tatarstan in spring because a part of birds remains in the republic for nesting: geese, swans... In autumn, the birds will transit our republic.
And then their number will be bigger, hundreds of millions of birds. Unfortunately, we can do nothing, we cannot redirect the birds, so we have to invite hunters,” Chispiyakov claimed.”

“Now we have half a million swine in Tatarstan, however, there is no treatment for the fever”
African swine fever (ASF) is another dangerous seasonal disease that is directly linked with the Tatarstan Agro-Industrial Complex. Here there situation is by far worse, it is already spreading at a high speed across Russia: 68 outbreaks are in quarantine, including Tatarstan’s
neighbours Mari El and Samara Oblast. One fever outbreak is so far known in Tatarstan, which is in Novosheshminsk District, at Krasnovidovo farm where the quarantine declared in summer will soon be lifted.

“African fever is dangerous, infection a hundred per cent leads to death. If a swine survives, it becomes a virus carrier. In Tatarstan, now we have half a million swine, moreover, there is no treatment for the fever. I recommend banning an outdoor swine enclosure for farmers and other animal owners. Rodents, gnats, the soil can transmit this infection,” Gabdulkhak Motygullin explains.

To solve the problem, veterinarians closely worked with swine resellers in Tatarstan so that the latter will obtain a sales permit in Mercury system. At the same time, wild boars, key infection transmitters, are killed. There used to be a lot of boars in the republic, more than 4,000. In 2021, 890, or 0,13 per 1,000 hectares, have left. To prevent the appearance of the fever in swine enterprises of Tatarstan, it is necessary to reduce the population of the wild boar, functionaries justify themselves: “Otherwise, we won’t save this production.” Sadly, the virus got to the wild fauna in Tatarstan. Yevgeny Ivanov noted that African fever was first registered precisely in Russia, back in 2007. Since then, the virus seized the whole world, first reaching Europe (Germany, Latvia and so on), in 2018, it got to China. Ultimately, African swine fever has made its way to Northern America in 2021.

All boars won’t be killed, as few as a thousand will remain
According to head of the Tatarstan State Committee for Biological Resources Rinat Chispiyakov, AFS first got to Tatarstan in 2020. As a result, supervisory agencies create 20-kilometre buffer zones on the perimeter of the republic’s border. In the case of the outbreak in the same Novosheshminsk District, in Krasnovidovo, a 100-kilometre territory was in quarantine (hunting is still banned there, 24 swine were destroyed). Then, the buffer zones expanded: 20-kilometre zones are created around large swine farms and 10-kilometre areas around others.

Nevertheless, veterinarians and ecologists believe that the boars as species won’t go extinct in Tatarstan. There is a norm: 1,000 head for the whole territory of the republic, no more (a risk of fever). “There must not be boars” around swine farms to rule out infection. Also, it was noted at the press conference that “it is physically impossible to wipe out boars.”

Specialists urged farmers not to hope for some compensation from the authorities after the slaughter of both their poultry and swine. Since due to the coronavirus epidemic the budget was adopted with a big deficit, the state may not have the money for such compensation.

Functionaries also said that 1,500 head of cattle, 2,500 swine and about 150,000 poultry are weekly brought to Tatarstan.

France raises bird flu alert level after severe form of virus detected [Euronews, 10 Sep 2021]

France has raised its bird flu alert level after a severe strain of the virus was detected on a northern farm.

A severe strain of the virus was reported this week at a private household in the Ardennes region, near the border with Belgium.

The French Ministry of Agriculture announced that it had immediately raised the risk level in the country to "moderate".

Birds and poultry have also been and quarantined in sensitive areas from Friday, the ministry added.

The new case comes less than a week after France officially announced the end of the influenza outbreak that saw more than 3.5 million birds culled last winter.

But the ministry said in a statement that the reports of the infection did not call into question their actions.

The new highly contagious H5N8 strain of avian influenza was found at a private property, where the birds are not sold. All the animals have now been euthanised to prevent further cases.

Since the beginning of September, two cases of H5N8 have also been declared in Belgium, while another linked case of the virus was also found in Luxembourg.

Since the beginning of August, 25 cases have been detected in wildlife and other captive birds in Europe, French authorities say.

By raising the risk level from "negligible" to "moderate", France has ordered that all poultry must be kept inside shelters and has issued a ban on any public bird competitions. Animals in zoos that cannot be confined must also be vaccinated under the measures.

The ministry said that all the measures taken on Friday would be accompanied by "daily clinical surveillance in all farms".

Between November and May, France had recorded nearly 500 outbreaks of avian influenza in poultry farms, mainly in the southwest of the country.

Bird flu outbreaks can prompt importing countries, notably in Asia, to impose trade restrictions on poultry products. France is the world's largest producer of duck foie gras, with annual sales estimated at €2 billion.

Will the H10N3 Avian Flu Strain, Now in Humans, Become the Next Pandemic? [BioSpace, 8 Sep 2021]

By Gail Dutton

The first human case of a new strain of avian flu was diagnosed in China in late May. Chinese health authorities say there is a low risk of contagion. After China notoriously underreported COVID-19 mortality, can this new assurance be trusted?

Dubbed H10N3, this strain of bird flu is a subtype of the Influenza A virus. It was diagnosed May in a 41-year-old man in Jiangsu province. The man developed symptoms April 23, was admitted to a hospital April 28, and diagnosed a month later. A few days ago, China’s National Health Authority announced he was ready to be discharged, according to coverage by The Wall Street Journal.

There was no information about how the man contracted the H10N3 virus, but the public was advised to avoid contact with sick poultry.

That advice was based on previous outbreaks of other strains of avian flu – notably Asian lineage H7N9 and HPAI Asian lineage H5N1. Those incidents occurred after close contacts with infected poultry, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). So far, however, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission for the H10N3 strain, and the Chinese government says contact tracing efforts have not identified any other cases.

So far, so good.

Of course, China has a history of downplaying outbreaks. The SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused COVID-19 was responsible for illnesses as early as October 2019 that weren’t reported until late December 2019. Even then, the risk was minimized until other nations realized the severity of the situation.

Estimates of mortality figures in Wuhan, based on crematorium activity in January and February of 2020, for example, suggested 10-fold more deaths than normal. Early in the COVID-19 outbreak, China cracked down on scientists by requiring extra scrutiny on academic research papers relating to the cause of the pandemic before determining whether they could be published, CNN reported in April 2020. This spring, leaked documents revealed the underreporting of serious adverse conditions by China’s health authorities.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 tracker reports that nearly 172 million people have been infected and nearly 3.7 million have died, globally, from COVID-19. It reports 103,094 cases of COVID-19 in China and 4,846 deaths from a population of 1.4 billion people, versus the 33.3 million U.S. cases and 6,723 deaths from a population of nearly 327 million.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak that began in November 2002 in Guangdong province is another example. At the time, SARS was an unknown virus and physicians didn’t understand what was going on. Reporting was slow and the Chinese government admitted underreporting the numbers. Eventually, 8,096 people died in 26 nations.
Sometimes, of course, it’s right to merely keep an eye on things. Although the 2009 outbreak of a strain of H1N1 killed between nearly 152,700 and 575,400 worldwide, according to CDC estimates, the G4 strain of the H1N1 virus that emerged in 2020 still seems to be relatively benign despite having potentially pandemic-causing characteristics.

Hopefully, the H10N3 virus that just jumped to human will be a similarly uneventful infectious disease. After both SARS and COVID-19, however, the world is wary.

Avian influenza strains often originate in Asia and rarely spread to human populations. The H10N3 strain of the influenza virus is likely to follow that pattern. Even among birds it is rare, Filip Claes, regional laboratory coordinator for the United Nation's Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases, told Reuters.

Rarity doesn’t affect lethality, though.

A prior strain of H5N1 first was detected in geese in 1996 before jumping to humans in 1997. Only about 700 human cases have been reported since that jump. Those cases, however, had a 60% mortality rate. Mortality was highest among people between the ages of 10 and 19, the CDC reported, most likely because older adults still had immunity from a related virus that swept the U.S. decades earlier.

Unless the H10N3 virus becomes easily transmissible among humans, it doesn’t pose a significant health threat to the world’s human population. As Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, a professor at the department of microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York told the Wall Street Journal, “It is highly likely that this infection just represents one of the rare incidents of human infection with an avian influenza virus, without any more consequences.”

Avian Influenza A(H5N6) Case Confirmed in Mainland China [PrecisionVaccinations, 8 Sep 2021]

By Karen McClorey Hackett

(Precision Vaccinations)

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) announced today it is monitoring a human case of avian influenza A(H5N6) in the Mainland. The patient is in serious condition.

The case involves a 48-year-old woman living in Liuzhou, Guangxi, China, who had contact with live domestic poultry before the onset of symptoms. She is in serious condition, says the CHP.
Avian influenza (Bird Flu) is the disease caused by influenza type A viruses in animals. These viruses occur naturally among birds and domestic poultry.

"All novel influenza A infections, including H5N6, are notifiable infectious diseases in Hong Kong," a spokesman for the CHP said.

Travelers to China's Mainland or other affected areas must avoid visiting wet markets, live poultry markets, or farms. They should be alert to the presence of backyard poultry when visiting relatives and friends.

Travelers should also avoid purchasing live or freshly slaughtered poultry and avoid touching poultry/birds or their droppings. Furthermore, they should strictly observe personal and hand hygiene when visiting any place with live poultry.

Humans do not normally contract Avian flu viruses; however, human infections have occurred and are very lethal. From 2014 to date, China Mainland health authorities have reported 42 human cases of avian influenza A(H5N6).

The European Medicines Agency conditionally Authorized AstraZeneca's Pandemic influenza vaccine (P/LAIV) H5N1 in May 2017 to prevent influenza in an officially declared pandemic in children and adolescents.

The annual 'flu shot' does not offer protection against Avian influenza viruses, says the U.S. FDA.

Bird flu hits Tumu [Modern Ghana, 8 Sep 2021]

The Sissala East Municipal Department of Agriculture has announced the outbreak of Avian Influenza, otherwise known as Bird Flu, at Tumu in the Upper West Region.

“On 3rd September, 2021, bird carcasses sent to the Accra Veterinary Laboratory tested positive for Avian Influenza from a commercial poultry farm in Tumu, Sissala East Municipality,” it said.

A statement issued and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) by Mr Eric Tergu, the Sissala East Municipal Veterinary Officer, said the farm had been quarantined and biosecurity had been strengthened.

It said depopulation and disinfection of the farm was underway and that additional control measures being implemented included ban on movement in and out of the farm.

The statement said veterinary staff in the Municipality had also intensified surveillance for the disease and expressed confidence that stakeholders would collaborate with the Veterinary Services to prevent its spread.

Bird Flu is a viral zoonotic disease of chicken, turkey, guinea fowl, and other avian species, especially migratory waterfowl.

The disease is of public health importance because it can affect human beings as well.
Socio-economically it causes heavy losses in affected commercial poultry farms due to its ability to cause high morbidity and mortality.

Ghana had outbreaks of Avian Influenza in 2007, 2015, 2016 and 2018.

This year's outbreak has affected the Volta, Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti, Western and Western North regions and now the Upper West Region.