FEBruary 07 Health Alerts

The 15-year-old female was from Vientiane, where she developed influenza-like symptoms on 10 February and was hospitalized in Vietiane with fever and respiratory symptoms on 15 February. She sought medical care in neighbouring Thailand on 17 February and is currently in Nongkhai public hospital where she remains in stable condition. Samples taken by Lao epidemiologists and Thai clinicians were tested by the National Institute of Health in Thailand and were positive for H5N1 infection. The Lao Government is also providing samples to a WHO collaborating centre for examination.

On February 24 and 25, a team from the Thai and Lao ministries of health and WHO officials investigated the situation in the girl's village and those districts where poultry deaths had occurred earlier. Close contacts of the girl have been identified and are being monitored daily. The adults were provided prophylaxis with oseltamivir and to date, all of these people remain healthy

Kuwait has temporarily closed its only zoo after confirming that 20 cases of avian flu hade been found mostly in falcons according to a statement from the Ministry of Health on February 25th

The World Organization for Animal Health reports that a fresh outbreak of a virulent bird flu strain has been detected in poultry at two farms near the Laotian capital Vientiane, said.. The last reported outbreak of the H5N1 virus among poultry in Laos occurred in July 2006, also near Vientiane.

In Afghanistan bird flu was reported in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar. Samples of chicken in the Nangarhar provincial capital of Jalalabad were found to have the H5N1 strain, while the exact type of the outbreak in Kunar has yet to be confirmed. Afghanistan reported its first outbreaks of H5N1 in March and April last year in the capital Kabul and the provinces of Kapisa, Logar and Nangarhar.

The Maghazar zoo in the capital of Pakistan Islamabad has been closed to the public temporarily as a precaution after four peacocks and a goose died from the H5N1 virus.

The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population has announced a new human case of avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection. The case was confirmed by the Egyptian Central Public Health Laboratory and by the US Naval Medical Research Unit No.3 (NAMRU-3).

The 5-year-old boy from Sharkia Governorate was admitted to hospital with symptoms on 14 February, and his condition remains stable. The boy was exposed to sick birds one week prior to the onset of symptoms. Contacts of the boy remain healthy and have been placed under close observation.

Of the 22 cases confirmed to date in Egypt, 13 have been fatal.

WHO also concerned by global vaccine production capacity

16 FEBRUARY 2007 | GENEVA -- Experts meeting over the past two days at the World Health Organization (WHO) on advances in pandemic influenza vaccine development reported encouraging progress.

Sixteen manufacturers from 10 countries are developing prototype pandemic influenza vaccines against H5N1 avian influenza virus. Five of them are also involved in the development of vaccines against other avian viruses (H9N2, H5N2, and H5N3).

At present, more then 40 clinical trials have been completed or are ongoing. Most of them have focused on healthy adults. Some companies, after completing safety analyses in adults, have initiated clinical trials in the elderly and in children. All vaccines were safe and well tolerated in all age groups tested.

For the first time, results presented at the meeting have convincingly demonstrated that vaccination with newly developed avian influenza vaccines can bring about a potentially protective immune response against strains of H5N1 virus found in a variety of geographical locations. Some of the vaccines work with low doses of antigen, which means that significantly more vaccine doses can be available in case of a pandemic.

These developments were discussed at the WHO meeting on the evaluation of pandemic influenza prototype vaccines in clinical trials that took place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 15-16 February 2007. This was a third such meeting in just two years and its objectives were to review progress in the development of candidate vaccines against pandemic influenza viruses and to reach consensus on future priority activities.

More than 100 influenza vaccine experts—from academia, national and regional public health institutions, the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory bodies throughout the world—attended the meeting convened by the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research and the WHO Global Influenza Programme. Information on more than 20 projects was presented and discussed. Most manufacturers are using reference vaccine strains corresponding to H5N1 viruses provided from by WHO Collaborating Centres.

In spite of the encouraging progress noted at the WHO meeting, WHO stresses that the world still lacks the manufacturing capacity to meet potential global pandemic influenza vaccine demand as current capacity is estimated at less than 400 million doses per year of trivalent seasonal influenza vaccine.

In response to this challenge, WHO launched in 2006 the Global pandemic influenza action plan (GAP) to increase vaccine supply, a US$10 billion effort over 10 years. One of its aims is to enable developing countries to establish their own influenza vaccine production facilities through transfer of technology, providing them with the most sustainable and reliable response to the threat of pandemic influenza. WHO is currently working with several vaccine producers, mainly in developing countries affected by H5N1, to facilitate establishment of in-country influenza vaccine production.

Local and international news agencies are reporting statements from Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s animal and plant health agency, on confirmed cases of H5N1 infection in poultry in three villages close to Moscow. These are the first reports of outbreaks near the nation’s capital. Last month there was an outbreak in the southern Krasnodar region. There have not been any cases of human infection in Russia.

An Egyptian woman has tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza virus, bringing the total number of persons infected with the deadly bird flu strain in the country to 21, said a World Health Organization official on Wed 14 Feb 2007. The 37-year-old woman is from the oasis town of Fayoum, some 70 km. (45 miles) south of Cairo.

Turkey's agriculture ministry confirmed on Thu 8 Feb 2007 an outbreak of bird flu in backyard poultry  in the village of Bogazkoy in the Batman province in the south east part of the country.

New bird flu outbreaks in Pakistan