Jan 9, 2013
H7N3 poultry outbreaks return to Mexico
Officials culled almost 300,000 poultry after highly pathogenic H7N3 avian influenza killed 740 birds on one layer farm and the virus was detected on another farm in the area, according to a report today from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Both farms are in Aguascalientes state in central Mexico. The outbreaks are Mexico's first since a series of H7N3 outbreaks led to the culling of millions of poultry last summer in the adjacent state of Jalisco and caused egg prices to soar. In the current outbreaks, "Timely notification from the farmer and surveillance activities allowed immediate depopulation of the two affected production units, reason why both outbreaks identified are closed," the OIE report said. The first outbreak involved 2,990 sick and 740 dead poultry and led to the culling of the remaining 146,755 birds on the farm. The second outbreak was detected during active surveillance by the state and involved the culling of 138,000 additional birds. In sum, 284,015 poultry were culled. Workers have decontaminated both farms.
Jan 9 OIE report
H5N1 found in 20% of environmental samples from Cambodian bird markets
About 20% of environmental samples from Cambodian live-poultry markets were positive for H5N1 avian flu in a recent study, according to a report yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Cambodian researchers collected samples for 7 weeks in 2011 from poultry cages or stalls housing chickens and ducks at four live-poultry markets. Two of the markets were in Phnom Penh, one in Takeo province, and one in Kampong Cham—all in south-central Cambodia. Of the 502 environmental samples tested, 90 (18%) were H5N1-positive by polymerase chain reaction, and 10 (2%) by virus isolation, with water samples yielding the highest rates of positive findings. The researchers write that environmental sampling of these markets would better detect H5N1 than the current method of using cloacal or throat swabs, which they say rarely detects the virus.
Jan 8 Emerg Infect Dis report
