Alabama officials have received results on samples collected from one of the state's recently announced avian flu outbreaks, indicating low-pathogenic H7N9 detected in guinea fowl at the TaCo-Bet Trade Day flea market in Jackson County.
Also, Croatia reports its first high-path H5N5 outbreak in poultry.
A report today from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling on the two federal agencies responsible for ensuring the safety of the food supply to address oversight gaps and collect more information on the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals.
The affected flock is in the same county as the state's first high-path H7N9 outbreak.
The agency says there's still no evidence H7N9 has gained capacity for sustained spread.
China today reported another highly pathogenic H5N6 avian influenza outbreak in poultry, this time in backyard ducks in Hubei province, officials said in a report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). The outbreak began on Mar 3, and, of 767 susceptible birds, the virus sickened 134 and killed 86. Authorities culled the surviving ducks.
Yesterday Saudi Arabia announced one new MERS-CoV case in a healthcare worker from Wadi Al-Dawasir. This is the tenth case in what appears to be a hospital-based outbreak in that city.
The patient is a 36-year-old expatriate man who presented with no symptoms of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus). His infection is listed as secondary and acquired in a healthcare setting.
The outbreaks are close to where Tennessee recently confirmed two H7N9 events.
Nepal also reports H5N1 at a zoo, while 5 European nations confirm more H5N8 outbreaks.
The newly affected farm is one county over from a farm previously hit by high-path H7N9.
