Latest news with #H5N1
Hindustan Times
4 hours ago
- Health
- Hindustan Times
Bird flu confirmed in Odisha's Puri district; over 6000 chickens to be culled
Over 6,000 chickens would be culled after the National Institute for High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal, confirmed the presence of H5N1 avian influenza virus in samples taken from the infected poultry in Odisha's Puri district on Saturday, officials said. Avian influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Influenza A(H5N1) is the most common cause of bird flu in humans. (Representational image) Dr. Somnath Das, the Block Veterinary Officer of Delang in Puri said, over 6,000 chickens would be culled and buried in Bada Ankula village, the epicentre of the infection. 'Since the last two weeks, there have been reports of thousands of chickens dying in poultry firms in the district. We had sent samples of other birds to the National Institute for High Security Animal Diseases which confirmed that the chickens are infected with H5N1 virus. To contain the spread of the virus, bird culling will be carried out within a 1-kilometre radius of the epicentre. Additionally, a 10-kilometre radius will be under surveillance from the culling centre,' he said. As a precautionary measure, all poultry shops within 10 kilometres of the affected area will be closed. The authorities are taking these steps to prevent further spread of the virus and contain the outbreak. Five Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) have been deployed to conduct surveys and raise awareness among poultry owners and sellers. The teams are expected to assist in enforcement and ensure all guidelines are followed in the high-risk zone. In February this year, an outbreak of bird flu or avian influenza was reported from Pipili area of Puri prompting the authorities to cull more than 11,700 chickens after detecting the H5N1 strain of avian influenza. Avian influenza, commonly called 'bird flu,' is a viral infection that spreads in birds but can sometimes spread to humans. Avian influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Influenza A(H5N1) is the most common cause of bird flu in humans. However, recently, bird flu in humans has been found due to H7N7 and H7N9 strains of the influenza.
New Indian Express
8 hours ago
- Health
- New Indian Express
Bird flu outbreak confirmed in Odisha's Puri district, over 6,000 poultry to be culled
BHUBANESWAR: A fresh outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed in Puri district, prompting emergency containment measures and mass culling of poultry to prevent further spread of the infection. The Odisha government swung into action on Saturday after the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, confirmed that samples collected from Bada Ankula village in Delanga block tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The Puri district administration immediately declared the village the epicentre of the outbreak, initiating a series of containment operations. A one-kilometre 'infected zone' around the village has been demarcated for culling and disinfection. Initial estimates suggest that over 6,000 poultry birds within the area will be culled. Surveillance has been stepped up in the 10-km radius surrounding the epicentre. Poultry shops have been closed, and the movement of poultry products strictly restricted under tightened biosecurity protocols. Sources said the village had witnessed unusual poultry deaths over the past week, but the outbreak was officially confirmed only after villagers raised concerns and officials collected samples on 9 July. Following confirmation of the H5N1 virus, authorities have intensified their response.
The Independent
a day ago
- Health
- The Independent
Child hospitalised abroad as bird flu cases climb
Cambodia 's Ministry of Health recently confirmed the country's twelfth human case of H5N1 avian influenza so far this year. The patient, a five-year-old boy from Kampot province, is currently in intensive care with severe respiratory symptoms. The announcement, on July 3, came just days after a 19-month-old child in neighbouring Takeo province died from the same virus. To date, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission. But the steady increase in cases has renewed attention to the risks posed by H5N1. This highly pathogenic bird flu virus spreads rapidly among poultry and occasionally jumps to humans, often with deadly consequences. Since 2003, there have been at least 954 reported human infections globally, nearly half of them fatal, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Experts have long considered H5N1 a serious pandemic threat due to its high mortality rate and potential to evolve. The recent Cambodian cases are linked to the 2.3.2.1e lineage of H5N1 (previously known as 2.3.2.1c), a strain that has circulated for decades in poultry across Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. From 2005 to 2014, Cambodia saw sporadic but severe human infections – then almost a decade passed without new cases. That changed in 2023 when six human cases were reported. The numbers have since climbed: ten in 2024, and now 12 in the first half of 2025. Of these recent infections, at least 12 – about 43% – have been fatal. A troubling pattern is also emerging: seven of this year's cases occurred in June alone, according to the WHO's latest Disease Outbreak News update. Animal pandemic Globally, however, a different H5N1 lineage – 2.3.4.4b – has dominated in recent years. This strain sparked a devastating wave of avian outbreaks starting in 2021, sweeping across continents and decimating wild bird and poultry populations. It also spread to mammals, leading scientists to label it an 'animal pandemic'. Although it no longer causes mass die-offs, 2.3.4.4b remains widespread and dangerous, particularly because of its capacity to infect mammals. It has been linked to about 70 human cases in the US alone, with only one death recorded so far, and is under investigation for suspected mammal-to-mammal transmission in species, including US dairy cattle and seals. Influenza viruses are notoriously prone to genetic reassortment – a process by which two or more strains infect the same host and exchange genetic material. These events can sometimes generate new, more transmissible or deadly variants. In April 2024, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation reported the emergence of a reassortant virus in Vietnam. This new strain combines surface proteins from the long-standing 2.3.2.1e virus with internal genes from the globally dominant 2.3.4.4b. Evidence suggests that this reassortant virus may be driving the rise in Cambodian human infections. A 2024 study, which has not yet undergone peer review, found that the new virus carries genetic markers that could enhance its ability to infect humans – although it is not yet considered human-adapted. According to the study's authors, this reassortant form has become the predominant strain found in poultry across the region in recent years. So far, all confirmed human cases in Cambodia have been linked to direct contact with infected or dead poultry – often in small, rural backyards. This suggests that the country's 'one health' strategy, which aims to integrate human, animal and environmental health responses, is functioning as intended. Although some gaps clearly remain. Food safety and food security remain serious concerns across much of Cambodia and Southeast Asia. Limited veterinary oversight, informal poultry markets, lack of compensation for poultry losses due to disease, and poor biosecurity may offer the virus opportunities to persist and evolve – and potentially reach more people. Since the COVID pandemic, advances in disease surveillance and reporting have made it easier to detect and confirm human infections, Dr Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran, head of the Pathogen Evolution Lab at Hong Kong University, told me over email. However, he notes that surveillance remains heavily concentrated in urban areas and the commercial poultry sector, while rural settings and interactions with wild birds are poorly monitored. Expanding surveillance to these overlooked areas will be vital, he says, if the world hopes to better understand – and prepare for – the next potential influenza pandemic.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Trump administration sues California over cage-free egg and animal welfare laws
The Trump administration has sued California over the state's voter-approved animal welfare law, which protects hens, pigs and calves from being kept in small cages, claiming the law has driven up egg prices and violates federal farming laws and regulations. 'California has contributed to the historic rise in egg prices by imposing unnecessary red tape on the production of eggs,' wrote lawyers in the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Wednesday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta vowed to defend the state law. 'Pointing fingers won't change the fact that it is the President's economic policies that have been destructive. We'll see him in court,' Bonta said in a statement. California's animal-welfare law was approved by voters as Proposition 12 in 2018. The law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023. 'In a functioning democracy, policy choices like these usually belong to the people and their elected representatives,' wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, in the lead opinion. He said that while many state laws may have economic effects in other states, they are only in violation of the Constitution if they were written with the intent to interfere with interstate commerce. The Department of Justice contends the California law preempts federal laws, including the Egg Products Inspection Act, and that no state has the right to institute its own standards on the production or 'quality, condition, weight, quantity or grade' of eggs that differs from those set by the federal government. The law has been repeatedly challenged by the National Pork Producers Council and others. Just last month, the Supreme Court declined to accept a petition for certiorari from the Iowa Pork Producers Council. In the suit filed Wednesday, the Justice Department contends that California's egg standards 'do not advance consumer welfare' and are 'not based in specific peer-reviewed published scientific literature or accepted as standards within the scientific community to reduce human food-borne illness . . . or other human or safety concerns.' Egg prices soared earlier this year, soon after Trump took office. Most experts pointed to the H5N1 bird flu epidemic as the cause of the spike, as millions of egg-laying chickens across the nation were euthanized to prevent the spread. Prices have since moderated as the outbreak has diminished. In the past 30 days, there has been only one reported commercial flock infection in Pennsylvania. The birds were not egg layers. In February, the US Department of Agriculture's Secretary, Brooke Rollins, penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal suggesting the Trump Administration would target the law. California egg producers have in the past opposed changing the law. Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, said in an interview in February that California egg farmers had spent millions of dollars to upgrade and adapt their farms. Reversing the law would put California poultry farmers — and all the other egg producers that sell to California — at a huge economic disadvantage by requiring them to invest millions more dollars to buy cages and re-adapt their facilities for such operations. Animal welfare advocates say the lawsuit is short-sighted and has the potential to hurt California's egg laying industry. 'With this ill-considered legal action, the Administration is dropping a set of stink bombs into the bosom of the egg industry,' said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. He said California egg farmers are still recovering from the bird flu outbreak, and this suit, if successful, would disrupt the still fragile supply chain 'and provide an opening for egg farmers from Mexico – which have no animal welfare standards at all—to access the California market.'
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Hindustan Times
Thousands of poultry deaths reported in Odisha district amid fears of bird flu
Five months after bird flu cases were reported in several poultry farms in Odisha's coastal Puri district, the region is once again witnessing concern, with over 500 poultry deaths recently reported and claims suggesting more than 5,000 bird deaths over the past week. A worker feeds chickens at a poultry farm. (PTI) Veterinary department officials in Puri said over the past several days, several poultry farms in the district have reported an unusual number of deaths amid concerns of a bird flu outbreak. 'The deaths have been reported mostly from several villages of Delang area. Though poultry farm owners claim the deaths to be due to avian influenza, we are yet to get a confirmation. We have sent samples of chicken droppings and blood to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Disease, Bhopal for confirmation,' Puri district chief veterinary officer Dr Sarat Kumar Behera. Officials said thousands of chicken deaths have been reported in villages like Amula, Sishuapada, Gediput, Matiapada, Beguniapada, Singhabrahmapur, Tinpur and Gadmotata of Delang block. District Chicken Farmers Development Forum advisor Ashok Pradhan said the government should provide assistance to the affected chicken farmers. In February this year, an outbreak of bird flu or avian influenza was reported from Pipili area of Puri prompting the authorities to cull more than 11,700 chickens after detecting the H5N1 strain of avian influenza. Avian influenza, commonly called 'bird flu', is a viral infection that spreads in birds but can sometimes spread to humans. Avian influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Influenza A(H5N1) is the most common cause of bird flu in humans. However, recently, bird flu in humans has been found due to H7N7 and H7N9 strains of the influenza.
