Update H7N9 AI outbreak in China, ECDC, April 10, 2013
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On 31 March 2013, the Chinese health authorities announced that they identified a novel influenza A(H7N9) virus in three seriously ill patients. As of 9 April 2013, 26 human cases of infection with influenza A(H7N9) virus have been reported in four provinces of China: Shanghai (13), Jiangsu (8), Zhejiang (3) and Anhui (2). Of these patients, 8 people have died, 15 are severe cases and 3 are mild cases. No epidemiological link has been identified among cases. The source of these infections and the mode of transmission are yet to be determined. This is the first time that human infection with influenza A(H7N9) virus has been identified. No vaccine is currently available for this subtype of the influenza virus. Preliminary test results suggest that the virus is susceptible to the neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir).
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Applying regulation EU1099/2009 within the poultry industry
Several EU funded studies showed that the concern for animal welfare is one of the factors affecting the consumer’s choice of a product. There is a clear gap between consumer views and the day-to-day practice of killing animals on the farm in this regard. This can lead to public campaigning by welfare pressure groups against the poultry industry, resulting in public outrage with an unpredictable political, financial and economic outcome.
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First Human Becomes Infected By H6N1 Bird Flu In Taiwan
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Nitrogen generation: Important new animal welfare application
In the attached presentation, you will find a detailed description of a new animal welfare application based on the use of mobile nitrogen generation: The N2GF Technology. Nitrogen gas foam has some astonishing features:
• Simplicity - creating nitrogen gas foam follows a simple protocol - the systems are easy to assemble – easy to operate – easy to clean & disinfect;
• Cost effective - only affordable disposal materials are used for the culling bag – no maintenance costs – low investments. Compared to existing Co2 systems, the consumption of gas is reduced by up to 80%;
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Regulation EU 1099/2009 English
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I would like express gratitude to the HSA for their 20 years of tireless advocacy for improving pigs' welfare. Their efforts have empowered those seeking alternatives to carbon dioxide stunning. Over nearly 30 years, I've worked on animal welfare friendly stunning applications, particularly regarding stunning/slaughtering using nitrogen foam, and I believe I've found the definitive answer.
The industry originally adopted large-scale carbon dioxide stunning to optimize food production, reduce costs, and lower meat prices, which is only feasible with parallel processing (simultaneously stunning groups of pigs) rather than serial processing (stunning each pig individually). Electrocution is not viable for large-scale operations due to this need for parallel processing. Therefore, a replacement gas that lacks carbon dioxide's detrimental properties is needed, but only a few gases are suitable.
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New Risk assessment model
The applications designed for farrow-to-weaner pig farms rely on a novel risk assessment model. This model, developed from a recent study, indicates that the likelihood of an undetected infection on nearby farms notably diminishes 7 to 14 days following the identification of the source farm.
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According to this premise, instead of the standard depopulation approach of euthanizing pigs on-site, pigs beyond the immediate vicinity of infected farms are slaughtered.
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Opting for slaughtering over on-farm euthanasia not only reduces the operational burden on farms but also repurposes the pigs as a valuable protein source rather than considering them as animal waste. This approach assists in crisis management during widespread outbreaks, significantly reduces expenses, and simultaneously mitigates risks.
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Managing large-scale outbreaks at Farrow-to-Weaner Farms
In the face of large-scale outbreaks of swine Influenza A Virus (swIAV), there's a call for exploring various strategies conducive to managing emergencies in field conditions.
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In the attached presentation, you will find a detailed description of a new animal welfare application based on the use of mobile nitrogen generation: The N2GF Technology. Nitrogen gas foam has some astonishing features:
• Simplicity - creating nitrogen gas foam follows a simple protocol - the systems are easy to assemble – easy to operate – easy to clean & disinfect;
• Cost effective - only affordable disposal materials are used for the culling bag – no maintenance costs – low investments. Compared to existing Co2 systems, the consumption of gas is reduced by up to 80%;
• Safe culling - Nitrogen is non-toxic – safe storage/transport – safe disposal;
• Animal welfare - once the animals are exposed to 99,5% nitrogen in the foam, they are stunned and slaughtered within 1,5 minutes by anoxia;
• Stability - when the gas foam is used in a container, the foam at the entrance of the container works as concealment.
This technology forms the basis for a new slaughter concept based on the use of high expansion foam, filled with 99,5% nitrogen.
Regulation EU 1099/2009 English
Description of Regulation EU 1099/2009 in English, applicable since January 1, 2013 for slaughter and killing of animals within the European Union.
Low Atmospheric Pressure Stunning is not a humane alternative to Carbon Dioxi...
I would like express gratitude to the HSA for their 20 years of tireless advocacy for improving pigs' welfare. Their efforts have empowered those seeking alternatives to carbon dioxide stunning. Over nearly 30 years, I've worked on animal welfare friendly stunning applications, particularly regarding stunning/slaughtering using nitrogen foam, and I believe I've found the definitive answer.
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a) Applicability of the methods for stunning and killing pigs, including their scalability for large-scale application.
b) Description of the technical.
c) Animal welfare consequences associated with specific techniques, including welfare hazards (ABMs), animal-based indicators (ABIs), preventive and corrective measures, and the sufficiency of scientific literature in describing these consequences.
d) Applicability under field conditions.
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The alternative gas is nitrogen, and the application is based on using high-expansion foam filled with 100% nitrogen, applied in a closed container. Within a minute, all air is displaced by the foam, after which the container is sealed, and the foam is broken down with a powerful nitrogen pulse. This ensures that the foam does not affect the stunning process; the entire process can be visually and electronically monitored, and the residual oxygen level in the container is consistently below 2%. The container dimensions are identical to the gondolas used in the globally implemented carbon dioxide gondola system.
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This marks the first step toward replacing carbon dioxide in 25 years. Fingers crossed for the EU Commission's decision in June 2024!
Harm Kiezebrink
Independent Expert
Preventief ruimen bij vogelgriep in pluimveedichte gebieden en mogelijkheden ...
New Risk assessment model
The applications designed for farrow-to-weaner pig farms rely on a novel risk assessment model. This model, developed from a recent study, indicates that the likelihood of an undetected infection on nearby farms notably diminishes 7 to 14 days following the identification of the source farm.
This risk assessment model is based a Dutch study that is published by T.J. Hagenaars et al on June 30, 2023: “Preventief ruimen bij vogelgriep in pluimveedichte gebieden en mogelijkheden voor aanvullende bemonstering” (Preventive culling in areas densely populated with poultry, and possibilities for additional sampling).
According to this premise, instead of the standard depopulation approach of euthanizing pigs on-site, pigs beyond the immediate vicinity of infected farms are slaughtered.
Animal Health Canada is currently evaluating new strategies and technologies for managing large-scale emergency situations involving pigs. I have been actively involved in developing strategies and procedures aimed at implementing strict control measures for pig euthanasia during emergencies, with a focus on substantially reducing costs by avoiding unnecessary culling and destruction of healthy animals.
Opting for slaughtering over on-farm euthanasia not only reduces the operational burden on farms but also repurposes the pigs as a valuable protein source rather than considering them as animal waste. This approach assists in crisis management during widespread outbreaks, significantly reduces expenses, and simultaneously mitigates risks.
While this approach is influenced by the new EU regulations implemented since May 2022, it can be adapted for implementation within the context of any EU Member state, as well as in the USA and Canada.
Managing large-scale outbreaks at Farrow-to-Weaner Farms
In the face of large-scale outbreaks of swine Influenza A Virus (swIAV), there's a call for exploring various strategies conducive to managing emergencies in field conditions.
Through subdivision, a customized approach can be embraced to enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness while mitigating the impact on individual farms. This tactic maximizes emergency deployment capacity and streamlines standard procedures. Moreover, leveraging the existing capacity of farming aids in alleviating scrutiny on animal welfare standards, presenting a notable advantage.
Nitrogen filled high expansion foam in open Containers
On March 31, 2023 the US National Pork Board validated a study by Todd Williams, of Pipestone Veterinary Services, based on the use of high expansion nitrogen foam for the large-scale depopulation of all classes of swine, utilizing Livetec Systems Nitrogen Foam Delivery System (NFDS).
The high expansion foam produced by the Livetec Systems NFDS surrounds the animal in large bubbles filled with nitrogen with a base expansion ration of between 300 and 350 to 1, as mentioned on the information provided by the producer of the firefighting foam.
The Livetec technology, based on using Compressed Air Foam (CAF) filled with nitrogen instead of air for depopulating pigs, emerges within a critical landscape. The complexities of implementing effective emergency depopulation strategies for livestock, particularly swine, present multifaceted challenges. Livetec's approach relies on high expansion firefighting foam, aiming to euthanize pigs by submerging them in foam.
The Livetec system's claims about the effectiveness of nitrogen-filled high expansion foam for depopulating market pigs lack substantial evidence upon analysis. The discrepancy between the actual foam produced during field trials and the promised high expansion foam, coupled with the absence of concrete proof supporting the method's efficacy, discredits the technology's claims.
World bank evaluating the economic consequences of avian influenza
Pandemics cause very serious loss of life, restrictions of freedom and serious economic damage. Potential pandemics all are related to our dealing with animals, both wild and domesticated.
In this Word Bank study of 2006, the effects of a severe HPAI pandemic (with a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus crossing the species barrier and infecting humans) predicted economic losses from 2-10% of the world economy.
The economic impact of the present COVID-19 crisis, caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus spreading from wild animals to humans, probably will reach the upper limits of this prediction even if the losses of life might be near the lower limits mentioned in the report (1,4 millions rather than 71 millions).
A common observation is that governments were late to react on the COVID-19 outbreak.
Pandemics are rare, so due to cost-benefit considerations emergency preparations do usually not get beyond an advisory (paperwork) phase. When an emergency eventually arises, the response is too late, too little, and with disastrous effects on animal and/or human welfare that could have been avoided. Relatively small, short-term financial savings result in big, long-term losses.
Protection against outbreaks cannot be achieved by political decisions during a crisis. Our dealing with animals, especially in animal production, must be inherently safe so that animal health and public health are protected.
This is recognized in the One Health strategy that has been adopted internationally.
An outbreak of animal disease occurs should be contained at a very early stage. This can only be realized if all farms have their own emergency plans, with equipment to deal with contagious diseases already present at the farm.
Gas alternatives to carbon dioxide for euthanasia a piglet perspective
The use of nitrous oxide as an anesthetic/euthanasia agent may prove to be affordable, feasible and more humane than other alternatives.
The neonatal stage is a critical time in the life of a pig, when they are prone to become sick or weak. This is the stage at which most euthanasia procedures are required if the pig is judged unable to recover. Any euthanasia method should be humane, practical, economical and socially acceptable to be universally accepted.
They found that nitrous oxide in oxygen appeared to be less aversive than nitrous oxide, nitrogen, or argon all combined with low (30%) concentrations of carbon dioxide or 90% carbon dioxide by itself.
This study is the first to investigate the use of nitrous oxide at sufficiently high concentrations to cause anesthesia. Nitrous oxide, commonly referred to as laughing gas, has been widely used in human surgery and dental offices for its pain-relieving, sedative and anxiolytic effects. It is cheap, non-flammable, non-explosive, legally accessible and not classified as a drug in the U.S., and already commonly used in the food industry as a propellant for food products.
Development of its use into an automated procedure will allow producers to implement it with little effort. Thus its use as an anesthetic/euthanasia agent may prove to be affordable, feasible and more humane than other alternatives.
Anoxia - applying the technique
Anoxia: High expansion foam
The Anoxia method is unique for creating an environment without oxygen under atmospheric circumstances. High expansion foam is produced by mixing nitrogen and a mixture of water and specially developed high expansion detergent, with an expansion rate upto 1:1000, meaning that 1 litre of water/foam agent mix expands up to 1 m3 foam. Due to the specially designed foam generator, the high expansion foam bubbles are filled with a > 99% concentration of nitrogen. The oxygen level surrounding the animal drops from 21% in atmospheric air to < 1 % once the animal is submerged in the foam.
Anoxia: convulsions, but no stress or pain
The animals need a constant supply of oxygen to the brain. Applying Anoxia foam, the oxygen is replaced by nitrogen. As a result the nitrogen level is raised to > 99% and the oxygen level is lowered to < 1%. Considering the natural reaction to sudden lack of oxygen the animal is rendering quickly into unconsciousness. As a consequence, behavioral indicators like loss of posture and convulsions will appear. With this in mind, unconscious animals are insensitive to perceive unpleasant sensations like pain.
Anoxia: How Anoxia foam is created
A mixture of 97% water and 3% high expansion foam agent is sprayed into the Anoxia foam generator, creating a thin film on the outlet of the generator. At the same time, nitrogen is added with overpressure into the foam generator. The nitrogen expands when it exits the generator, creating robust high expansion foam. The high expansion foam bubbles are filled with > 99% nitrogen.
Anoxia: Single foam generator systems
In practice, one Anoxia foam generator creates a volume of up to 750 liter of high expansion foam per minute. This volume is more than sufficient to fill a wheelie-bin container within 30 seconds. The most common container volumes are: M size - 240 liter; L size - 340 liter; and XL size - 370 liter. The choice of the volume of the container depends of the size of the animal and/or the number of animals that need to be stunned/killed. A lid with a chiffon that seals the container. As soon as the foam exits the chiffon, the gas supply is stopped and the chiffon is closed. The nitrogen gas concentration in the container remains at 99%.
Animal Euthanasia: What are the challenges?
Although commonly used in other settings, defining animal welfare as part of a corporate CSR setting is not new.
There are many ways to define CSR. What they have in common is that CSR describes how companies manage their business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. The phenomenon CSR is a value concept that is susceptible to particular ideological and emotional interpretations. Different organizations have framed different definitions - although there is considerable common ground between them.
Some important national players of the food chain at different steps (mainly food retailers and food services) have included animal welfare in their CSR.
Anoxia: what is it?
The Anoxia technique is developed as alternative for existing animal stunning methods that are based on the use of CO2, electrocution, neck dislocation, captive-bolt, as well as killing methods like de-bleeding and maceration.
In the past 10 years, Wageningen University and University of Glasgow conducted several studies that proved that the technique could be applied successfully for culling poultry (Proof of Principle Anoxia Technique). This was the start of the development of several applications based on the Anoxia principle, using high expansion foam filled with >99% Nitrogen that are now introduced for:
1. Stunning and killing of sick and cripple killing piglets less than 5 kg
2. Stunning and killing of sick or cripple poultry (especially poultry > 3kg) who need to be killed on the farm by the staff for welfare purposes (avoiding unnecessary stress or pain)
3. Stunning and killing poultry that arrives on the slaughterhouse but that are unfit to be slaughtered (due to injuries occurred during transportation – providing signs of possible illness etc.)
4. Stunning and killing of male pullets at the hatchery
5. Stunning and killing of half-hatched chickens and embryos in partly-hatched eggs, before destruction
6. Stunning and killing parent stock poultry
7. Killing of animals that has been stunned (captive bolt – blow-on-the-head method, etc.) replacing killing by de-bleeding
8. Culling of ex-layers
9. Culling of poultry for disease control purposes
Last November we started the launch of the commercialization of the Anoxia applications in Holland, Germany and Sweden, focusing on the areas where a solution is most needed: piglets (< 5kg) and poultry (> 3kg) on farms.
Since November 2016, the introduction of these applications took place in Holland, Germany, Sweden and Denmark
WHO warns of H7 N9 pandemic
World Health Organization director- general Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun warns bird flu H7N9 is particularly worrying as it could be a flu pandemic strain. This is because H7N9 is unique as it does not make chickens sick but is deadly in humans. Sick birds could usually provide early warning for imminent outbreaks, Chan told The Standard. This comes as Macau reported its first human case of H7N9 yesterday. "The biggest challenge for the world is the next influenza pandemic," Chan said.
Laves presentation practical experiences in the culling of poultry in germany
This presentation, based on the practical experiences in culling poultry in Germany, gives an overview of the culling techniques currently in use in Germany. It is presented by dr. Ursula Gerdes, dr. Josef Diekmann and ing. Rainer Thomes.
LAVES is the Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, located in Oldenburg, Germany. With around 900 employees they are entrusted with tasks in the areas of food and utensil inspection, feed inspection, meat hygiene, veterinary drug monitoring, eradication of animal diseases, disposal of animal by-products, animal welfare, ecological farming, market surveillance and technical process monitoring.
Berg et al. 2014 killing of spent laying hens using co2 in poultry barns
September 2015: In Sweden, spent laying hens are killed either by traditional slaughter; on-farm with CO2 in a mobile container combined with a grinder; or with CO2 stable gassing inside the barn. The number of hens killed using the latter method has increased. During these killings a veterinarian is required to be present and report to the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
Data were registered during four commercial killings and extracted from all official veterinary reports at CO2 whole-house killings in 2008–2010. On-farm monitoring showed that temperature decreased greatly and with high variability. The time until birds became unconscious after coming into contact with the gas, based on time until loss of balance, was 3–5 min.
Veterinary reports show that 1.5 million laying hens were killed, in 150 separate instances. The most common non-compliance with legislation was failure to notify the regional animal welfare authorities prior to the killings. Six out of 150 killings were defined as animal welfare failures, eg delivery of insufficient CO2 or failure to seal buildings to achieve adequate gas concentration.
Eleven were either potentially or completely unacceptable from the perspective of animal welfare. We conclude that, on the whole, the CO2 whole-house gas killing of spent hens was carried out in accordance with the appropriate legislation. Death was achieved reliably.
However, there remain several risks to animal welfare and increased knowledge would appear vital in order to limit mistakes related to miscalculations of house volume, improper sealing or premature ventilation turn-off.
Neutralizing risks instead of stamping-out
The latest outbreak of High Pathogen Avian Influenza in the USA and Canada in the spring of this year and the inability to avoid animal welfare catastrophes ultimately proves that new emergency response strategies are needed. Strategies that are based on taking away the source of infection instead of killing as many animals as possible within 24 hours, regardless the consequences.
The statement that “It’s possible that human infections with these viruses may occur” and that “these viruses have not spread easily to other people” is confusing. Humans can become infected without showing clinical signs. They can become the major carrier of the infection.
Especially during depopulation activities, viruses easily transmit through responders. Tasks like taking layers out of their cages and transport the birds manually through the narrow walkways between the cages, and disposal of infected animals are specific risks that need to be avoided. Simply switching of the electricity so that sick birds don’t have to be handled is not the solution.
Although humans are supposed to be less susceptible, they can become carrier of the virus. Only the highest level of biosecurity could prevent the transmission through the humans and materials that have been in direct contact with infected animals and materials.
Simply switching of the electricity so that sick birds don’t have to be handled is not the solution. Avoid killing animals is always the better option and in Germany, the discussion on the strategy based on neutralizing risks and is in the making. Avoiding situations demands a proactive role of the poultry industry.
Ventilation Shutdown: who takes the responsibility to flip the switch?
On September 18, 2015 the USA Government and the American egg producers announced that they would accept the Ventilation shutdown method as a method of mass destruction of poultry when other options, notably water-based foam and CO2, are not available for culling at the farm within 24-36 hours. This is actually the case on all caged layer farms in the USA, in particular in Iowa.
The Ventilation shutdown method consists of stopping ventilation, cutting off drinking water supply, and turning on heaters to raise the temperature in the poultry house to a level between 38 Celsius and 50 Celsius. Birds die of heat stress and by lack of oxygen in a process that easily takes over after a period of at least 3 days. Ventilation shutdown is a killing method without prior stunning of the birds, and as such is contrary to all international Animal Welfare standards.
Animal welfare specialists in disease control strongly oppose this introduction of the cruelest method of killing poultry that lost their economic value. The Humane Society (HSUS) described it as the “inhumane mass baking of live chickens”. With adequate preparation the alternative methods, like the water-based Anoxia foam method, can be available at each farm for immediate use in case of an outbreak. The ban of the Ventilation shutdown method should therefore be maintained and the Anoxia method should be further developed so that is suitable for application to caged layers and turkeys. In Germany, such a system is currently under development and will become commercially available soon.
The poultry industry in the USA ignores this development and asks for a formal approval of the Ventilation Shutdown method. Speaking on August 19, 2015, during the United Egg Producers (UEP) national briefing webinar, UEP President Chad Gregory explained that much research is being done concerning the feasibility of such a depopulation program.
“The government, the producers, the states and UEP, we all recognize that depopulation is going to have to happen faster and ideally within 24 hours.”
Quick depopulation of affected flocks is important, Gregory said, because the sooner a flock is depopulated, the risk of the virus going into fans and out into the atmosphere becomes smaller. Gregory said ventilation shutdown – if approved – would probably only be used in a worst-case scenario or when all other euthanasia options have been exhausted. Gregory did not elaborate on how to adequately prevent outbreaks and how to promote more animal-friendly methods.
Stamping out strategy failed
In order to become one step ahead of an outbreak of high pathogen diseases like the current H5N2, the veterinary authorities need to stop the outbreak immediately after the first signals occur. Strict and thorough biosecurity measures are the most fundamental feature to protect poultry flocks on farms.
Without functional culling techniques, the options to effectively and efficiently cull in average more than 925,000 chickens per farm (in Iowa, USA) are limited: either by macerating the chickens alive – or by ventilation shut-down (closing down all ventilation, placing heaters inside the house, and heat the entire house to a temperature higher than 600 C).
Although both methods cause death of the birds, it has not been proven to be effective nor efficient. The primary goal to slowdown outbreaks and bring it to a complete stop but macerating live birds and killing them by heat stress and lack of oxygen would be against all International Animal Welfare standards.
Animal welfare specialists in disease control strongly oppose against the introduction of these most cruel methods of killing poultry and argue that the ban on these methods should be maintained and alternative methods need to be considered.
FLI Seminar on different response strategies: Stamping out or Neutralization
During this spring, American poultry producers are losing birds by the millions, due to the High Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreaks on factory farms. USDA APHIS applied the stamping out strategy in an attempt to prevent the flu from spreading.
With stamping out as the highest priority of the response strategy, large numbers of responders are involved. With in average almost 1 million caged layers per farm in Iowa, there is hardly any room for a proper bio security training for these responders. And existing culling techniques had insufficient capacity, the authorities had to decide to apply drastic techniques like macerating live birds in order to take away the source of virus reproduction.
This strategy didn't work; on the contrary. Instead of slowing down the spreading of the virus, the outbreaks continue to reoccur and have caused death and destruction in 15 USA states, killing almost 50 million birds on mote than 220infected commercial poultry farms, all within a very small time frame.
The question is whether the priority of the response strategy should be on neutralizing the transmission routes instead of on stamping out infections after they occur. All indicators currently point out into the direction that the industry should prioritize on environmental drivers: the connection between outbreaks and wild ducks; wind-mediated transmission; pre-contact probability; on-farm bio security; transmission via rodents etc.
Once the contribution of each transmission route has been determined, a revolutionary new response strategy can be developed based on the principle of neutralizing transmission routes. Neutralizing risks means that fully new techniques need to be developed, based on culling the animals without human – to – animal contact; integrating detergent application into the culling operations; combining culling & disposal into one activity.
This new response strategy will be the main subject of the FLI Animal Welfare and Disease Control Seminar, organized at September 23, 2015 in Celle, Germany
Dossier transmission: Transmission of Avian Influenza Virus to Dogs
This document reports on the transmission of an avian influenza virus (H3N2) to dogs in South Korea. Several dogs exhibited severe respiratory disease and three genetically similar canine influenza virus strains were isolated. Experimental infection of beagles demonstrated that the virus could be transmitted between dogs and cause clinical signs like fever and lung lesions. The canine respiratory tract was found to contain receptors for binding avian influenza viruses, suggesting potential for direct transmission from poultry. This provides evidence that dogs may play a role in interspecies transmission of influenza viruses.
Spatio temporal dynamics of global H5N1 outbreaks match bird migration patterns
This document analyzes the spatiotemporal patterns of H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks globally between 2003 and 2006. It identifies three phases of the H5N1 epidemic and uses space-time cluster analysis to detect six disease cluster patterns along major bird migration flyways. The matching of outbreak clusters with wild bird migration patterns suggests wild birds may play an important role in long-distance spread of H5N1. Short-distance spread is also potentially linked to wild birds spreading the virus at sites where they overwinter or migrate through.
Spatial, temporal and genetic dynamics of H5N1 in china
The spatial spread of H5N1 avian influenza, significant ongoing mutations, and long-term persistence of the virus in some geographic regions has had an enormous impact on the poultry industry and presents a serious threat to human health.
This study revealed two different transmission modes of H5N1 viruses in China, and indicated a significant role of poultry in virus dissemination. Furthermore, selective pressure posed by vaccination was found in virus evolution in the country.
Phylogenetic analysis, geospatial techniques, and time series models were applied to investigate the spatiotemporal pattern of H5N1 outbreaks in China and the effect of vaccination on virus evolution.
Results showed obvious spatial and temporal clusters of H5N1 outbreaks on different scales, which may have been associated with poultry and wild-bird transmission modes of H5N1 viruses. Lead–lag relationships were found among poultry and wild-bird outbreaks and human cases. Human cases were preceded by poultry outbreaks, and wild-bird outbreaks were led by human cases.
Each clade has gained its own unique spatiotemporal and genetic dominance. Genetic diversity of the H5N1 virus decreased significantly between 1996 and 2011; presumably under strong selective pressure of vaccination. Mean evolutionary rates of H5N1 virus increased after vaccination was adopted in China.
Different environmental drivers of H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and wild birds
Different environmental drivers operate on HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and wild birds in Europe. The probability of HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in poultry increases in areas with a higher human population density and a shorter distance to lakes or wetlands.
This reflects areas where the location of farms or trade areas and habitats for wild birds overlap. In wild birds, HPAI H5N1 outbreaks mostly occurred in areas with increased NDVI and lower elevations, which are typically areas where food and shelter for wild birds are available. The association with migratory flyways has also been found in the intra-continental spread of the low pathogenic avian influenza virus in North American wild birds. These different environmental drivers suggest that different spread mechanisms operate.
Disease might spread to poultry via both poultry and wild birds, through direct (via other birds) or indirect (e.g. via contaminated environment) infection. Outbreaks in wild birds are mainly caused by transmission via wild birds alone, through sharing foraging areas or shelters. These findings are in contrast with a previous study, which did not find environmental differences between disease outbreaks in poultry and wild birds in Europe.
H5N8 virus dutch outbreak (2014) linked to sequences of strains from asia
Genetic analysis of influenza A(H5N8) virus from the Netherlands indicates that the virus probably was spread by migratory wild birds from Asia, possibly through overlapping flyways and common breeding sites in Siberia. In addition to the outbreak in the Netherlands, several other outbreaks of HPAI (H5N8) virus infections were reported in Europe at the end of 2014 after exponentially increasing deaths occurred in chicken and turkey flocks.
Genetic sequences submitted to the EpiFlu database indicated that the viruses from Europe showed a strong similarity to viruses isolated earlier in 2014 in South Korea, China, and Japan. An H5N8 virus isolated from a wigeon in Russia in September 2014 is located in the phylogenetic tree near the node of all sequences for H5N8 viruses from Europe.
In regard to time, this location fits the hypothesized route of H5N8 virus introduction into Europe. Furthermore, for several reasons, it is highly likely that the introduction of HPAI (H5N8) virus into the indoor-layer farm in the Netherlands occurred via indirect contact.
First, despite intensive monitoring, H5N8 viruses have never been detected in commercial poultry or wild birds in the Netherlands.
Second, when the virus was detected, the Netherlands had no direct trade contact with other European countries or Asia that might explain a route of introduction.
Third, because of the severity of disease in galliforms, outbreaks of H5N8 in the Netherlands before November 2014 would have been noticed.
Wind mediated spread of LPAI
Avian influenza virus-infected poultry can release a large amount of virus-contaminated droppings that serve as sources of infection for susceptible birds. Much research so far has focused on virus spread within flocks. However, as fecal material or manure is a major constituent of airborne poultry dust, virus-contaminated particulate matter from infected flocks may be dispersed into the environment.
This study, demonstrates the presence of airborne influenza virus RNA downwind from buildings holding LPAI-infected birds, and the observed correlation between field data on airborne poultry and livestock associated microbial exposure and the OPS-ST model. These findings suggest that geographical estimates of areas at high risk for human and animal exposure to airborne influenza virus can be modeled during an outbreak, although additional field measurements are needed to validate this proposition. In addition, the outdoor detection of influenza virus contaminated airborne dust during outbreaks in poultry suggests that practical measures can assist in the control of future influenza outbreaks.
In general, exposure to airborne influenza virus on commercial poultry farms could be reduced both by minimizing the initial generation of airborne particles and implementing methods for abatement of particles once generated. As an example, emergency mass culling of poultry using a foam blanket over the birds instead of labor-intensive whole-house gassing followed by ventilation reduces both exposure of cullers and dispersion of contaminated dust into the environment, contributing to the control of influenza outbreaks.
Per contact probability of infection by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
Estimates of the per-contact probability of transmission between farms of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus of H7N7 subtype during the 2003 epidemic in the Netherlands are important for the design of better control and biosecurity strategies.
We used standardized data collected during the epidemic and a model to extract data for untraced contacts based on the daily number of infectious farms within a given distance of a susceptible farm.
With these data, the ‘maximum likelihood estimation’ approach was used to estimate the transmission probabilities by the individual contact types, both traced and untraced.
The outcomes were validated against literature data on virus genetic sequences for outbreak farms. The findings highlight the need to
1) Understand the routes underlying the infections without traced contacts and
2) To review whether the contact-tracing protocol is exhaustive in relation to all the farm’s day-to-day activities and practices.
Letter-from-ECI-to-MeiTY-21st-march-2024.pdf
भारत सरकार द्वारा बड़े पैमाने पर व्हाट्सएप अभियान चलाए जाने से डेटा गोपनीयता, नैतिकता और चुनावों की निष्पक्षता पर सवाल उठते हैं।
EED - The Container Port PERFORMANCE INDEX 2023
El Puerto de Algeciras continúa un año más como el más eficiente del continente europeo y vuelve a situarse en el “top ten” mundial, según el informe The Container Port Performance Index 2023 (CPPI), elaborado por el Banco Mundial y la consultora S&P Global.
El informe CPPI utiliza dos enfoques metodológicos diferentes para calcular la clasificación del índice: uno administrativo o técnico y otro estadístico, basado en análisis factorial (FA). Según los autores, esta dualidad pretende asegurar una clasificación que refleje con precisión el rendimiento real del puerto, a la vez que sea estadísticamente sólida. En esta edición del informe CPPI 2023, se han empleado los mismos enfoques metodológicos y se ha aplicado un método de agregación de clasificaciones para combinar los resultados de ambos enfoques y obtener una clasificación agregada.
More Related Content
More from Harm Kiezebrink
Nitrogen filled high expansion foam in open Containers
On March 31, 2023 the US National Pork Board validated a study by Todd Williams, of Pipestone Veterinary Services, based on the use of high expansion nitrogen foam for the large-scale depopulation of all classes of swine, utilizing Livetec Systems Nitrogen Foam Delivery System (NFDS).
The high expansion foam produced by the Livetec Systems NFDS surrounds the animal in large bubbles filled with nitrogen with a base expansion ration of between 300 and 350 to 1, as mentioned on the information provided by the producer of the firefighting foam.
The Livetec technology, based on using Compressed Air Foam (CAF) filled with nitrogen instead of air for depopulating pigs, emerges within a critical landscape. The complexities of implementing effective emergency depopulation strategies for livestock, particularly swine, present multifaceted challenges. Livetec's approach relies on high expansion firefighting foam, aiming to euthanize pigs by submerging them in foam.
The Livetec system's claims about the effectiveness of nitrogen-filled high expansion foam for depopulating market pigs lack substantial evidence upon analysis. The discrepancy between the actual foam produced during field trials and the promised high expansion foam, coupled with the absence of concrete proof supporting the method's efficacy, discredits the technology's claims.
World bank evaluating the economic consequences of avian influenza
Pandemics cause very serious loss of life, restrictions of freedom and serious economic damage. Potential pandemics all are related to our dealing with animals, both wild and domesticated.
In this Word Bank study of 2006, the effects of a severe HPAI pandemic (with a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus crossing the species barrier and infecting humans) predicted economic losses from 2-10% of the world economy.
The economic impact of the present COVID-19 crisis, caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus spreading from wild animals to humans, probably will reach the upper limits of this prediction even if the losses of life might be near the lower limits mentioned in the report (1,4 millions rather than 71 millions).
A common observation is that governments were late to react on the COVID-19 outbreak.
Pandemics are rare, so due to cost-benefit considerations emergency preparations do usually not get beyond an advisory (paperwork) phase. When an emergency eventually arises, the response is too late, too little, and with disastrous effects on animal and/or human welfare that could have been avoided. Relatively small, short-term financial savings result in big, long-term losses.
Protection against outbreaks cannot be achieved by political decisions during a crisis. Our dealing with animals, especially in animal production, must be inherently safe so that animal health and public health are protected.
This is recognized in the One Health strategy that has been adopted internationally.
An outbreak of animal disease occurs should be contained at a very early stage. This can only be realized if all farms have their own emergency plans, with equipment to deal with contagious diseases already present at the farm.
Gas alternatives to carbon dioxide for euthanasia a piglet perspective
The use of nitrous oxide as an anesthetic/euthanasia agent may prove to be affordable, feasible and more humane than other alternatives.
The neonatal stage is a critical time in the life of a pig, when they are prone to become sick or weak. This is the stage at which most euthanasia procedures are required if the pig is judged unable to recover. Any euthanasia method should be humane, practical, economical and socially acceptable to be universally accepted.
They found that nitrous oxide in oxygen appeared to be less aversive than nitrous oxide, nitrogen, or argon all combined with low (30%) concentrations of carbon dioxide or 90% carbon dioxide by itself.
This study is the first to investigate the use of nitrous oxide at sufficiently high concentrations to cause anesthesia. Nitrous oxide, commonly referred to as laughing gas, has been widely used in human surgery and dental offices for its pain-relieving, sedative and anxiolytic effects. It is cheap, non-flammable, non-explosive, legally accessible and not classified as a drug in the U.S., and already commonly used in the food industry as a propellant for food products.
Development of its use into an automated procedure will allow producers to implement it with little effort. Thus its use as an anesthetic/euthanasia agent may prove to be affordable, feasible and more humane than other alternatives.
Anoxia - applying the technique
Anoxia: High expansion foam
The Anoxia method is unique for creating an environment without oxygen under atmospheric circumstances. High expansion foam is produced by mixing nitrogen and a mixture of water and specially developed high expansion detergent, with an expansion rate upto 1:1000, meaning that 1 litre of water/foam agent mix expands up to 1 m3 foam. Due to the specially designed foam generator, the high expansion foam bubbles are filled with a > 99% concentration of nitrogen. The oxygen level surrounding the animal drops from 21% in atmospheric air to < 1 % once the animal is submerged in the foam.
Anoxia: convulsions, but no stress or pain
The animals need a constant supply of oxygen to the brain. Applying Anoxia foam, the oxygen is replaced by nitrogen. As a result the nitrogen level is raised to > 99% and the oxygen level is lowered to < 1%. Considering the natural reaction to sudden lack of oxygen the animal is rendering quickly into unconsciousness. As a consequence, behavioral indicators like loss of posture and convulsions will appear. With this in mind, unconscious animals are insensitive to perceive unpleasant sensations like pain.
Anoxia: How Anoxia foam is created
A mixture of 97% water and 3% high expansion foam agent is sprayed into the Anoxia foam generator, creating a thin film on the outlet of the generator. At the same time, nitrogen is added with overpressure into the foam generator. The nitrogen expands when it exits the generator, creating robust high expansion foam. The high expansion foam bubbles are filled with > 99% nitrogen.
Anoxia: Single foam generator systems
In practice, one Anoxia foam generator creates a volume of up to 750 liter of high expansion foam per minute. This volume is more than sufficient to fill a wheelie-bin container within 30 seconds. The most common container volumes are: M size - 240 liter; L size - 340 liter; and XL size - 370 liter. The choice of the volume of the container depends of the size of the animal and/or the number of animals that need to be stunned/killed. A lid with a chiffon that seals the container. As soon as the foam exits the chiffon, the gas supply is stopped and the chiffon is closed. The nitrogen gas concentration in the container remains at 99%.
Animal Euthanasia: What are the challenges?
Although commonly used in other settings, defining animal welfare as part of a corporate CSR setting is not new.
There are many ways to define CSR. What they have in common is that CSR describes how companies manage their business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. The phenomenon CSR is a value concept that is susceptible to particular ideological and emotional interpretations. Different organizations have framed different definitions - although there is considerable common ground between them.
Some important national players of the food chain at different steps (mainly food retailers and food services) have included animal welfare in their CSR.
Anoxia: what is it?
The Anoxia technique is developed as alternative for existing animal stunning methods that are based on the use of CO2, electrocution, neck dislocation, captive-bolt, as well as killing methods like de-bleeding and maceration.
In the past 10 years, Wageningen University and University of Glasgow conducted several studies that proved that the technique could be applied successfully for culling poultry (Proof of Principle Anoxia Technique). This was the start of the development of several applications based on the Anoxia principle, using high expansion foam filled with >99% Nitrogen that are now introduced for:
1. Stunning and killing of sick and cripple killing piglets less than 5 kg
2. Stunning and killing of sick or cripple poultry (especially poultry > 3kg) who need to be killed on the farm by the staff for welfare purposes (avoiding unnecessary stress or pain)
3. Stunning and killing poultry that arrives on the slaughterhouse but that are unfit to be slaughtered (due to injuries occurred during transportation – providing signs of possible illness etc.)
4. Stunning and killing of male pullets at the hatchery
5. Stunning and killing of half-hatched chickens and embryos in partly-hatched eggs, before destruction
6. Stunning and killing parent stock poultry
7. Killing of animals that has been stunned (captive bolt – blow-on-the-head method, etc.) replacing killing by de-bleeding
8. Culling of ex-layers
9. Culling of poultry for disease control purposes
Last November we started the launch of the commercialization of the Anoxia applications in Holland, Germany and Sweden, focusing on the areas where a solution is most needed: piglets (< 5kg) and poultry (> 3kg) on farms.
Since November 2016, the introduction of these applications took place in Holland, Germany, Sweden and Denmark
WHO warns of H7 N9 pandemic
World Health Organization director- general Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun warns bird flu H7N9 is particularly worrying as it could be a flu pandemic strain. This is because H7N9 is unique as it does not make chickens sick but is deadly in humans. Sick birds could usually provide early warning for imminent outbreaks, Chan told The Standard. This comes as Macau reported its first human case of H7N9 yesterday. "The biggest challenge for the world is the next influenza pandemic," Chan said.
Laves presentation practical experiences in the culling of poultry in germany
This presentation, based on the practical experiences in culling poultry in Germany, gives an overview of the culling techniques currently in use in Germany. It is presented by dr. Ursula Gerdes, dr. Josef Diekmann and ing. Rainer Thomes.
LAVES is the Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, located in Oldenburg, Germany. With around 900 employees they are entrusted with tasks in the areas of food and utensil inspection, feed inspection, meat hygiene, veterinary drug monitoring, eradication of animal diseases, disposal of animal by-products, animal welfare, ecological farming, market surveillance and technical process monitoring.
Berg et al. 2014 killing of spent laying hens using co2 in poultry barns
September 2015: In Sweden, spent laying hens are killed either by traditional slaughter; on-farm with CO2 in a mobile container combined with a grinder; or with CO2 stable gassing inside the barn. The number of hens killed using the latter method has increased. During these killings a veterinarian is required to be present and report to the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
Data were registered during four commercial killings and extracted from all official veterinary reports at CO2 whole-house killings in 2008–2010. On-farm monitoring showed that temperature decreased greatly and with high variability. The time until birds became unconscious after coming into contact with the gas, based on time until loss of balance, was 3–5 min.
Veterinary reports show that 1.5 million laying hens were killed, in 150 separate instances. The most common non-compliance with legislation was failure to notify the regional animal welfare authorities prior to the killings. Six out of 150 killings were defined as animal welfare failures, eg delivery of insufficient CO2 or failure to seal buildings to achieve adequate gas concentration.
Eleven were either potentially or completely unacceptable from the perspective of animal welfare. We conclude that, on the whole, the CO2 whole-house gas killing of spent hens was carried out in accordance with the appropriate legislation. Death was achieved reliably.
However, there remain several risks to animal welfare and increased knowledge would appear vital in order to limit mistakes related to miscalculations of house volume, improper sealing or premature ventilation turn-off.
Neutralizing risks instead of stamping-out
The latest outbreak of High Pathogen Avian Influenza in the USA and Canada in the spring of this year and the inability to avoid animal welfare catastrophes ultimately proves that new emergency response strategies are needed. Strategies that are based on taking away the source of infection instead of killing as many animals as possible within 24 hours, regardless the consequences.
The statement that “It’s possible that human infections with these viruses may occur” and that “these viruses have not spread easily to other people” is confusing. Humans can become infected without showing clinical signs. They can become the major carrier of the infection.
Especially during depopulation activities, viruses easily transmit through responders. Tasks like taking layers out of their cages and transport the birds manually through the narrow walkways between the cages, and disposal of infected animals are specific risks that need to be avoided. Simply switching of the electricity so that sick birds don’t have to be handled is not the solution.
Although humans are supposed to be less susceptible, they can become carrier of the virus. Only the highest level of biosecurity could prevent the transmission through the humans and materials that have been in direct contact with infected animals and materials.
Simply switching of the electricity so that sick birds don’t have to be handled is not the solution. Avoid killing animals is always the better option and in Germany, the discussion on the strategy based on neutralizing risks and is in the making. Avoiding situations demands a proactive role of the poultry industry.
Ventilation Shutdown: who takes the responsibility to flip the switch?
On September 18, 2015 the USA Government and the American egg producers announced that they would accept the Ventilation shutdown method as a method of mass destruction of poultry when other options, notably water-based foam and CO2, are not available for culling at the farm within 24-36 hours. This is actually the case on all caged layer farms in the USA, in particular in Iowa.
The Ventilation shutdown method consists of stopping ventilation, cutting off drinking water supply, and turning on heaters to raise the temperature in the poultry house to a level between 38 Celsius and 50 Celsius. Birds die of heat stress and by lack of oxygen in a process that easily takes over after a period of at least 3 days. Ventilation shutdown is a killing method without prior stunning of the birds, and as such is contrary to all international Animal Welfare standards.
Animal welfare specialists in disease control strongly oppose this introduction of the cruelest method of killing poultry that lost their economic value. The Humane Society (HSUS) described it as the “inhumane mass baking of live chickens”. With adequate preparation the alternative methods, like the water-based Anoxia foam method, can be available at each farm for immediate use in case of an outbreak. The ban of the Ventilation shutdown method should therefore be maintained and the Anoxia method should be further developed so that is suitable for application to caged layers and turkeys. In Germany, such a system is currently under development and will become commercially available soon.
The poultry industry in the USA ignores this development and asks for a formal approval of the Ventilation Shutdown method. Speaking on August 19, 2015, during the United Egg Producers (UEP) national briefing webinar, UEP President Chad Gregory explained that much research is being done concerning the feasibility of such a depopulation program.
“The government, the producers, the states and UEP, we all recognize that depopulation is going to have to happen faster and ideally within 24 hours.”
Quick depopulation of affected flocks is important, Gregory said, because the sooner a flock is depopulated, the risk of the virus going into fans and out into the atmosphere becomes smaller. Gregory said ventilation shutdown – if approved – would probably only be used in a worst-case scenario or when all other euthanasia options have been exhausted. Gregory did not elaborate on how to adequately prevent outbreaks and how to promote more animal-friendly methods.
Stamping out strategy failed
In order to become one step ahead of an outbreak of high pathogen diseases like the current H5N2, the veterinary authorities need to stop the outbreak immediately after the first signals occur. Strict and thorough biosecurity measures are the most fundamental feature to protect poultry flocks on farms.
Without functional culling techniques, the options to effectively and efficiently cull in average more than 925,000 chickens per farm (in Iowa, USA) are limited: either by macerating the chickens alive – or by ventilation shut-down (closing down all ventilation, placing heaters inside the house, and heat the entire house to a temperature higher than 600 C).
Although both methods cause death of the birds, it has not been proven to be effective nor efficient. The primary goal to slowdown outbreaks and bring it to a complete stop but macerating live birds and killing them by heat stress and lack of oxygen would be against all International Animal Welfare standards.
Animal welfare specialists in disease control strongly oppose against the introduction of these most cruel methods of killing poultry and argue that the ban on these methods should be maintained and alternative methods need to be considered.
FLI Seminar on different response strategies: Stamping out or Neutralization
During this spring, American poultry producers are losing birds by the millions, due to the High Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreaks on factory farms. USDA APHIS applied the stamping out strategy in an attempt to prevent the flu from spreading.
With stamping out as the highest priority of the response strategy, large numbers of responders are involved. With in average almost 1 million caged layers per farm in Iowa, there is hardly any room for a proper bio security training for these responders. And existing culling techniques had insufficient capacity, the authorities had to decide to apply drastic techniques like macerating live birds in order to take away the source of virus reproduction.
This strategy didn't work; on the contrary. Instead of slowing down the spreading of the virus, the outbreaks continue to reoccur and have caused death and destruction in 15 USA states, killing almost 50 million birds on mote than 220infected commercial poultry farms, all within a very small time frame.
The question is whether the priority of the response strategy should be on neutralizing the transmission routes instead of on stamping out infections after they occur. All indicators currently point out into the direction that the industry should prioritize on environmental drivers: the connection between outbreaks and wild ducks; wind-mediated transmission; pre-contact probability; on-farm bio security; transmission via rodents etc.
Once the contribution of each transmission route has been determined, a revolutionary new response strategy can be developed based on the principle of neutralizing transmission routes. Neutralizing risks means that fully new techniques need to be developed, based on culling the animals without human – to – animal contact; integrating detergent application into the culling operations; combining culling & disposal into one activity.
This new response strategy will be the main subject of the FLI Animal Welfare and Disease Control Seminar, organized at September 23, 2015 in Celle, Germany
Dossier transmission: Transmission of Avian Influenza Virus to Dogs
This document reports on the transmission of an avian influenza virus (H3N2) to dogs in South Korea. Several dogs exhibited severe respiratory disease and three genetically similar canine influenza virus strains were isolated. Experimental infection of beagles demonstrated that the virus could be transmitted between dogs and cause clinical signs like fever and lung lesions. The canine respiratory tract was found to contain receptors for binding avian influenza viruses, suggesting potential for direct transmission from poultry. This provides evidence that dogs may play a role in interspecies transmission of influenza viruses.
Spatio temporal dynamics of global H5N1 outbreaks match bird migration patterns
This document analyzes the spatiotemporal patterns of H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks globally between 2003 and 2006. It identifies three phases of the H5N1 epidemic and uses space-time cluster analysis to detect six disease cluster patterns along major bird migration flyways. The matching of outbreak clusters with wild bird migration patterns suggests wild birds may play an important role in long-distance spread of H5N1. Short-distance spread is also potentially linked to wild birds spreading the virus at sites where they overwinter or migrate through.
Spatial, temporal and genetic dynamics of H5N1 in china
The spatial spread of H5N1 avian influenza, significant ongoing mutations, and long-term persistence of the virus in some geographic regions has had an enormous impact on the poultry industry and presents a serious threat to human health.
This study revealed two different transmission modes of H5N1 viruses in China, and indicated a significant role of poultry in virus dissemination. Furthermore, selective pressure posed by vaccination was found in virus evolution in the country.
Phylogenetic analysis, geospatial techniques, and time series models were applied to investigate the spatiotemporal pattern of H5N1 outbreaks in China and the effect of vaccination on virus evolution.
Results showed obvious spatial and temporal clusters of H5N1 outbreaks on different scales, which may have been associated with poultry and wild-bird transmission modes of H5N1 viruses. Lead–lag relationships were found among poultry and wild-bird outbreaks and human cases. Human cases were preceded by poultry outbreaks, and wild-bird outbreaks were led by human cases.
Each clade has gained its own unique spatiotemporal and genetic dominance. Genetic diversity of the H5N1 virus decreased significantly between 1996 and 2011; presumably under strong selective pressure of vaccination. Mean evolutionary rates of H5N1 virus increased after vaccination was adopted in China.
Different environmental drivers of H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and wild birds
Different environmental drivers operate on HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and wild birds in Europe. The probability of HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in poultry increases in areas with a higher human population density and a shorter distance to lakes or wetlands.
This reflects areas where the location of farms or trade areas and habitats for wild birds overlap. In wild birds, HPAI H5N1 outbreaks mostly occurred in areas with increased NDVI and lower elevations, which are typically areas where food and shelter for wild birds are available. The association with migratory flyways has also been found in the intra-continental spread of the low pathogenic avian influenza virus in North American wild birds. These different environmental drivers suggest that different spread mechanisms operate.
Disease might spread to poultry via both poultry and wild birds, through direct (via other birds) or indirect (e.g. via contaminated environment) infection. Outbreaks in wild birds are mainly caused by transmission via wild birds alone, through sharing foraging areas or shelters. These findings are in contrast with a previous study, which did not find environmental differences between disease outbreaks in poultry and wild birds in Europe.
H5N8 virus dutch outbreak (2014) linked to sequences of strains from asia
Genetic analysis of influenza A(H5N8) virus from the Netherlands indicates that the virus probably was spread by migratory wild birds from Asia, possibly through overlapping flyways and common breeding sites in Siberia. In addition to the outbreak in the Netherlands, several other outbreaks of HPAI (H5N8) virus infections were reported in Europe at the end of 2014 after exponentially increasing deaths occurred in chicken and turkey flocks.
Genetic sequences submitted to the EpiFlu database indicated that the viruses from Europe showed a strong similarity to viruses isolated earlier in 2014 in South Korea, China, and Japan. An H5N8 virus isolated from a wigeon in Russia in September 2014 is located in the phylogenetic tree near the node of all sequences for H5N8 viruses from Europe.
In regard to time, this location fits the hypothesized route of H5N8 virus introduction into Europe. Furthermore, for several reasons, it is highly likely that the introduction of HPAI (H5N8) virus into the indoor-layer farm in the Netherlands occurred via indirect contact.
First, despite intensive monitoring, H5N8 viruses have never been detected in commercial poultry or wild birds in the Netherlands.
Second, when the virus was detected, the Netherlands had no direct trade contact with other European countries or Asia that might explain a route of introduction.
Third, because of the severity of disease in galliforms, outbreaks of H5N8 in the Netherlands before November 2014 would have been noticed.
Wind mediated spread of LPAI
Avian influenza virus-infected poultry can release a large amount of virus-contaminated droppings that serve as sources of infection for susceptible birds. Much research so far has focused on virus spread within flocks. However, as fecal material or manure is a major constituent of airborne poultry dust, virus-contaminated particulate matter from infected flocks may be dispersed into the environment.
This study, demonstrates the presence of airborne influenza virus RNA downwind from buildings holding LPAI-infected birds, and the observed correlation between field data on airborne poultry and livestock associated microbial exposure and the OPS-ST model. These findings suggest that geographical estimates of areas at high risk for human and animal exposure to airborne influenza virus can be modeled during an outbreak, although additional field measurements are needed to validate this proposition. In addition, the outdoor detection of influenza virus contaminated airborne dust during outbreaks in poultry suggests that practical measures can assist in the control of future influenza outbreaks.
In general, exposure to airborne influenza virus on commercial poultry farms could be reduced both by minimizing the initial generation of airborne particles and implementing methods for abatement of particles once generated. As an example, emergency mass culling of poultry using a foam blanket over the birds instead of labor-intensive whole-house gassing followed by ventilation reduces both exposure of cullers and dispersion of contaminated dust into the environment, contributing to the control of influenza outbreaks.
Per contact probability of infection by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
Estimates of the per-contact probability of transmission between farms of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus of H7N7 subtype during the 2003 epidemic in the Netherlands are important for the design of better control and biosecurity strategies.
We used standardized data collected during the epidemic and a model to extract data for untraced contacts based on the daily number of infectious farms within a given distance of a susceptible farm.
With these data, the ‘maximum likelihood estimation’ approach was used to estimate the transmission probabilities by the individual contact types, both traced and untraced.
The outcomes were validated against literature data on virus genetic sequences for outbreak farms. The findings highlight the need to
1) Understand the routes underlying the infections without traced contacts and
2) To review whether the contact-tracing protocol is exhaustive in relation to all the farm’s day-to-day activities and practices.
More from Harm Kiezebrink (20)
Nitrogen filled high expansion foam in open Containers
Nitrogen filled high expansion foam in open Containers
World bank evaluating the economic consequences of avian influenza
World bank evaluating the economic consequences of avian influenza
Gas alternatives to carbon dioxide for euthanasia a piglet perspective
Gas alternatives to carbon dioxide for euthanasia a piglet perspective
Laves presentation practical experiences in the culling of poultry in germany
Laves presentation practical experiences in the culling of poultry in germany
Berg et al. 2014 killing of spent laying hens using co2 in poultry barns
Berg et al. 2014 killing of spent laying hens using co2 in poultry barns
Ventilation Shutdown: who takes the responsibility to flip the switch?
Ventilation Shutdown: who takes the responsibility to flip the switch?
FLI Seminar on different response strategies: Stamping out or Neutralization
FLI Seminar on different response strategies: Stamping out or Neutralization
Dossier transmission: Transmission of Avian Influenza Virus to Dogs
Dossier transmission: Transmission of Avian Influenza Virus to Dogs
Spatio temporal dynamics of global H5N1 outbreaks match bird migration patterns
Spatio temporal dynamics of global H5N1 outbreaks match bird migration patterns
Spatial, temporal and genetic dynamics of H5N1 in china
Spatial, temporal and genetic dynamics of H5N1 in china
Different environmental drivers of H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and wild birds
Different environmental drivers of H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and wild birds
H5N8 virus dutch outbreak (2014) linked to sequences of strains from asia
H5N8 virus dutch outbreak (2014) linked to sequences of strains from asia
Per contact probability of infection by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
Per contact probability of infection by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
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Letter-from-ECI-to-MeiTY-21st-march-2024.pdf
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Update H7N9 AI outbreak in China, ECDC, April 10, 2013
- 1. http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/press/news ECDC Portal > English > Media Centre > News Epidemiological update of 10 April: novel influenza A virus A(H7N9) in China 10 Apr 2013 On 31 March 2013, the Chinese health authorities announced that they identified a novel influenza A(H7N9) virus in three ECDC seriously ill patients. As of 9 April 2013, 26 human cases of infection with influenza A(H7N9) virus have been reported in four provinces of China: Shanghai (13), Jiangsu (8), Zhejiang (3) and Anhui (2). Of these patients, 8 people have died, 15 are severe cases and 3 are mild cases. No epidemiological link has been identified among cases. The source of these infections and the mode of transmission are yet to be determined. This is the first time that human infection with influenza A(H7N9) virus has been identified. No vaccine is currently available for this subtype of the influenza virus. Preliminary test results suggest that the virus is susceptible to the neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir). At this time, there is no evidence of on-going human-to-human transmission. More sporadic cases are expected to be reported. The risk of disease spread to Europe is considered low, although individual cases coming from China cannot be ruled out. ECDC is working closely with WHO and the European Commission and will continue to monitor the situation. ECDC agrees with the position of WHO and other Centres for Disease Control (the United States and Chinese CDC) that there is no need to change travel plans for persons going to or coming from China because of the recent appearance of a novel avian However, ECDC is repeating its standing advice to European citizens living in or visiting China that because of the presence of the novel influenza viruses, other avian influenza and zoonotic infections in live bird and animal markets (so called wet markets ) in China and other countries in Asia should avoid visiting these markets. Direct contact with bird and animal faeces, untreated bird feathers and other animal and bird waste should also be avoided. In addition, basic rules of hand hygiene should be followed including regular hand-washing and use of alcohol-based hand rubs. This is the same advice ECDC has had in place since 2006. This epidemiological update does not change the conclusions and recommendations of ECDC s Rapid Risk Assessment of 2 April 2013. Figure 1: Distribution of influenza A(H7N9) cases by date of onset of symptoms, age, gender, status and province in China, as of 9 April 2013 (n=26). Date of Age Sex Status Severity Province onset 19/02/2013 87 M dead severe Shanghai 27/02/2013 27 M dead severe Shanghai 07/03/2013 38 M dead severe Zhejiang 15/03/2013 35 F alive severe Anhui 19/03/2013 45 F alive severe Jiangsu 19/03/2013 48 F alive severe Jiangsu 20/03/2013 83 M dead severe Jiangsu 20/03/2013 61 F alive severe Jiangsu 21/03/2013 32 F alive severe Jiangsu 21/03/2013 79 M alive severe Jiangsu 22/03/2013 67 F alive severe Shanghai 25/03/2013 67 M alive severe Zhejiang 25/03/2013 59 M alive severe Shanghai 27/03/2013 52 F dead severe Shanghai 28/03/2013 48 M dead severe Shanghai 28/03/2013 74 M alive severe Shanghai 28/03/2013 55 M alive severe Anhui 28/03/2013 85 M alive severe Jiangsu 29/03/2013 64 M dead severe Zhejiang 29/03/2013 66 M alive mild Shanghai 29/03/2013 67 M alive mild Shanghai 30/03/2013 25 F alive severe Jiangsu 31/03/2013 4 M alive mild Shanghai 01/04/2013 64 M dead severe Shanghai
- 2. 01/04/2013 62 M alive severe Shanghai 01/04/2013 77 M alive severe Shanghai Figure 2: Distribution of influenza A(H7N9) cases in China by week of onset of symptoms, as of 9 April 2013 (n=26). February to 9 April 2013. Read more: ECDC Rapid Risk Assessment Severe respiratory disease associated with a novel influenza A virus, A(H7N9) China, 2 April 2013 Epidemiological update 9 April 2013: Novel influenza A virus A(H7N9) in China Epidemiological update 5 April 2013: Seven new confirmed cases of novel influenza A virus, A (H7N9) in China Epidemiological update 3 April 2013: Six new confirmed cases of novel influenza A virus, A (H7N9) in China
- 3. External links: WHO: question and answers on human infection with influenza A(H7N9) virus, China (updated 5 April 2013) Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention: question and answers about human infection with A(H7N9) avian influenza virus (published 31 March 2013) Share European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) 2005-2013 http://www.ecdc.europa.eu