Penumbra Pandemia

PESTE DES PETITS RUMINANTS - NEPAL: SUSPECTED, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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Archive Number 20070423.1324
Published Date 23-APR-2007
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Peste des petits ruminants - Nepal: suspected, RFI
Date: Fri 20 Apr 2007
Source: People's Daily online, Xinhua Agency report [edited]

"The Kathmandu reported on Friday [20 Apr 2007], the deaths of some 700 sheep and goats in the last 2 weeks in an outbreak of Peste des [petits] ruminants (PPR) in Kalikot District, about 400 km. (249 miles) west of Kathmandu.

The animals died mainly in the [settlements of the] Village Development Committees in the northwestern part of the district. According to local residents, sheep and goats died 4 to 5 hours [see commentary] after the disease hit and the PPR was reportedly contacted by animals that were taken to a remote region of the country for grazing.

The disease claimed some 200 [animals] in Naula Singh alone, said the District Veterinary Office (DVO). PPR is an acute or sub acute viral disease of goats and sheep characterized by fever, stomatitis,
gastro-enteritis, [and] pneumonia.

Local residents are concerned over an epidemic in the villages of the region from the dead animals. DVO chief, Dr. Kalyan Kumar Shrestha, said that 2 DVO teams equipped with PPR vaccine have left for the most affected areas of the region.

Last year [2006], some 400 sheep and goats died of the disease in several villages of the region.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Joseph P. Dudley, Ph.D

[Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) occurs in Africa, the Middle East,
and the Indian subcontinent. Outbreaks are known to be common in
India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
The incubation period for PPR can range from 3 to 10 days, 4-5 days being typical. Most cases of PPR are acute, with signs of a sudden fever that may last for 5-8 days before the animal either dies or begins to recover. Mass mortality of sheep and goats within 4 to 5 hours after the commencement of PPR (or, as the posting says, "after the disease hit"), as described above, is highly exceptional.
According to previous (1998), 1st-hand information from Nepal, the mortality is very variable (from 0 percent to 90 percent, sub clinical infection occurring very frequently); see ProMED-mail posting, Peste des petits ruminants: origin & distribution (02) 19981012.2007.

Either the current observation on the per-acute course of the disease is erroneous or, if accurate, a different etiology (infectious or otherwise) -- in addition to PPR or as the sole cause of the mortality -- should not be excluded.

Details from Nepal on the clinical signs, the size of the exposed
population (namely the denominator), the age of the affected animals,
PM (post-mortem) findings and, particularly, laboratory test results
are expected. ---"

UNDIAGNOSED DISEASE, PORCINE - CHINA: UPDATE (02)
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A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
Archive Number 20070406.1155
06-APR-2007
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Undiagnosed disease, porcine - China: update (02)
Date: Tue 3 Apr 2007
From: Dan Silver
Source: Boyar [one paragraph of a Chinese-language market report,
trans. by submitter, edited]
With warming weather, pig high fever disease [PHFD] has reemerged in
some southern provinces. PHFD is serious in Sichuan, Henan, and other
large pig breeding provinces, and in some places there is a high
mortality rate among infected pigs.
The culling rate on affected pig farms reaches 70 percent with
significant declines in stocks. Breeder enthusiasm to increase stocks has suffered severe blows. And with the high price of piglets, there is no room for optimism about increases in pig stocks in disease-affected areas.
After large volumes of pigs were unloaded on the market before the holidays, pig stocks fell further. -- If this year's [2007] undiagnosed high fever is national in scope as it was last year [2006], spreading widely, it will cause a decline in pig stocks and this year's pig prices may be in a similar situation as last year.
--
ProMED-mail

[Subscribers are referred to China's official report to the OIE (World Animal Health Organization) on 'Swine High Fever Disease,'(SHFD) submitted on 14 Sep 2006. The report was reproduced in ProMED-mail's posting archived 20060924.2732, accompanied by Mod.PC's comprehensive commentary.
According to said report, SHFD is related to the mixed infection of 3 viruses, namely the agents of classical swine fever [CSF], porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome [PRRS], and porcine circovirus [PCV-2]. In addition, some samples were positive for Aujeszky's disease, _Streptococcus suis_, pasteurellosis, and porcine contagious pleuropneumonia infection. Samples that tested positive for PRRS,
CFS, or PCV-2 accounted for 96.5 percent of the total of the samples
tested. African swine fever [ASF] was excluded.
The official report to the OIE also mentioned a similar swine disease that has been seen during the last few years in some southern provinces of China. As opposed to SHFD as described earlier, the southern disease syndrome was seasonal, restricted to hot summers, and affected certain areas along the Yangtze River, mainly in the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jangxi, Anhui, and Jiagsu. This description, which will, for convenience, be temporarily denominated by us 'Southern SHFD', resembles the reemerging swine disease
described in the current posting.
The etiology/ies of SHFD and 'Southern SHFD' is/are not yet unfolded, justifying a thorough research effort. We will continue to refer to
SHFD as 'undiagnosed' until a more definitive diagnosis is established, either as a multifactorial syndrome resulting from mixed infections with particular agents or when a definite single disease agent is identified.
New epidemiological or diagnostic developments regarding this hitherto undiagnosed disease, in the world's leading pig producing country, will be posted when available. - Mod.AS]"
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Apparently the H5N1 wasn't excluded. Otherwise they would have mentioned it as they did mention the African swine fever, wouldn't they?

"Bernard Matthews escapes bird flu charges
By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 1:47pm BST 02/04/2007
Telegraph.co.uk
The Bernard Matthews plant at the centre of the recent bird flu outbreak will not be prosecuted under food safety laws despite a damning Government report into its hygiene standards.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) announced today that its investigation into food storage procedures at the farm in Holton, Suffolk had uncovered insufficient evidence to mount a prosecution.
This is despite a report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) released in February which listed a catalogue of failings at the turkey plant.
Inspectors saw gulls feeding on meat scraps left in uncovered waste bins, and polythene bags used for meat products left in open bins.
Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, described the decision not to prosecute as 'astonishing', and said he hoped the FSA had not been swayed by concerns about future employment at the plant.
'It is in no one's interest - not consumers and not farmers - to pussyfoot about applying food safety standards,' he said.
The results of Defra's full scientific investigation into the bird flu outbreak - which led to cull of nearly 160,000 turkeys at the farm - will be released after Easter, but a department spokesman said today that it would not result in prosecution.
Bernard Matthews, Britain's biggest turkey producer, is now effectively in the clear for the outbreak, despite allegations at the time that it had not been clear with the public about the transportation of turkey meat to the plant from Hungary, which had suffered an earlier outbreak of the H5N1 virus.
The company admitted it had imported meat from a supplier just a few miles from where the lethal disease was found in farmed geese, but denied it had broken any laws.
It emerged last month that the company is in line for a £600,000 Government payout for the turkeys culled during the outbreak.
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Hygiene failings detected by Defra inspectors
• Polythene bags used for meat products were left in open bins. The bins could have blown across the site.
• The shed where infected birds had been found had several places where birds, rats and mice could have entered.
• Inspectors found 'extensive' water leakage from the shed roof which 'could allow physical transfer of infection'.
• Plastic-covered bales of wood shavings used for topping up bedding were stored outside the sheds. These bales were a 'potential means' of bringing in infection."