[SouthBayVeggies] H5 Strain of Avian Flu Discovered in Canada on Oct 31

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The Latest on Canada and the Flu

 

http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=46b9e73e-c800-411c-9401-ecbdefcdad4d

 

Teasing out flu viruses found in ducks taking longer than expected:

officials

 

Helen Branswell

Canadian Press

 

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

 

TORONTO (CP) - It's proving harder than anticipated to type the avian

flu viruses wild ducks sampled in Canada were carrying because a number

were co-infected with several strains, creating a viral " soup " that is

difficult to separate down to its basic ingredients, government

officials have admitted.

 

They say, however, that it appears that none of the viruses are highly

pathogenic, a finding that would support the suggestion none of the

birds were carrying the worrisome Asian H5N1 flu virus, which is a

so-called high path virus.

 

" We can't say we don't have an H5N1, " said Dr. Jim Clark, acting

director of the animal health and production program for the Canadian

Food Inspection Agency, the lead government agency on this work.

 

" That's a possibility. But we can say with reasonable certainty that

H5N1, if it is there, it's not the high path Asiatic subtype that's

going on in Southeast Asia. "

 

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses are lethal to domestic

poultry. Viruses that are of low pathogenicity do not kill domestic

flocks, though they can lead to a decline in egg production.

 

It has been over two weeks since federal officials said they had found

H5 viruses in wild ducks sampled as part of a national surveillance

project aimed at finding out what avian flu viruses might be present in

this country.

 

Those findings were from sampling sites in Manitoba and Quebec only.

Later, British Columbia authorities revealed they too had found H5

viruses. The results of sampling done in Ontario, Alberta and Atlantic

Canada are still pending, Clark said.

 

At the time of the announcement, authorities believed they would be able

to fully type the viruses - determining what neuraminidases or Ns the

viruses carried - within days. But that estimate has proved to be too

optimistic, because of the concurrent infections in many of the birds.

 

Dr. Frank Plummer, scientific director of the Public Health Agency of

Canada's national microbiology laboratory, said laboratory technicians

are finding a variety of neuraminidases, including N1s.

 

(To date the scientific world has identified nine different

neuraminidases and 16 hemagglutinins - the H in a flu virus's name -

that theoretically can come together in 144 possible combinations.)

 

" We're finding lots of different ones, including N1s. ... which is

really not surprising because we've known from before that those

different antigenic types are out there, " Plummer said from Winnipeg.

 

" But knowing which goes with which is impossible from the soups that we

have right now. It's just going to take some more time to sort it out. "

 

The confusing findings are of little surprise to avian influenza

researchers.

 

" It's typical, " David Stallknecht, an avian influenza specialist at the

University of Georgia's college of veterinary medicine, said of the

viral melange Clark and Plummer described.

 

" What you get is a real soup. You get a lot of different serotypes. "

 

Plummer said his lab has been doing genetic sequencing on genes from the

viruses, but that isn't helping to clarify the picture.

 

" The sequencing's been problematic because the RNA is mixed up, " he said.

 

" And it makes it difficult because you get two sets - or three sets - of

sequences from this one sample. And they're all jumbled up. It's very

hard to sort out. "

 

" Say if you get an H5 and an N1, and an H7 and an N3 from a sample, you

don't know which H goes with which N. "

 

Clark said final results could be some time off - and it is conceivable

all the viruses may never be fully subtyped.

 

" It could be months. Let's face it. Trying to get that pure virus may

prove to be completely elusive. We may never get it. "

 

© The Canadian Press 2005

 

 

brunoandherman wrote:

> " On 31 October 2005, Canada has discovered a strain of H5 avian flu in

> wild birds and is now checking whether it is the same H5N1 killer

> strain which has spread to Europe. "

>

> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1

>

> PLEASE contact your local representatives, the county health dept,

> animal control, and vector control and ask them to start testing for

> avian flu now. It can save thousands of bird lives (and maybe a few

> people) because the sooner they find it, the fewer birds are infected.

> The test kits to implement a surveillance program are free from the CA

> dept of agriculture.

>

> Cheryl

>

> PS-Did you see this in the news anywhere? I didn't. I found out from a

> state vet when I was talking to him about something else.

>

>