New findings: Kuwait and Italy

Two new reports today of findings of H5 influenzas, both apparently of low pathogenicity.

First Kuwait:

Sheikh Fahd Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, the head of agriculture and fisheries in Kuwait, said the first case was discovered in a peacock held in quarantine at the airport. The bird had been imported from Asia, but Mr Al-Sabah did not specify the country it came from.
The second case was a migratory flamingo that had been found on a beach.

"Immediate action was taken and the situation is under control," said Mr Al-Sabah. "All of our national production of poultry and eggs are free of the disease."

No cases of bird flu among humans have been reported in Kuwait.

Another official from the same authority said laboratory tests on the birds identified the flu strain as H5, but it was not the deadly N1 variety.

"The strain was H5N2 which is less harmful than H5N1," he said. "We are satisfied with our tests, and we find no need for further investigations."

Next Italy:

Italy has found a form of the H5N1 virus in a wild duck, but the Health Ministry said on Thursday it was not dangerous and bore no relation to the strain of Asian avian influenza that has killed more than 60 people.

The H5N1 virus was identified on Wednesday in a testing center in northern Italy, the health ministry said. It added the virus was genetically similar to strains frequently found among wild waterfowl in Europe, and not highly pathogenic.

"There is no alarm. There is no new concern," ministry official Elisabetta Alberti Casellati said.

"The case of H5N1 identified yesterday ... has nothing to do with the cases of Avian influenza registered in Asian countries, because it deals with a low pathogenic strain."

The virus was found in only one bird in the more than a thousand tested so far, the ministry said.

On a related topic, here is a great article by Helen Branswell that explains some of the terminology of avian influenza.


Damien