Avian Influenza Preparedness and Prevention Activities 2007
Below is a list of activities overseas countries have undertaken to prepare for, and prevent avian influenza outbreaks.
2007
January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December
December
16 December: The military in China's Nanjing Military Region has banned the purchase of poultry following the recent death of a man and subsequent illness of his father.
11 December: Nine countries including the US, Japan, India, Greece and Germany have pledged a total of $400 million for pandemic preparedness.
7 December: Australia has pledged $380,000 US to Laos to help fight avian influenza in the Vientiane province. The money will be used to educate people on how they can protect themselves and their poultry from the disease.
3 December: China, Hong Kong and Macao have held a joint communications exercise to test their cooperation and coordination in responding to a flu pandemic. Hong Kong's Secretary of Food and Health, Dr York Chow, said the exercise highlighted the need to strengthen its work with health authorities on China's mainland and in Macao to prevent infectious disease outbreaks.
November
26 November: Japan has put a halt to imports of poultry from South Korea following an avian influenza outbreak. The outbreak occurred in ducks and was a low pathogenic (H7) strain.
7 November: AQIS has commissioned a childrens' book titled "My Sick Pelican" which aims to raise awareness of avian influenza and the importance of reporting sick or dead birds. The book will be distributed among children in the Torres Strait.
The United States will provide Vietnam with an additional $10.5 million worth of funding, to help the country continue its fight against avian influenza.
October
17 October: Vietnam's Prime Minister has re-issued his poorly-observed ban on poultry breeding in cities.
The USA will provide the FAO with an additional $38 million to fight avian influenza.
15 October: Korea is stepping up biosecurity for the next four months while migratory birds pass through.
9 October: Vietnam's health ministry will set up 15 checkpoints across the country to prevent the re-occurrence of the avian influenza pandemic.
8 October: Bangladesh will receive a US $2 million grant from the World Bank to help fight avian influenza.
September
20 September: Indonesia's veterinary association is preparing a new Bill that aims to curb avian influenza. The Bill obliges citizens to report any animal-related illness in their birds and pet owners to ensure their animals have regular health checks. A draft Bill will be issued mid-October.
4 September: Vietnam has imported 200 million doses of H5N1 bird vaccine from China. So far this year Vietnam has vaccinated 165 million birds.
August
22 August: Singapore will run a pilot project in Indonesia to combat avian influenza. The Tangerang city will be provided with 208 motorbikes, 13 disinfectant sprayers, and two computers equipped with special programs to record AI cases. Two volunteers will be stationed in each village to gather first-hand information on suspected AI sufferers.
21 August: Russia has placed import bans on Italy following two low pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in the northern Italian town of Ravenna. The ban covers live birds, poultry, poultry products, hatching eggs, poultry feed and bird keeping equipment.
8 August: Japan, Russia, Turkey and the Philippines have banned the import of turkey products and eggs from Nebraska in the US. The ban follows an outbreak of low pathogenic avian influenza on a turkey farm in Seward County.
July
29 July: Sri Lanka and the UAE have banned the import of poultry and poultry products from India following its recent avian influenza outbreak.
28 July: Wild bird reserves in Northamptonshire and East Anglia in the UK are being asked to undertake monitoring for avian influenza. These areas have been identified as hosting grounds for migratory birds travelling from infected countries.
22 July: The United Arab Emirates has banned the import of all live birds and poultry products from the Czech Republic and Togo following their recent avian influenza H5N1 outbreaks.
18 July: The World Bank has approved a US$16 million credit for Bangladesh to support the country's efforts to minimise the threat and impact of avian influenza H5N1. The project will focus on animal health, public awareness and information.
16 July: UNICEF has developed avian influenza kits to raise awareness of the virus in Indonesia. The kits include a mask, gloves, soap, educational material and a giant banner that can be put up in villages to remind people to be careful. The kits were funded by Japan and 100,000 will be distributed around Java and Sulawesi.
14 July: Philipphines' officials have renewed their request to the public, not to purchase birds through the black market. This comes after authorities siezed 281 exotic birds, mostly lorikeets, that were smuggled in from Indonesia.
10 July: Egypt has banned all poultry imports from France and Germany following recent outbreaks of avian influenza H5N1 in both wild and domestic birds.
Schipol airport in the Netherlands has put in place two sniffer dogs to detect all poultry matter that may come in from avian influenza infected countries. [Learn about Australia's detector dogs].
Authorities in Virginia, USA will place a ban on public events involving live poultry and will prohibit the application of poultry manure in 17 of its countries following a low pathogenic avian influenza outbreak in turkeys. Poultry farms in the area have been put on 'code red' alert for the disease.
9 July: Japan has suspended the import of live day-old chicks, poultry meat and eggs from Germany following its recent outbreak in a single pet goose.
5 July: Vietnam has sent officials to China to bring back a critical 50 million doses of poultry vaccine. Vietnam has only 15 million doses left which jeopardises their national poultry vaccination campaign.
June
27 June: Russia and the Ukraine have banned poultry imports from the Czech Republic. Czech supermarkets have not reported any slump in poultry product sales.
26 June: The Thai government has provided the Cambodian government with $2.5 millions (US) worth of avian influenza prevention and control equipment. The shipment consisted of AI test kits, masks, latex gloves, hand-washing gel and Surveillance and Rapid Response Team equipment.
24 June: Vietnam says it will step up measures to prevent avian influenza outbreaks now that the virus has hit 18 provinces. Focus will be put on epidemic monitoring, preventing outbreaks and finding how the virus is transmitting from poultry to humans.
7 June: China has stepped up avian influenza prevention measures in light of outbreaks in birds in northern Vietnam. China shares a 600km border with Vietnam, where it has now shut down 89 chicken and fowl markets. Poultry imports from Vietnam have also been banned.
6 June: Singapore has halted all poultry and egg imports from Malaysia after an avian influenza H5N1 outbreak, reported 6 June.
4 June: A research hub based at the University of Edinburgh is to be at the forefront of global efforts in the prevention of avian influenza. The centre which will open in September 2007 will draw together experts from the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews.
May
30 May: China has delivered US$900,000 worth of avian influenza control equipment, for use on birds, to Indonesia. The air delivery consisted of bird flu vaccines, injecting apparatus, diagnostic equipment and personal protection equipment.
8 May: The World Bank has approved a grant worth $2.96 million for Uzbekistan to help keep it free of avian influenza. The central Asian country has not had an avian influenza outbreak but all of its neighbouring countries have. This puts Uzbekistan at high risk due to migratory bird patterns and cross-border poultry trade.
April
30 April: Scientists at the Ohio State University have designed a 'super map' that incorporates genetic, geographic and evolutionary information. It is hoped the map will allow scientists to predict when and where the next avian influenza outbreaks will occur.
28 April: Vets from zoos and other wildlife attractions from around the world will attend an annual Symposium on Diseases of Zoo and Wild Animals at Edinburgh Zoo on May 16-20. More than 300 vets are expected to attend and high on the agenda is avian influenza and how Asian zoos have handled the threat.
26 April: The Thai government has set aside $257 million (USD) to develop a three-year plan that will better prepare the country for avian influenza outbreaks. It is expected that more outbreaks in birds will occur later in the year.
Malaysian customs officials have destroyed 28 tonnes of frozen chicken meat that was illegally transported in from Singapore. Authorities are stepping up surveillance because of the threat of avian influenza outbreaks, with meat originating from China being re-packaged in Singapore and then smuggled across the border into Malaysia.
19 April: Charges have been laid against a couple in Finland for letting their geese out to pasture in spring when there was a ban on keeping poultry outdoors. The couple stated that due to animal welfare reasons it was impossible to keep the geese continually indoors.
16 April: US and Indonesian scientists have joined forces to stop avian influenza outbreaks in the Archipelaogo poultry industry, and ultimately prevent human infection. The team consists of four local scientists, one from the US and a number of support staff.
15 April: Egypt will allocated 42 million US dollars to combat avian influenza. The funds will go to improving veterinary laboratories, bird immunisation and the training of 1,200 veterinarians.
March
21 March: A US official aid agency has distributed 9,000 personal protection kits which include protective clothing, and 100 decontamination kits throughout 10 of Vietnam's high-risk provinces. The kits will be used by animal health workers and to prevent human exposure to the avian influenza virus.
19 March: Russian scientists have developed a new drug with broad applications to combat avian influenza. The new drug called Triazoverin is able to neutralise the H5N1 strain and performs better than tamiflu. It is ready for state registration.
18 March: Scientists at the University of Durham have developed a technique that will help prevent avian influenza outbreaks. Thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) can measure the metal stonium found in bird feathers which allow scientists to find out where birds have originated from, and predict where they are likely to go.
17 March: Jakarta's governor has given a two week deadline for door to door checks to be completed to enforce a ban on domestic poultry.
16 March: A ban on pigeon racing in Western Europe will be lifted on 1 April, 2007. The ban was posed in 2005 due the threat of avian influenza outbreaks in poultry.
5 March: UC Irvine researchers have combined genetic and geographic data of the avian influenza H5N1 virus to reconstruct its history over the past decade. They found that multiple strains of the virus originated in the Chinese province of Guandong, and they identified many of the migration routes through which the strains spreads regionally and internationally. This information will allow countries to better prepare for the wild bird migratory season.
China will vaccinate billions of poultry over the next month to combat avian influenza when it is most contagious. The mass vaccination is due start before March 15 and will be completed before May.
The Dutch Agriculture Minister has ordered that all commercial poultry be kept indoors from March 7. The order has been placed due to the high risk posed by migratory birds that will soon enter the area.
The Egyptian government will invest $450 million to purchase 100 million vaccinations for its birds.
1 March: Indonesia has struck a deal with the WHO to resume sharing H5N1 samples. The deal will only allow the samples to be used to develop vaccines for developing countries.
February
29 February: The United Arab Emirates will set up a quarantine centre on the border of Oman to check all imported live birds and poultry products for avian influenza and other bird diseases.
28 February: Sweden has boosted its bird biosecurity by ordering that birds in the southern third of the country be kept indoors. Ducks, geese and other game fowl can be kept outdoors but need to be fenced in and fed and watered under a roof.
27 February: The EU is assembling a 'swat' team to be ready to act when there is a serious animal disease outbreak. The team will include vets, virologists, wildlife experts, lab testing and risk management specialists. They will work with local authorities in the event of an outbreak.
Find out about Australia's emergency management for animal disease outbreaks.
Despite a another recent outbreak, Vietnam will lift its ban of the breeding and restocking of waterfowl on farms. The ban was put in place in 2005 but was largely ignored. Waterfowl have been blamed for outbreaks in the Mekong Delta that have caused the culling of around 400,000 birds.
26 February: Thailand will begin producing their own version of tamiflu that will cost half the price. The drug called Oseltamivir is yet to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration but is expected to be in production by March.
20 February: The OIE has provided 18 million avian influenza bird vaccines to African countries including Egpyt, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.
15 February: Indonesia has defended its decision to stop sharing avian influenza samples with the WHO, saying it would resume cooperation only when the agency stopped providing the strains to commercial vaccine makers.
China has placed a ban on poultry and poultry product imports from Britain. All British exports that arrived in China after January 13 are going to be destroyed.
14 February: Experts fear there could be a rise in avian influenza infections in Asia due to the mass movement of people and poultry during lunar new year, or 'Tet' celebrations. Chicken is the most popular dish for new year feasts which was avoided last year and replaced with pork. Reports indicate that chicken is back on the menu this year and people are showing little concern about the risks associated with the spread avian influenza.
The Netherlands will lift is ban on outdoor poultry production on 19 February. The Netherlands is Europe's second biggest poultry producer after France
6 February: European Union veterinary authorities have advised national authorities to keep poultry indoors in recognised avian influenza outbreak areas but decided against widespread flock vaccination.
Indonesia has stopped sharing avian influenza samples for testing. This is of concern to the WHO because they use samples from outbreaks all over the world to compare and monitor the virus. Indonesia is believed to have made a deal with Baxter International which will retain property rights over the strains.
January
31 January: Indonesia will declare avian influenza a national disaster with the country's human death toll at 63 and the new banning of backyard bird keeping. The declaration will allow the government to access special funds to combat the virus.
30 January: Drug maker CSL will be registering a pandemic influenza vaccine next month with the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia. The vaccine has been developed and tested on the avian influenza H5N1 virus that is currently active in Indonesia.
29 January: Bulgaria has banned the sale of live birds in open markets as a precaution after Hungary's recent outbreaks. Only 10 regions in Bulgaria will allow the breeding of birds indoors.
17 January: Researchers from the James Cook University's School of Veterinary and Biomedical science will collect blood samples from magpie geese, black ducks and two species of whistling ducks in north Queensland. The three year study will examine if the levels of influenza in waterfowl are increasing or if the patterns of infection is changing.
16 January: Indonesians will be banned from keeping poultry in their backyards in the archipelago region. The culling of poultry has already begun in the provinces of Banten, Jakarta, and West Java. Similar action will also take place in a further 14 provinces. The government will compensate people $1.75AUD for every fowl they lose.
China has called for more collaboration among Asian countries to control avian influenza. Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao made a series of proposals on information sharing, monitoring mechanisms, vaccine research and technical training programs.
12 January: South Korea has put a temporary ban on poultry imports from Japan following their avian influenza H5 outbreak.
11 January: South East Asian countries are utilising a Super Chicken character to promote good biosecurity practices amongst bird owners. The bossy and opinionated rooster has appeared in public service announcements, on posters and in booklets.
The trade in wild birds is to be permanently banned across the European Union starting in July. This will replace a temporary ban imposed by Brussels in 2005 as part of measures to prevent avian influenza H5N1 outbreaks. Only captive bred birds from specified countries can be imported.
The international Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has recommended livestock officials investigate the long-term effects on human health and the environment, caused by the use of disinfectants which are used to prevent avian influenza outbreaks. Some of the chemicals in the disinfectant are used for preserving biological specimens. The FAO has recommended caution be taken when using the disinfectants.
8 January: Poultry workers in England will be offered flu vaccinations to minimise the chance of any two types of virus coming into close contact.
Around 700 health workers in Vietnam have participated in a simulation in the northern province of Quang Ninh to learn about preventing the spread of avian influenza H5N1 to humans. The simulation also aimed to improve the cooperation between townships, districts and citites.
Outbreaks in birds and other animals | Avian influenza human cases and deaths