Photo Credit USDA
# 3437
Despite only rarely being acknowledged as a problem by their government, there is compelling evidence to suggest that the H5N1 virus is firmly entrenched in many parts of China.
There are, of course, the 43 human cases that have been officially reported over the past decade, and from time to time the Chinese media mentions a culling operation taking place at an infected farm.
There are unofficial reports and rumors, often carried by the dissident press, but more tangibly, we’ve seen a steady trickle of H5N1 infected birds – most coming from the mainland – detected each year in Hong Kong.
Perhaps even more ominously, we’ve seen the recurring phenomenon of infected poultry carcasses - apparently dumped into the upper Pearl River by farmers - washing up on the beaches of Hong Kong (see The Winter Of Our Disbelief).
Today, we’ve a story that bolsters concerns that the H5N1 virus remains active in China, and illustrates just how easily dangerous pathogens can move from one region to the next.
Authorities in Taiwan have seized, and destroyed, 38 birds being smuggled into their country from China that were infected with the H5N1 virus.
Taiwan finds H5N1 virus in birds smuggled from China
Posted: 17 July 2012
TAIPEI: Dozens of pet birds smuggled from southern China into Taiwan tested positive for the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus and were destroyed, Taiwanese authorities said Tuesday.
The story indicates the smuggler was detained at Taoyuan international airport in Taiwan after arriving from Macau with his winged contraband. Nine people exposed to these birds were observed for 10 days, and luckily none showed signs of infection.
This is not the first time that H5N1 infected birds have been smuggled into Taiwan. From Taiwan’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) we get this account of an incident from 2005.
H5N1 Avian Influenza Virus Detected in Smuggled Birds from China
In midnight of October 14, 2005, Taiwan Coast Guard Administration confiscated 1,037 birds from a freighter of which the ship staff smuggled the birds from China into Taichung. All the birds were humanely sacrificed on next day and immediately sent to the Animal Health Research Institute for routine diagnosis to find out if they were infected with avian influenza and other concerned diseases. The test results confirmed that those smuggled birds were infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus.
Porous borders, security guards that will look the other way for the right price, and a lucrative market make bird smuggling a popular gambit in many parts of the world, and it can involve anything from expensive exotics to everyday poultry.
Some earlier blogs on bird smuggling involving the H5N1 virus include:
Update On West Bank Bird Flu Outbreak
S. Korea: Police To Step Up Fight Against Poultry Smugglers
West Bengal: Thousands Of Chickens Smuggled Out
Vietnam Finds Bird Flu In Smuggled Chinese Chickens
Vietnam Detects `New Strain' Of H5N1
Hong Kong Investigating Source Of Bird Flu Virus
To be fair, China isn’t the only source of H5N1 infected birds, and H5N1 isn’t the only dangerous pathogen being smuggled across borders around the world.
The trade in exotic pets, and `bush meat’, provides an easy avenue for the cross-border introduction of zoonotic diseases around the globe.
As an example, we saw a rare outbreak of Monkeypox in the United States in 2003, when an animal distributor imported hundreds of small animals from Ghana, which in turn infected prairie dogs that were subsequently sold to the public (see MMWR Update On Monkeypox 2003)
(Photo Credit CDC PHIL)
This outbreak infected at least 71 people across 6 states. No vaccine is available for Monkeypox, but the smallpox vaccination is said to reduce the risk of infection.
Last year British papers were filled with reports of `bushmeat’ being sold in the UK. A couple of links to articles include:
Meat from chimpanzees 'is on sale in Britain' in lucrative black market
The slaughtering of these intelligent (and often endangered) primates for food (but mostly profit) is horrific its own right, but it also has the very real potential of introducing zoonotic pathogens to humans.
In 2005, the CDC’s EID Journal carried a perspective article on the dangers of bushmeat hunting by Nathan D. Wolfe, Peter Daszak, A. Marm Kilpatrick, and Donald S. Burke.
It describes how it may take multiple introductions of a zoonotic pathogen to man – over a period of years or decades – before it adapts well enough to human physiology to support human-to-human transmission.
Bushmeat Hunting, Deforestation, and Prediction of Zoonotic Disease
Beyond H5N1, SARS and monkeypox, a few other viruses of concern include Hendra, Nipah, Ebola, other avian influenzas, hemorrhagic fevers, many variations of SIV (Simian immunodeficiency virus), and of course . . . Virus X.
The one we don’t know about. Yet.
On the frontlines attempting to interdict the next emerging pathogen is the above mentioned Dr. Nathan Wolfe, whom I’ve written about several times before, including:
Nathan Wolfe And The Doomsday Strain
Nathan Wolfe: Virus Hunter
You can watch a fascinating TED Talk by Dr. Wolfe HERE on preventing the `next pandemic’.
(Click Image to view video)
While it may take multiple introductions over many years before a zoonotic disease can get a foothold in a new region, the public health risks posed by these smuggling operations are all too real.
A sobering thought, considering the number of illicit items that manage to get across international borders undetected.
