Avian Flu Diary: Awash In A Sea Of Pathogens

# 1225

Today we are getting news of an outbreak of equine influenza in China. How do I know? Why, Promed mailed this report to me, along with thousands of other subscribers today.

That's how.

EQUINE INFLUENZA - CHINA
**************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: 8 Nov 2007
Source: OIE WAHID (World Animal Health Information Database) Disease
Information 2007; 20(45) [edited]
<http://www.oie.int/wahid-prod/public.php?page=weekly_report_index&admin=0>

Equine influenza, China (People's Republic)
Information received on 5 Nov 2007 from Mr Jia Youling, National
Chief Veterinary Officer, Veterinary Bureau, Director General,
Bejing, China (People's Rep. of)
Summary
Report type Immediate notification
Start date 9 Oct 2007
Date of confirmation of event 30 Oct 2007
Report date 5 Nov 2007
Date submitted to OIE 5 Nov 2007
Reason for notification: Reoccurrence of a listed disease
Date of previous occurrence 1994
Manifestation of disease: Clinical disease
Causal agent Equine influenza virus A subtype H3N8
Nature of diagnosis: Clinical, Laboratory (advanced)
Report pertains to: Entire country
New outbreaks
Outbreak 1 Altay, Xinjiang
Date of start of outbreak 9 Oct 2007
Outbreak status: Continuing (or date resolved not submitted)
Epidemiological unit: Village
Species _Equidae_
Susceptible 130 000
Cases 5515
Deaths 0
Destroyed 0
Slaughtered 0

Of course, if you subscribe to Promed (which I highly recommend), you are also aware of these reports over the past two days.

November 06, 2007

PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, human (147): Indonesia, WHO

PRO/EDR> Chikungunya - Indian Ocean update (25): India (W.Bengal), susp, RFI

PRO/EDR> Dengue/DHF - Venezuela: (Aragua), RFI

PRO/EDR> Pertussis, school district - USA: (OH)

PRO/PL> Grapevine viruses - India: (Maharashtra), spread

November 05, 2007

PRO/EDR> Gastroenteritis, prisoners - USA: (OR)

PRO/AH/EDR> Prion disease update 2007 (07)

PRO/EDR> Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2007 (54)

PRO/AH/EDR> Equine influenza, China

PRO/EDR> Mumps - Canada (09) (NS)

PRO/AH> Foot & mouth disease, ovine - Cyprus (05): susp

PRO/PL> Blossom blight, eggplant - Fiji

PRO/PL> Bacterial ring rot, potato - Algeria ex Canada

PRO/EDR> Dengue/DHF update 2007 (43)

PRO/ALL> Powerful, underappreciated, and needing support

PRO/AH> Foot & mouth disease, ovine - Cyprus (04): susp, RFI

Postings from last 30 days...

It's a busy day out there. But then, it's like this almost every day. The amount of information absorbed, formatted, and distributed by Promed is staggering.

Equine influenza, H3N8, isn't currently believed to pose a threat to humans, although the CDC does monitor people who are in contact with infected horses, and more recently, dogs. Yep, H3N8 jumped the species barrier a couple of years ago and now infects, and kills, dogs.

And if it jumped the species barrier once, it could do it again. It pays to be vigilant.

Promed provides daily email updates to thousands of subscribers of outbreaks of disease around the world, both in the animal and plant kingdom. They are a unique and important surveillance tool.

But it costs money to operate this service. And ProMed is looking for contributions to support their project.

(click on link to donate)
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