More H5 Infected Dead Swans in France
Recombinomics Commentary
July 30, 2007
"the two swans were carrying the H5 virus", declared Mr. Rigaux with AFP.
The two birds were found Sunday in a pond of Diane Capelle, with approximately ten kilometers of the pond of Assenoncourt, where the bodies of three swans carrying the aviary flu virus had been discovered at the end of June.
The discovery of two swans fatally infected with H5 near the location where H5N1 was confirmed a month ago provides additional evidence for endemic H5N1 in Europe.
The number of confirmed birds in Germany is approaching detection level similar to those reported in Germany in early 2006. In 2006, the largest number of confirmed H5N1 cases were in Germany, and a repeat in the summer of 2007 strongly suggests H5N1 is endemic.
France has now found fatal H5 infections a month apart, and it is likely that the dead swans are resident swans, as was seen in Germany. Similarly, the Czech Republic reported H5N1 infections in poultry and wild birds last month.
The number of infected birds is likely to be large. Germany reported H5N1 in an asymptomatically infected swan, pointing towards infections in birds at levels that are significantly higher than the reported confirmations in dead wild birds.
The latest outbreaks in France again point to a need for more robust surveillance worldwide.
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