Commentary
Massive
H5N1
Outbreak in Jiangsu China
Recombinomics Commentary
12:53
December 16, 2008
The discovery prompted local agricultural authorities to step up vaccinations, while culling 377,000 chickens in the area around the farms.
The spread of the virus had not been detected in any other areas around the two farms, it said.
The above comments describe a large H5N1 outbreak in Jiangsu province in China (see updated map). The report does not say when the outbreak began, but a ProMED report last month described large numbers of dead poultry at the same locations cited above, as well as adjacent provincesgg prices). Moreover, local media reports indicate shipments have been made to a number of cities in the area, including Shanghai. These local media reports also descibe large numbers of dead birds in the area.
Last year at this time there was confirmed human to human H5N1 transmission in Jiangsu, about 100 miles from these outbreaks. Mainland China’s last OIE report was in July, in association with H5N1 in Guangdong province. Hong Kong has just filed a report on the recent outbreak there.
This large outbreak in China follows reports of confirmed outbreaks in Assam and West Bengal India and Bangladesh, as well as human cases in Indonesia, Cambodia, and Egypt, raising significant vaccination and surveillance issues.
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