BIRD FLU WATCH.

H7N9 kills 2 people in China,Taiwan battles worst H5N2 outbreak and Egypt report 3rd bird flu death in 2015. The ever changing bird flu virus makes it a potential global threat in terms of economic loss and also death of man. The capacity of the virus to mutate enables it to cross species and cause fulminating infection in these species, this is the reason why it poses a pandemic threat. The bird flu virus infection has been linked to wild birds/waterbirds and migratory birds which act as reservoir .The key prevention will be to keep wild birds away from poultry.These can be achieved as by the following measures ; do not handle birds of unknown origin, dont touch dead birds, wash hands immediately after handling poultry, do not buy processed birds from unknown origin, if you observe high mortality in poultry in your area notify vet authorities in your area. The surveillance of live bird markets, farms and control/border points are paramount in the preventive measure. BE ALERT! BE PROACTIVE ! STOP BIRD FLU VIRUS!.

H5N3.

A new strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza ;H5N3 has been detected in 2 goose farms in southern Taiwan.The new strain identified 16/1/15 in these farms are thought to have been transmitted to the birds by migratory birds. The animal health authorities have issued a disease control measure response to the outbreaks, with all poultry slaughter houses ordered to stop operation for 2 days to carry out sterilization of equipment. A response plan should include: enhanced bio- security protocol, surveillance and monitoring of global progress of the virus to provide opportunity for proactive risk management, and also early detection,reporting and surveillance of the virus. The HPAI virus is on the move affecting poultry of various species, affecting man in some countries resulting in some deaths, all hands must be on deck to stop the virus. BE PROACTIVE! STOP THE HPAI VIRUS.