New NDV-H5NX avian influenza vaccine has potential for mass vaccination of poultry.

Researchers have developed and tested a new vaccine that protects chickens and other poultry from multiple strains of avian influenza found in the U.S., including H5N1, H5N2 and H5N8. A team of researchers at Kansas State University, in collaboration with Garcia-Sastre of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has developed a vaccine that protects poultry from multiple strains of avian influenza found in the U.S., including H5N1, H5N2 and H5N8. The vaccine has the potential to be administered through water or into embryonated eggs, making it easier for poultry producers to vaccinate flocks.The vaccine, called NDV-H5Nx, protects chickens and likely other poultry against the three recently introduced U.S. avian influenza strains H5N1, H5N2 and H5N8, as well as against Newcastle disease virus -- a virus that naturally affects poultry. Avian influenza killed millions of chickens and turkeys in the U.S. in spring and summer 2015, leading to billions in lost revenue for the U.S. poultry industry. The NDV-H5Nx vaccine also has the potential to be administered to millions of birds at a time through water, said Jürgen Richt, Regents distinguished professor of veterinary medicine, director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases at Kansas State University and one of the researchers involved in the discovery. "The vaccine we produced is a live vaccine, which means it replicates in birds," Richt said. "Because it's live, we believe that the vaccine could be sprayed into the air or put in the water supply so that when the chickens need a drink, they could be vaccinated. A poultry farm could vaccinate all of its birds in a single day because all living creatures need water to live." The vaccine also has potential to be administered to developing chicks in eggs, resulting in offspring being automatically vaccinated for the diseases, said Wenjun Ma, Kansas State University assistant professor of diagnostic medicine and patho biology and one of the researchers involved. The NDV-H5Nx vaccine has the ability to differentiate infected from vaccinated animals, or DIVA. This compatibility is critical for the U.S. poultry industry because it provides evidence to trade partners that poultry have been vaccinated and is free of H5, Richt said. H5 vaccines currently on the market require that each chicken be injected by hand. Many poultry operations have millions of birds and it would take many hours to vaccinate every chicken, Richt said.This is a major advantage as many birds can be vaccinated per time. Story source; science daily.

Avian influenza ;Tracking.

The Rivers state government of Nigeria has confirmed the bird flu virus in a poultry farm in the state.The birds have been culled,farm decontaminated and quarantined.The farms in the vicinity of the affected farm have been advised to enhance bio-security protocol. Avian influenza virus has been detected in a back yard poultry in Idaho state in the U.S..The surveillance conducted revealed several cases of H5N8 in wild ducks,H5N2 also confirmed in 3 falcons from a private,non commercial flock in Canyon county,this has been linked to contact with wild waterfowl and a small backyard poultry in the area has also tested for H5N2. A new outbreak of avian influenza has been detected in Washington state,all poultry owners have been advised to prevent contact of their birds with migratory birds.The bird flu virus found in chickens,geese,ducks was confirmed to be H5N2, hence bio-security has been enhanced in that area. Egypt has reported 20 new H5N1 cases in 2015 and 5 deaths.The avian influenza situation in the country has led to thee constitution of a high-level supreme national committee on bird flu. The health ministry of Egypt has supplied 250,000 Tamiflu bottles to hospitals and health care units to treat patients who have contacted the H5N1. The ministry also provided masks for control of flu.The deaths recorded are in people who had close contact with poultry such as; those living in the poultry area, those processing and those in live bird markets. It is very important to practice good hygiene of hand washing with soap/ sanitize hands when you handle poultry/poultry products. The power to stop bird flu is in your hands. STOP THE BIRD FLU VIRUS! BE PROACTIVE!

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.

H5N2 AND H5N8.

The highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza detected in Taiwan is a new H5 variant. The H5N8 and H5N2 strains identified are new in Taiwan.The confirmed cases of infection was in 14 farms,number of cases have jumped from 20 to 64 with another 31 farms under surveillance. There has been a total of 112,375 culled ducks,geese and chicken.The detection of H5 subtypes in Taiwan indicates that virus has crossed from waterfowl to chickens.The director of the bureau of animal and plant health inspection and quarantine has stated that as from 18/1/15, no poultry can be processed in the abattoir without approval.The H5N2/H5N8 strains observed in Taiwan shows an interaction between domestic waterfowl and migratory birds. The role of migratory birds in transmission of the bird flu virus cannot be overemphasized, so its very important to keep your poultry away from migratory birds/wild birds. BE PROACTIVE! STOP THE VIRUS! USE VIRKON® S.

BIRD FLU.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza has been reported in Canada,backyard poultry in Oregon(U.S.A) ,some parts of Europe and India. The cases has involved humans aside waterfowl, crow and the chicken.The strains identified varies with the countries affected but majorly the H5 variants has been identified. BIO-SECURITY measures should be strictly complied with,and monitoring/surveillance should also be emphasized.The importation of poultry products at this time should be avoided,day old chicks,dressed poultry from such affected countries should be prohibited. The bird flu saga is still so fresh in our memory,lets hype up our BIO-SECURITY MEASURES AND BE ALERT. The is gradually coming to an end and the outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus is trending according to a report in THE POULTRY SITE.COM: 2014 Ends with Bird Flu Fears As we approach the holiday season, highly pathogenic (high-path) avian flu outbreaks in poultry and other birds are much in the news across North America, Europe and Asia. In the last week, India has confirmed that the virus affecting waterfowl in Chandigarh is the high-path H5N1 type. While several cases in people in the area are suspected, none has yet been confirmed. Suspicious deaths of wild crows in the state of Haryana are also under investigation. A new outbreak of avian flu of an H5 subtype has been reported in a village poultry flock in central VietNam. This is thought to be the H5N1 variant. Canada has now reported a total of 11 outbreaks with the high-path H5N2 virus in commercial poultry and one in a backyard flock, all in the same region of the province of British Columbia. THE United States has reported its first outbreak of high-path H5N8 avian flu a backyard poultry flock in Oregon, while the H5N2 virus has been detected in wild ducks in Washington state, close to the border with Canada. Following a new outbreak of H5N8 highly pathogenic avian influenza at a duck farm in Germany in the state of Lower Saxony, the federal agriculture ministry has ordered a veterinary inspection of all ducks and geese before transportation. In mid-December, there was an outbreak of high-path avian influenza of the H5N8 subtype in the Veneto region of north-eastern Italy but there have been no further cases since then.