2006: Avian flu infects stone marten in Germany

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Avian flu infects stone marten in Germany

Mar 10, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – The H5N1 avian influenza again

demonstrated its adaptability by infecting a weasel-like mammal in

Germany called a stone marten, according to reports from Germany

yesterday.

The marten was found alive but sick Mar 2 on the Baltic island of

Ruegen, where three domestic cats were previously found infected with

the virus, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) statement.

The animal was euthanized, and tests at the Friedrich Loeffler

Institute for Animal Health confirmed H5N1 infection, the WHO said. It

was the first known case of avian flu in a stone marten.

The marten was found in the same area of the island where the three

cats had been found, the WHO reported. Like the cats, the marten is

assumed to have picked up the virus by eating an infected bird. The

agency said German authorities have found 125 infected wild swans,

ducks, geese, and birds of prey on Ruegen since Feb 16.

" Further investigation is needed to determine whether evidence of H5N1

infection in new mammalian species has any significance for the risk

of human infection or the potential of this virus to adapt to mammals,

including humans, " the WHO said.

According to an Associated Press (AP) report, German scientist Erwin

Reisinger said the marten case did not show the virus to be changing

its means of transmission and therefore did not signal an increased

risk for people. But Reisinger, director of the Department of Tropical

Medicine at the University of Rostock, also said the news suggests

that the disease could spread to more species, such as rats, mice, and

swine.

Nine other mammal species besides humans and stone martens have been

known to contract H5N1 avian flu, either naturally or in experiments,

according to a listing by a moderator for the ProMED-mail listserv.

These are the palm civet, domestic cat, cynomolgus macaque, ferret (a

relative of the stone marten), New Zealand white rabbit, leopard,

tiger, rat, and pig.

In other news, a British laboratory has confirmed that a wild swan

found dead in Serbia last week had H5N1 flu, according to an Agence

France-Presse (AFP) report published yesterday. The finding confirms a

previous report from a Serbian lab.

The swan had been found dead Mar 2 near the Danube River and less than

6 miles from the border with Croatia and Hungary, according to AFP.

Serbian officials said earlier this week they had identified the virus

in that swan and another one, found on the Drina River.

In India, officials reported yesterday they had finished culling

poultry in the area of their first, and so far only, H5N1 outbreak.

Authorities told the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) they

had killed about 408,000 poultry, both backyard and commercial, in a

10-kilometer zone around the affected farms, near the border between

Maharashtra and Gujarat states.

" To date, no further cases of avian influenza have been reported from

this area or from any other part of the country, " the report said. It

added that no human cases have been detected either.

India's outbreak was first reported on Feb 18. In the ensuing days at

least 95 local residents were tested for the virus.

The WHO reported yesterday that avian flu in Nigeria had reached 130

farms in 11 of the country's 37 states since the first outbreak was

confirmed on Feb 8. The affected areas include seven contiguous states

in the northern and central parts of the country, the capital area of

Abuja, and three states in the south.

About 450,000 birds have died or been culled since the outbreaks

started, the WHO said. Nigerian authorities began paying farmers for

lost birds this week, starting in Kano state.

More than 60 Nigerians have been tested for H5N1 infection, with no

cases found, the agency reported. It said Nigeria's ability to test

animal and human samples has been strengthened with help from the WHO

and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/mar1006animals.\

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