BB FANS

The National Veterinary and Food Research Institute of Finland (EELA) is currently examining the largest mass death striking birds in Finland so far this year. A total of 21 ducks and one crow were recently found dead at Kotka's Sapokka park in southern Finland.

EELA says a preliminary report on the examination will be ready on Tuesday. A variety of illnesses could have been responsible for the deaths, including salmonella poisoning. The ducks have wintered in Kotka, lessening the likelihood that bird flu caused the deaths.

According to Kotka’s city veterinarian, the situation is being treated seriously. A ban on entering the Sapokka park, however, has not been implemented.

EELA has examined a dozen birds this year but the Kotka case is the first involving the deaths of several birds.

Bird flu has not yet been detected in Finland, but some fear the virus could reach Finland via migratory birds.

Actually there were last year found dead birds at city of Oulu -area as well, but it wasn't bird flu that caused the death of those gulls.

Birdflu wasn't the cause of death of the birds found in Kotka during last weekend. The preliminary results came today.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

THE deadly bird flu strain has been confirmed in a cat in Germany.

A national laboratory today confirmed the country's first case of the deadly H5N1 virus passing from birds to other animals.

More than 100 wild birds have been infected with the H5N1 virus in Germany, mostly on the northern island of Ruegen, where the cat was found, the Friedrich Loeffler institute reported.

The SUN

H5N1 virus has been found in Sweden at Oskarshamn.

I'm mostly worried about children.

EU seems to be worried about cats and dogs that they recommend to keep inside now-on.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has called for poultry to be kept indoors in certain regions in Finland. The new regulation, which begins on Friday, is effective through May.

The Ministry has said that the regions at risk include Western Finland and Åland, as well as a few other districts in other provinces.

According to the National Veterinary and Food Research Institute of Finland (EELA), the virus can easily be prevented from spreading to poultry, but the situation is more difficult to control in wild birds.

Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Juha Korkeaoja has said that it is likely the virus will reach Finland by this spring.

Bird Flu Found in Sweden

Swedish officials reported on Tuesday that an aggressive strain of bird flu had been found in two wild ducks in southern Sweden. Further tests are needed to determine whether it is the deadly H5N1 strain.

The Swedish Board of Agriculture confirmed that the H5 virus was found in ducks near a nuclear power plant in Oskarshamn in south-eastern Sweden. Experts say the virus is identical to strains found in Russia and China.

Sweden is the ninth EU country to detect bird flu virus.

Finnish Case Not Bird Flu

The deadly strain of H5N1 bird flu was not present in more than 20 dead ducks recently found in south-eastern Finland. The National Veterinary and Food Research Institute said on Tuesday that the presence of other diseases, such as salmonella, is now under investigation.

The ducks and one crow were found dead in a park in downtown Kotka. Experts say a variety of illnesses could have caused the deaths.

The Institute has investigated a dozen bird deaths this year, none of which were caused by avian flu.

Reuters, Finnish News Agency

Bird Flu On Its Way

The Finnish government is convinced that the bird flu will spread to Finland along with migratory birds returning north.

The government says it is not a matter of if the deadly avian flu will arrive in Finland, but rather when. It is assumed that the virus will be found here as increasing numbers of migratory birds return from wintering grounds farther south.

At the same time, officials are making an effort to calm any fears.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry launched a drill on Thursday to test officials' readiness for handling the bird flu. The government and officials from several ministry tested both decision-making and communications in the case of an emergency.

During the drill, officials practiced responding to a situation where the disease is found in both wild birds and poultry in Finland. Officials will train for a pandemic again later this spring.

Landfill Protected from Birds

Precautions are being taken as well. They include keeping all poultry indoors until the end of May in risk areas particularly in Western Finland and the Åland Islands. Officials say they do not expect poultry to become infected due to the efficiency of disease prevention in battery farms.

Also, according to the newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet, a net is being installed at the Ämmässuo landfill located in the capital region to protect workers from seagulls potentially carrying the bird flu virus.

Officials hope the 20 metre high net will drive the birds away after they realize they cannot retrieve food from the area. An estimated 10,000 seagulls come to the landfill everyday.

Pandemic Preparations Plan Ready

Officials are making plans to ensure that all residents of the country will be vaccinated against the effects of the bird flu in the case of an impending pandemic.

A Social Affairs and Health Ministry task force turned in its "Action Plan for National Pandemic Preparedness" on Wednesday.

The plan assumes that during the first phase of an influenza pandemic, 35 percent of the population would fall ill. Supplies of both a general vaccine and a type-specific vaccine have been ordered. The type-specific vaccine would be produced only after the start of a pandemic and be designed to be effective against the strain of virus causing infection.

Medication within 48 hours

The National Emergency Supply Agency has 1.3 million doses of the Tamiflu influenza medication in stock as well as the same medication, oseltamivir phosphate in powdered bulk form. The target set by the group which produced the preparedness plan is that during a pandemic, anyone infected would be treated within no more than 48 hours.

The plan contains instructions for action by various groups and organizations, such as health and welfare officials, in case of the widespread outbreak of a communicable disease.

Preparations are based on the assumption that during the first eight weeks of a pandemic, 35% of the population would become infected. Of those, 11,000 - 36,000 would require hospitalization and 3,500 - 9,000 would die.

In addition to the health impact, a pandemic would have widespread economic, social and political effects.