"Sweden find mink infected with bird flu virus"

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   Sweden finds mink infected with bird flu virus

STOCKHOLM, March 27 (Reuters) - Swedish veterinarians have found a mink
with an aggressive form of the H5 bird flu virus and had the mammal put
down, the National Veterinary Institute said on Monday.

The animal was found in the Blekinge region of south Sweden, an area
where several bird flu cases have been found. What is initially
described as an aggressive form of H5 bird flu is often later confirmed
as the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus.

 The mink probably got the disease from eating wild birds which were already infected, the Institute said in a statement.

 The H5N1 bird flu virus can infect humans who come into contact with
infected poultry and has killed more than 100 people since late 2003.

 The virus has also recently been detected in a marten, a weasel-like mammal, and cats in Germany, and a dog in Azerbaijan.

The World Health Organisation says that so far only domestic poultry
are known to have played a role in transmitting the virus from animals
to humans, but it has called for further investigation into the
significance of infection in other mammals

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Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: "Sweden find mink infected with bird flu virus" Posted: March 27 2006 at 9:51am
	Sweden finds mink infected with bird flu virus STOCKHOLM, March 27 (Reuters) - Swedish veterinarians have found a mink with an aggressive form of the H5 bird flu virus and had the mammal put down, the National Veterinary Institute said on Monday. The animal was found in the Blekinge region of south Sweden, an area where several bird flu cases have been found. What is initially described as an aggressive form of H5 bird flu is often later confirmed as the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus. The mink probably got the disease from eating wild birds which were already infected, the Institute said in a statement. The H5N1 bird flu virus can infect humans who come into contact with infected poultry and has killed more than 100 people since late 2003. The virus has also recently been detected in a marten, a weasel-like mammal, and cats in Germany, and a dog in Azerbaijan. The World Health Organisation says that so far only domestic poultry are known to have played a role in transmitting the virus from animals to humans, but it has called for further investigation into the significance of infection in other mammals

Breeze26 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Valued Member Joined: March 21 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 73	Post Options Post Reply Quote Breeze26 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 27 2006 at 11:58am
	Blame it on the birds!!!
	Human beings can always be relied upon to exert, with vigor, their God-given right to be stupid. Dean Koontz

Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 27 2006 at 11:59am
	Sweden finds mink infected with bird flu virus: http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG4_sub.asp?ccode=ENG4&newscode=135019

Siameselade Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Adviser Group Joined: March 22 2006 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 414	Post Options Post Reply Quote Siameselade Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 27 2006 at 12:05pm
	this is not good news, what else will be able to get it??
	Siam

Ironstone Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Valued Member Joined: March 13 2006 Status: Offline Points: 383	Post Options Post Reply Quote Ironstone Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 27 2006 at 12:14pm
	I think they are the same family as ferrets and stone martens. They have also sequenced flu from a tree squirrel (think rodents) and a camel so far. Any animal that feeds on an infected animal...fox, coyote, pumas, skunks, possums, bears would very possibly be suceptible.
	Ironstone

euroforce Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List advanced Member Joined: March 25 2006 Status: Offline Points: 28	Post Options Post Reply Quote euroforce Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 27 2006 at 12:56pm
	This is bad news for me , i live just across the little strip of water that seperates denmark and sweden ... i am very worried , will i be able to catch H5n1 from bird droppings ? i have a boat in the harbour that i was looking forward to using soon , maybe this is not a good idea anymore ? lots of birdies at the harbour u see.... I think i fell a bit ill already . i just cleaned windows during the weekend and did clean of bird dropping too . i sprayed the bird drop and using thick rubber cloves i cleaned it off and put it and the sponge in a platic bag and sealed it up and took it away. This whole thing is just not nice at all , pandemic is not even here yet , or so we believe , and already i am having to think about these kind of things. 8 birds have been found in denmark so far all og them had the H5n1 virus. People here are also having a hard time getting autoroties to listen to them when they make a find. I read that its the same in the US. Sorry for the short novel , just really need to talk about this , if i talk too much at work or with family or friends they just think im crazy , why do they not take it serious ?

Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 27 2006 at 1:44pm
	ok so now we get to add another wild species to the list..... now if anyone one is going to panic slowly it might be me...lol...I,m kidding... every country has a different name for almost the same kind of animal...a mink is about the same as a marten...the only diffence is the fur....just like you get 2 cats that are different...still not good news.. wonder what this will do to the mink industry...surprised they even let this one out of the bag..

niman Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote niman Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 28 2006 at 6:39am
	Commentary at http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03280601/H5N1_Mink.html

Guests Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Guest Group	Post Options Post Reply Quote Guests Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: March 28 2006 at 6:53am
	Recombinomics Commentary March 28, 2006 (excerpt) "The above comments provide additional evidence that the Qinghai version of H5N1 is causing widespread infections and death in carnivores that eat H5N1 infected birds.� The H5N1 in the mink is in addition to recent reports of H5N1 in a stone marten, dogs, and cats who have eaten H5N1 infected birds. Linkage of H5N1 infections to carnivores after eating infected birds has been noted previously in southeast Asia and confirmed.� The largest number of cases was recorded at a zoo in Thailand in 2004.� Bengal tigers were fed uncooked H5N1 infected chickens, and although the number of tiger infections initially was small, the H5N1 spread tiger to tiger and eventually 147 tigers died or were euthanized.� H5N1 was isolated from the tigers, and sequencing identified PB2 E627K.� This change had been previously reported in H5N1 from some patients in outbreaks in 1997 and 2004 as well as in H7N7 from a fatal infection of a veterinarian in the Netherlands in 2003. In the lab PB2 E627K was associated with increased virulence in mice and had been isolated from mouse brain.� In the tigers from the Thai zoo, the H5N1 was also neurotropic and also causes hind leg paralysis in lab infected ferrets. Transmission of H5N1 to other mammalian species increases the likelihood of recombination and acquisition of mammalian polymorphisms, which can lead to an expanded host range." http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03280601/H5N1_Mink.html