Greetings.

Three topics are getting coverage today in the media: the Indonesia meeting, the conflicting test results in Canada, and the US Agriculture Department being faulted for not having the proper means to detect AI in poultry and wild birds. 200 stories have been found by Google (mostly in English) on the Indonesia meeting, which is low/moderate coverage. ANother approximnately 150 stories have been written on the Canada goslings who may or may not have had the H5 virus (see stories attached), while 56 stories have been written on the perceived shortcomings of the US Ag Dept.

On Indonesia, the information so far being circulated is still pre-meeting information:

• ``We want to pose the question to experts: this is the reality, so what do we need to do next?'' Bayu Krisnamurti, secretary of a government-appointed committee on avian and pandemic flu, said in an interview before the three-day meeting in the capital, Jakarta. ``We want to see if the implementation of our strategic plan needs to be refined.''
• "Indonesia's Ministry of Health has already demonstrated a great degree of transparency and collaboration since the first case appeared last year," said Dr. Paul Gully, the most senior WHO official attending the consultation. "Indonesia has rapidly acknowledged all cases publicly, teamed up with WHO for rapid field investigations, and provided virus isolates into the WHO H5 Reference Laboratory Network to enable monitoring of the evolution of the H5N1 virus. With this consultation, Indonesia is taking another step to assess how best to protect the health of its people and the results will certainly be of great importance to all worldwide, who are eyeing the risk of the next pandemic."
• There is also on analysis article in the clippings, in French, from Agence France Presse, on "300 million domestic poultry and a central government with no control/power"

On the goslings in eastern Canada:

• Canada said last Friday that the gosling had tested positive for H5 avian flu at a test at a lab in Atlantic Canada. The noncommercial flock of 35 to 40 chickens, geese and ducks was euthanized and a neighboring backyard flock was quarantined. Samples were then sent to a more sophisticated lab in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and tested negative. CFIA veterinarian Dr. Jim Clark said one reason the Winnipeg laboratory did not detect any virus was that the material may have degraded during the move from Atlantic Canada. "There had to be an AI (avian influenza) to be detected in the Atlantic. That's a given. That's a scientific fact," he said. "I don't believe that what we're dealing with here is the H5N1 Asian strain for a variety of reasons, simply because if that virus was present it would have killed the majority of birds on the premises and it would have been reasonably detectable over the long term," Clark said.

On the US Department of Agriculture, the New York Times is saying:

On other topics.

Note: there is a continuing discussion/misinformation on seasonality. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung, which is seen as one of the most authoritative newspapers in the German-speaking world, published an article today saying that the excitement and danger of AI infection had disappeared because of the arrivial of warmer temperatures (where viruses have less ability to survive, according to the article). In fact, in indonesia, for example, cases have occurred year-round in what is a very warm climate. According to WHO:
• "While cases have occurred year round, the epidemiological curve of H5N1 cases appeared to peak during cooler periods in the Northern hemisphere, for each of the (last) three years. We do know that the virus survives much longer in the environment at cool temperatures."
• Therefore, in fact, we cannot say that the danger of AI disappears during the summer months.
• The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will support a new public-private alliance to help prevent avian influenza (AI) in Viet Nam, bringing the total 2006 US Government anti-bird flu support to Viet Nam to more than US$7 million.
• India and Pakistan on Tuesday discussed joint steps to control bird flu and polio as they seek to cooperate in tackling regional health concerns, an Indian spokesman said. The first meeting of a technical-level working group “discussed measures for control of polio and exchanged ideas on management of avian influenza,” said Navtej Sarna, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman.
• French-lnaguage presse in AFrica seems to be talking more about AI than English-lnaguage media (so is there more sensitization in these countries): certainly, it makes sense that the head of an industry association in one of the countries already affected (Cameroon) is already talking. Other article, out of Senegal, has been occasioned by the announcement of FAO that it will help the country reinforce its AI epidemiological surveillance.

Gregory Härtl