Chilean health officials on Saturday confirmed that a flu outbreak detected on two turkey farms was identical to the A(H1N1) virus and was transmitted by humans.
The outbreak was initially reported late on Thursday in two farms in the Valparaiso region, 160km west of Santiago, by the Chilean Agricultural and Livestock Service.
“Preliminary results from the analysis showed that the virus [found in the turkeys] is the same as that in Chile” during its current southern hemisphere summer, said the Public Health Institute (ISP), the country’s top public health authority.
Chile is one of the countries worst-hit by the A(H1N1) virus in South America. The region accounts for over 70 percent of the nearly 1,800 deaths worldwide.
The latest bulletin by Chile’s health ministry said 116 people have died of swine flu and another 12,175 people were treated for infections. But the intensity of the pandemic has lessened.
The case of transmission from humans to turkeys was the first in the world. But Health Secretary Jeanette Vega said the strain was not a mutated form of the A(H1N1) virus. World health officials have expressed concern the virus could gain strength and mutate.
The World Organization for Animal Health, based in Paris, said it is awaiting confirmation of the strains from analysis by other international laboratories of record.
The ISP said the analysis of the full genome will be available later this week.
The alert over the turkey farms was raised after the company running the properties noticed a sudden 70 percent drop in egg production and eggshell quality late last month.
Consuming turkeys, the ISP stressed, “does not present any risks to the population.”
STEPPING UP: Diminished US polar science presence mean opportunities for the UK and other countries, although China or Russia might also fill that gap, a researcher said The UK’s flagship polar research vessel is to head to Antarctica next week to help advance dozens of climate change-linked science projects, as Western nations spearhead studies there while the US withdraws. The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a state-of-the-art ship named after the renowned British naturalist, would aid research on everything from “hunting underwater tsunamis” to tracking glacier melt and whale populations. Operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the country’s polar research institute, the 15,000-tonne icebreaker — boasting a helipad, and various laboratories and gadgetry — is pivotal to the UK’s efforts to assess climate change’s impact there. “The saying goes
Floods on Sunday trapped people in vehicles and homes in Spain as torrential rain drenched the northeastern Catalonia region, a day after downpours unleashed travel chaos on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Local media shared videos of roaring torrents of brown water tearing through streets and submerging vehicles. National weather agency AEMET decreed the highest red alert in the province of Tarragona, warning of 180mm of rain in 12 hours in the Ebro River delta. Catalan fire service spokesman Oriol Corbella told reporters people had been caught by surprise, with people trapped “inside vehicles, in buildings, on ground floors.” Santa Barbara Mayor Josep Lluis
Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018. The detentions, which come amid renewed China-US tensions after Beijing dramatically expanded rare earth export controls last week, drew condemnation from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who on Sunday called for the immediate release of the pastors. Pastor Jin Mingri (金明日), founder of Zion Church, an unofficial “house church” not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was detained at his home in the southern city of Beihai on Friday evening, said
TICKING CLOCK: A path to a budget agreement was still possible, the president’s office said, as a debate on reversing an increase of the pension age carries on French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday was racing to find a new prime minister within a two-day deadline after the resignation of outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu tipped the country deeper into political crisis. The presidency late on Wednesday said that Macron would name a new prime minister within 48 hours, indicating that the appointment would come by this evening at the latest. Lecornu told French television in an interview that he expected a new prime minister to be named — rather than early legislative elections or Macron’s resignation — to resolve the crisis. The developments were the latest twists in three tumultuous
RSS