致命性的H5N1禽流感突變種病毒正在亞洲及其他地區擴散，聯合國糧農組織(FAO)29日呼籲提高對H5N1禽流感的預防及監控。
新型的病毒突變種-H5N1-2.3.2.1已侵襲越南，越南獸醫界正處於高度警戒狀態，也認為今年今年春天停辦的家畜注射疫苗計畫，應該在秋天重新啟動。
根據世界衛生組織(WHO)的數據顯示，從最初2003年H5N1爆發以來，H5N1禽流感的高度致病原已經感染了565個人，其中有331死亡。
最新的案例是8月初死於禽流感的一位六歲柬埔寨女孩。柬埔寨衛生署表示：「在小女孩居住的村莊裡，家畜相繼死去，而小女孩可能是和這些生病的家畜接觸過。」
柬埔寨今年已經申報了8起人類感染H5N1的案例，所有的案例都是致命的。
大部分人類感染禽流感的案例都是因為他們曾接觸過生病的家畜或是接觸到遭污染的物體表面包括水表面、地表等。H5N1藉由生病的人傳染給另一個人的案例是非常少見的。
H5N1病毒的肆虐範圍已經大幅縮減，2006年高峰期最多有63個國家，現在則在六個國家成為地方性的流行病。FAO在聲明中指出，禽流感又再一次爆發，在2010年到2011年間就有800個案例出現。
FAO首席獸醫Juan Lubroth表示：「H5N1病毒再次出現和鳥類的遷徙活動有關。」
Juan Lubroth說：「鳥類的遷徙使得病毒可以移動很長的距離，在過去24個月裡，H5N1在一些已經很多年沒有禽流感的國家中被發現，病毒於家畜或野生鳥類身上發現。野生鳥類會引入病毒，但是人類在處理家畜和買賣家畜的時候會使得病毒擴散。」
最近受到病毒攻擊的區域有以色列、巴基斯坦領域、巴加利亞、羅馬尼亞、尼泊爾和蒙古。
Lubroth說：「更需要關注的是，在中國和越南出現的H5N1病毒突變種H5N1-2.3.2.1似乎可以克服現存的疫苗。」
突變種病毒出現在H5N1禽流感流行的越南最北部和越南中心。在2003年越南被報導出世界第一起人類感染禽流感的案例。
在2009年，美國國際開發署支持越南首次親自訓練動物衛生醫療人員來預防和控制未來禽流感的爆發。越南的衛生署(Ministry of Healthy)發表了這個和WHO及美國疾病管制及預防中心(the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)共同合作的兩年訓練方案。
美國國際開發署的Richard Nyberg說：「開發署也跨國界的資助中國和寮國並支持其預防和增進地方對流行性疾病的預防計畫。」
FAO警告在越南流行的病毒已經對柬埔寨、泰國、馬來西亞，和已經快陷入危機的韓國和日本造成直接的威脅。野生鳥類的遷徙也將病毒擴散到其他國家。
Lubroth說：「在孟加拉、中國、埃及、印度、印尼和越南等病毒仍然存在的地方，可能面臨很大的問題，所有的國家都必須有所警惕。在2004年到2008年中觀察到正常狀態下逐漸降低的數據可能意味著今年秋天和冬天H5N1禽流感會大爆發，人類可能會突然地在他們家後院的家畜身上發現病毒。」
Lubroth強調：「預防和監控仍然非常重要。沒有時間可以自滿。沒有人可以降低對H5N1禽流感的警戒。」
H5N1禽流感自從2003年開始，在高峰期時肆虐63個國家時有超過四億隻的雞感染禽流感死亡或是被迫被宰殺掉，並且造成全球估計約200億的經濟損失。
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization today urged heightened readiness and surveillance amid signs that a mutant strain of the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus is spreading in Asia and beyond.
Vietnam, which suspended its springtime poultry vaccination campaign this year, has been invaded by a new virus strain, known as H5N1 - 2.3.2.1. Vietnam's veterinary services are on high alert and are considering a targeted vaccination campaign this fall.
Since the start of the most recent outbreak in 2003, the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus has infected 565 people, killing 331 of them, according to World Health Organization figures.
The latest was a six-year-old girl who died earlier this month in Cambodia. The Cambodian Ministry of Health reported poultry die offs in her village, and she is believed to have been in contact with sick poultry.
Cambodia has registered eight cases of human H5N1 infection this year - all of them fatal.
Most cases of bird flu infection in humans have resulted from contact with sick poultry or surfaces contaminated by infected birds. The spread of H5N1 from one ill person to another person has been reported very rarely.
While the H5N1 virus was eliminated from most of the 63 countries infected at its peak in 2006, it remained endemic in six nations. Outbreaks have risen since then, with almost 800 cases recorded between 2010 and 2011, the FAO said in a statement.
The resurgence of the H5N1 virus appears to be associated with migratory bird movements, says FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth.
He said migrations help the virus travel over long distances, so that in the past 24 months H5N1 has been found in poultry or wild birds in countries that had been virus-free for years.
"Wild birds may introduce the virus, but peoples' actions in poultry production and marketing spread it," Lubroth said.
Areas recently affected by the virus are found in Israel and the Palestinian territories, Bulgaria, Romania, Nepal and Mongolia.
A further cause for concern, Lubroth said, is the appearance in China and Vietnam of the variant virus, H5N1 - 2.3.2.1, which appears to be able to overcome the defenses provided by existing vaccines.
The mutant virus strain has appeared in most of the northern and central parts of Vietnam, where H5N1 is endemic. In 2003, Vietnam reported the world's first human case of bird flu.
In 2009, USAID supported Vietnam's first hands-on training of animal health workers to prevent and control future outbreaks of the disease. Vietnam's Ministry of Health launched this two-year field training program with the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
USAID's Richard Nyberg said the agency has also funded cross-border bird flu pandemic exercises with China and Laos and support to develop or improve provincial pandemic preparedness plans.
FAO warned that virus circulation in Vietnam poses a direct threat to Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia as well as endangering the Korean peninsula and Japan. Wild bird migration also can spread the virus to other continents.
Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, where the virus is still entrenched, are likely to face the biggest problems but all countries need to be vigilant, said Lubroth.
"The general departure from the progressive decline observed in 2004-2008 could mean that there will be a flareup of H5N1 this fall and winter, with people unexpectedly finding the virus in their backyard," Lubroth said.
"Preparedness and surveillance remain essential," he stressed. "This is no time for complacency. No one can let their guard down with H5N1."
Since 2003 the H5N1 virus has killed or forced the culling of more than 400 million domestic poultry and caused an estimated $20 billion of economic damage across the globe before it was eliminated from most of the 63 infected countries.
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