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Avian Influenza in 2007
Outbreaks in birds
Outbreaks in other animals
Human cases and deaths
Preparedness and prevention activities
Background information
Outbreaks in Birds
January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December
December
25 December: German officials reported that avian influenza H5N1 was found on a farm near Berlin. The farmer was also caring for a neighbour's chickens which also caught the disease. All up 92 birds were lost.
Six farms near Poland's Salowo Parcele village have had avian influenza H5N1 outbreaks.
A farm in Russia's Krasnodar territory has also had an avian influenza H5N1 outbreak. Around 70 birds were culled.
A low pathogenic strain of avian influenza was found in the Dominican Republic. A live-bird market in Santo Domingo was the source of the outbreak.
17 December: Five chickens have been found infected with avian influenza H5N1 on another farm in Poland.
16 December: Saudi Arabia's agriculture ministry has ordered the destruction of 13, 500 ostriches following a new outbreak. The birds are on a farm in the Al-Kharj region.
15 December: Chickens on a small farm in the German state of Brandenburg have tested positive to avian influenza H5N1.
14 December: A wild heron has tested positive to avian influenza H5N1 in Hong Kong. As a result visitors are not being allowed access to a bird reserve for 21 days.
12 December: Avian influenza H5N1 has killed over 1,000 ducks in two districts of Vietnam's Bac Giang province.
A stork and two buzzards have died from avian influenza H5N1 infection in a wild bird rehabilitation centre in Poland. A sixth outbreak has also occurred on a small poultry farm near Elblag. Around 40 birds died from the disease.
11 December: Avian influenza has been found on a poultry farm in the Rostov region of Russia. About 35,000 birds out of 500,000 died from the disease.
Ducks at a poultry farm in South Korea have tested positive to an antibody of avian influenza. Tests are being done to determine the strain.
10 December: More than 10,000 chickens infected with avian influenza have been culled on a farm in Pakistan's Manga Village, 25km from the capital.
7 December: Poultry in the West African country of Benin have tested positive to avian influenza. These are the first reported cases of the disease in the country although its neighbour Nigeria has been hard hit by avian influenza.
A fourth outbreak of avian influenza H5N1 has occurred on a farm in Poland. Last week three turkey farms were hit with the disease. It is suspected the disease had spread in feed that was contaminated with wild bird faeces.
4 December: A duck farm at Jincheon in South Korea has a suspected outbreak of avian influenza H5N1 in ducks. There are no reports of how many birds have died or been culled because of the disease.
3 December: A poultry farm in the Bangladesh village of Dolon has had 5,600 chickens culled and 2,600 eggs destroyed following an outbreak of avian influenza H5N1.
November
28 November: Romanian authorities have culled 90 hens and ducks after avian influenza H5 was discovered on a small farm. Initially, 15 birds had died from the disease.
Two hundred ducks have died at Zoo Lake in Parkview, Johannesburg. It is suspected however, that the cause of death was due to the oubreak of a bacteria.
26 November: Further outbreaks of avian influenza H5N1 have occurred in farmed birds near Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. No other details were released.
24 November: Domestic ducks have been discovered with low pathogenic avian influenza in South Korea's South Jeolla province. A total of 16,000 ducks have died as a result of the outbreak.
Over 2,000 chickens have died on a farm in Myanmar's Shan State. The cause has been identified as avian influenza H5N1. A further 533 birds were culled to stop the spread of the disease.
A little egret has been found in a park in Hong Kong with avian influenza H5N1. Residents are being reminded not to have contact with wild birds or poultry, or to thoroughly wash their hands if they do have contact with them.
23 November: Over 50,00 chickens in Vietnam's southern Tien Giang province have died en mass after they suddenly stopped eating. It is suspected they have died from Marek's disease rather than avian influenza.
22 November: It's been reported that 3.2 million birds on 10 farms in Saudi Arabia have been culled to prevent the further spread of avian influenza. The government has told farmers they will be compensated for the loss of their birds.
21 November: A further 68,000 birds will be culled on a sixth farm in Suffolk in the UK. The cull will take place in the existing surveillance zone as a precautionary measure.
20 November: Avian influenza has been found in a market place in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh. The market place hosts 85 shops which each hold 1,000 birds. The birds will be culled and the area disinfected.
15 November: After four months avian influenza has re-emerged in Bangladesh. Five new outbreaks have occurred on poultry farms across the country.
14 November: Avian influenza H5N1 has been found in poultry in Saudi Arabia and 50,000 birds have been culled as a result. The outbreak was discovered after tests on 1,500 birds confirmed the disease in the Al-Kharj region.
12 November: The United Kingdom has had avian influenza H5N1 outbreak in turkeys on a farm on the Suffolk/Norfolk border. Around 6,00 birds were initially culled and an additional 22,000 will be culled on a further four nearby properties.
9 November: Further avian influenza H5N1 outbreaks have occurred in the Vietnamese provinces of Ha Nam and Be Tre.
7 November: A farm in Vietnam's Ha Nam province has had an outbreak of avian influenza H5N1, killing 590 two-month old ducks. Meanwhile, tests have also confirmed that AI was present in two dead chickens found dumped in a river in the same province.
2 November: Bangladesh has culled 6,000 chickens following a H5N1 outbreak. The outbreak occurred on three farms in the country's north.
October
23 October: Avian influenza H5N1 has infected 310 ducklings on a farm in Vietnam. The farm is located in the Quang Tri province.
12 October: Around 250,000 birds have been culled at a poultry farm in Russia's Krasnodar Territory. The birds tested positive to avian influenza H5N1.
11 October: Five ducks on a farm of 300 have died from avian influenza H5N1 in Vietnam's Tra Vinh province.
September
27 September: Avian influenza H7N3 has been found in Canada. Around 45,000 birds were culled to contain the virus which broke out on a chicken farm near Regina in Saskatchewan.
Bangladesh has culled more than 5,000 chickens on a farm near Bogra after another avian influenza H5N1 outbreak.
Phichit in Thailand has had an avian influenza H5N1 outbreak, which killed 90 birds.
15 September: China's southern city of Guangzhou has had an avian influenza H5N1 outbreak. Almost 10,000 ducks died between September 5 and 13.
12 September: Two more farms in Germany have had ducks culled to contain the avian influenza H5N1 outbreak. A farm in Dietersburg had 41,000 ducks culled, and a further 26,000 were culled on a farm in Dingolfing-Ladau - both in the state of Bavaria.
7 September: Two farms near Schwandorf in Germany had 205,000 ducks culled after outbreaks of avian influenza H5N1. This comes after last month's outbreak in Bavaria.
6 September: Fresh outbreaks of avian influenza H5N1 have occurred in the Burmese states of Mon and Karen. Around 500 ducks were culled but there have been problems disposing of the dead birds. Heavy rains have water-logged the ground and it's too expensive to burn them due to the high cost of fuel.
4 September: Avian influenza H5N1 has killed 410 birds on a poultry farm in Russia's Krasnodar region. Another 414 birds were culled to contain the disease.
August
25 August: A farm in Wachenroth, Germany has had an avian influenza H5N1 outbreak, with 400 ducks dying within a short period of time. The farm's remaining 160,000 were culled to eradicate the disease.
24 August: Avian influenza has spread to the northern provinces of Thai Nguyen and Dang Thap in Vietnam. Around 400 ducks and 35 chickens died on two properties.
23 August: Authorities in Israel are testing chickens that died in large numbers at Kibbutz Grofit in Arava.
21 August: Pakistani authorities have announced that avian influenza H5N1 was detected in late July. The outbreak occurred on a farm in Mansehra, where 14,000 birds died from the virus. An additional 35,000 birds were culled to contain the disease.
21 August: A dead swan found in a pond in France's Moselle region is being tested for avian influenza H5N1. It was found in the same area as nine other wild birds that tested positive to the disease.
Egypt has detected the H7 strain of avian influenza in wild ducks. The birds were found in a pond in Sharkia, in the Nile Delta region.
It has been reported that Italy had an outbreak of low pathogenic avian influenza in late July. Two strains were detected near Ravenna in the country's north. Around 12,000 ducks and geese on a commercial farm, and 200 guinea fowl and chickens on a small farm were culled.
20 August: Indonesia has culled more than 5,400 chickens in Bali after the death of a 29 year old woman last week. The birds were culled within a 1km radius of the village where the woman lived.
15 August: Eighty-nine chickens and ducks have died from avian influenza H5N1 in Vietnam. The outbreak occurred on a farm in the Thach An district which borders China.
14 August: Four wild ducks that were found dead in the Moselle region of France last week have tested positive for avian influenza H5N1.
8 August: Three new outbreaks of avian influenza H5N1 have occurred in the west African nation of Togo. The outbreaks occurred were on farms in Lacs, Golfe and Zio. It was not reported how many birds were effected.
4 August: Two wild ducks have been found dead near Munich in Germany. The birds tested positive for avian influenza H5N1.
2 August: Five hundred chickens on a government-run farm have died in Tripura, India. It is suspected that the birds died of infectious bursal disease and not avian influenza. Tests are being done to confirm.
1 August: Myanmar has had another avian influenza outbreak in birds, this time in the township of Letpadan. Around 3,800 chickens on a poultry farm were culled to contain the disease.
July
31 July: Officials in France suspect that avian influenza H5N1 has killed two swans. The dead swans were found only 15km away from where the previous two infected birds were found several weeks ago.
29 July: Myanmar has culled 300 chickens on two poultry farms following a new outbreak in the state of Mon.
28 July: Avian influenza H5N1 has been confirmed in 132 chickens that died in the Indian village of Chinmeirong. Authorities plan to cull 150,000 poultry within a 5km radius of the outbreak.
19 July: Avian influenza H5N1 has hit Vietnam's Dong Thap province for the second time this year. The disease killed 120 chickens with a further 280 culled to stop its spread. It was reported that the birds had been vaccinated.
18 July: Manipur in India has a suspected outbreak of avian influenza. Around 132 fowls died on a private poultry farm with the surviving 12 birds culled as a precautionary measure. Tests are being done to determine the cause.
15 July: Avian influenza has spread to yet another district in Bangladesh. Around 2,000 chickens were culled in the Naogaon district. Seventeen out of Bangladesh's 64 districts have now been infected.
12 July: A further two avian influenza H5N1 outbreaks have occurred in the Czech Republic. The outbreaks occurred near the chicken and turkey farms that experienced outbreaks in late June.
Two more avian influenza H5N1 outbreaks have occurred, this time in Vietnam's northern Dien Bien province, killing 500 ducks. This outbreak follows two outbreaks in the country's southern most province less than two weeks ago. Vietnam has vaccinated 154 million birds this year.
Yemen in the Middle East has seen a large number of poultry deaths within days, and cats and dogs that have eaten dead birds have also died. The outbreak has occurred in the province of Kabata. Tests are being carried out to determine the cause of these animals' deaths.
9 July: Low pathogenic avian influenza has been discovered on a turkey farm west of Mount Jackson in Virginia USA. Around 50,000 turkeys tested positive to the disease. The infected birds will be culled and composted on-site.
8 July: Vietnam's southern most province, Ca Mau has had another avian influenza H5N1 outbreak, this time in a flock of ducks.
7 July: German authorities have ordered the culling of about 1,000 birds within a two-mile radius of the town of Wickersdorf. This follows the discovery of a dead goose infected with avian influenza H5N1. The goose was a pet and was apparently located on an isolated farm.
5 July: Authorities have confirmed that three dead swans found in eastern France were infected with avian influenza H5N1. This is France's first case in over a year. Bans have been put in place on pigeon racing, bird shows, and domestic birds are not allowed to have access to wild birds.
June
27 June: The Czech Republic has had a second avian influenza H5N1 outbreak. The outbreak occurred on a farm in Norin, inside the quarantine zone set up around last week's outbreak.
Avian influenza H5N1 has spread to another district in Bangladesh, with 5,000 chickens culled. The outbreak occurred in Thakurgaon, 500km northwest of the capital Dhaka.
26 June: Germany has identified more wild swans infected with avian influenza H5N1, bringing the total to nine so far. Scientists are comparing strains from recent outbreaks in Hungary and the Czech Republic to determine how the H5N1 strained arrived in Germany.
25 June: Avian influenza H5N1 has hit another four Indonesian villages: Nuha, Nikel, Magaru and Sorowako. Authorities have culled around 1,000 chickens to contain the virus.
24 June: Health workers in Bangladesh have culled 78,000 chickens infected with avian influenza H5N1 outbreak. The latest outbreak occurred on three farms in the Lalmonirhat district.
Testing on 14 wild birds in Germany has concluded that two swans and a wild goose were infected with avian influenza H5N1. The birds were found at two lakes near Nuremberg. Authorities have put in place movement restrictions and domestic poultry in the area must be kept indoors for the next three weeks.
22 June: The outbreak reported on 17 June in Togo, Africa has been confirmed as H5N1.
20 June: Avian influenza has emerged for the first time in domestic poultry in the Czech Republic. Six thousand turkeys died on a farm in the east Bohemia town of Usti nad Olice. Movement restrictions and quarantine zones have been put in place.
19 June: More than 1,100 birds have been culled after avian influenza broke out on a farm in the town of Aflao, Ghana. The birds started dying a week ago but showed no other signs of disease. The disease was confirmed after the farmer took his dead birds to a laboratory for testing.
Wild ducks in four regions of Siberia have tested positive to avian influenza H5N1. Some of the ducks showed no clinical signs and had recovered from the disease. There have been no reports of infected domestic birds in the area.
18 June: Avian influenza has spread to the Jaipurhat district in Bangladesh. Around 7,000 birds were culled and buried after the disease was detected on two farms.
17 June: Officials in Togo, West Africa are investigating a suspected avian influenza outbreak. Around 2,000 out of 3,000 chickens on a farm died in two days. The remaining birds have been culled and the area quarantined.
14 June: Vietnam has had an avian influenza outbreak in ducks in the Ha Tinh province. Around 350 ducks died from the virus while others in surrounding areas were culled as a precaution. Also, another outbreak has occurred in Cao Bang near China's border, killing 87 ducks and chickens.
13 June: Around 28 chickens have died in a fresh outbreak in Yangon, Myanmar. A further 1,000 birds were culled to contain the virus.
A crow found dead in Hong Kong has tested positive to avian influenza H5. Further tests are being conducted to determine the strain. Also in Hong Kong, a Daurian starling has tested positive to avian influenza H5N1 and as a result a local pet bird market has been closed.
11 June: An official from Indonesia's Agriculture Ministry has claimed they have found healthy looking birds that were infected with avian influenza H5N1. Called "asymptomatic" chickens, it is feared that the birds' resilience could make it harder to detect the virus. Previously it was believed that the H5N1 strain was fatal to poultry.
10 June: Avian influenza H5N1 has spread to the Dinajpur district in Bangladesh which saw more than 3,000 birds culled. Since Bangladesh's first outbreak in March this year, 100,000 farms have been inspected, 125 million birds have been vaccinated, 1.5 million eggs destroyed and 160,000 birds culled.
7 June: Avian influenza H5N1 has hit a 16th province in Vietnam. Around 240 ducks died from the virus and a further 130 were culled in Viet Tri city, in the country's north.
Low pathogenic (H7) avian influenza has been found on a small farm near St Helens in England. The outbreak occurred when infected chickens, associated with the recent outbreak in Wales, were purchased from a market in Chelford.
6 June: An avian influenza H5N1 outbreak has occurred in the central state of Selangor in Malaysia. Around 60 chickens died from the disease with the remaining fowl in the village to be culled. A 10km quarantine area has been established around the infected village.
1 June: Around 300 ducklings at a farm in Vietnam's Hung Yen province have died from avian influenza H5N1 infection. Vietnam has now had 14 AI outbreaks within one month, spreading from south to the north of the country.
May
30 May: A starling found dead in the Hong Kong's Mong Kok district has tested positive to the H5 avian influenza. Further tests are being conducted to determine the disease sub-type.
29 May: Several poultry farms in the cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are unwilling to cull their birds infected with avian influenza H5N1. The government has to pay 75 per cent of the production costs but last time farmers lost their birds compensation was not paid on time. Authorities fear the infected birds may make it to markets and consumers.
27 May: Samples have been taken from birds at a second farm in North Wales to test for avian influenza. Meanwhile, two people that had contact with birds from the farm infected last week [reported 24 May] have shown flu-like symptoms are being tested for the disease.
26 May: An avian influenza outbreak has occurred in chickens and ducks at poultry farms in the city of Haiphong and in Bac Giang province, Vietnam. Fresh outbreaks have also been reported in the previously hit provinces of Quang Ninh and Nam Dinh.
25 May: Around 3,000 birds have died from an avian influenza H5N1 outbreak in the Chak Shezad area of Pakistan. A further 4,000 chickens were culled to contain the virus.
24 May: Avian influenza H7N2, which is a low pathogenic strain, has occurred on a farm in North Wales. At least 30 birds were culled to contain the virus and a 1km restriction zone put in place around the infected property.
22 May: Avian influenza has killed nearly 1,900 ducks on seven farms across Vietnam in the past week. None of the ducks had been vaccinated.
Ghana has had a second outbreak of avian influenza H5N1, this time in the town of Sanyani which is far from the first outbreak detected three weeks ago. Less than 200 birds on a small farm were infected. The birds were culled and the farm disinfected.
An avian influenza outbreak has occurred on the outskirts of Islamabad in Pakistan. The farmers initially objected to having their 10,000 birds culled but agreed following assurances from officials that they would be compensated.
19 May: Avian influenza H5N1 has recently killed over 11,000 poultry in China's Hunan province. Another 52,874 birds were culled to contain the virus.
14 May: Poultry and ducks found dead in West Bengal and Kerala in India (reported 8 May) have tested negative for avian influenza. The birds died from Newcastle Disease and Infectious Bursal Disease as suspected.
[See why biosecurity is important for protecting your birds against all diseases].
13 May: Three duck farms in Vietnam have had avian influenza outbreaks, with tests confirming the H5 component of the virus. Around 1,298 ducks died from the virus while the remaining 2,500 ducks on the farms were culled to contain the virus. In a separate province, around 65 chickens have also died from avian influenza.
The village of Nilphamari in Bangladesh has culled 15,000 chickens following another avian influenza H5N1 outbreak.
8 May: Lagos in Africa has culled a total of 652,000 birds to stop the spread of avian influenza. The Commissioner for Agriculture has said $89,000 (USD) has been paid to farmers in compensation.
More than 3,000 birds have died over a two day period in West Bengal, India. Tests are being carried out to confirm the cause of the deaths but initial reports have suggested Newcastle Disease along with Infectious Bursal Disease as the cause.
Bangladesh has culled 25,000 chickens on eight farms that were infected with avian influenza. Six farms were in the Dkaha district, one nearby in Mirpur and the eighth in Magura. Bangladesh has culled a total of 132,000 chickens from 52 farms across 10 districts.
2 May: Ghana has suffered its first outbreak of avian influenza H5N1. The outbreak occurred on a chicken farm east of the capital Accra. Around 100 chickens per day had died over 3-4 days. The remaining 1,600 chickens on the farm were culled and incinerated to contain the outbreak.
Bangladesh has culled a further 8,500 chickens after another avian influenza outbreak. The country has now culled more than 70,000 birds since its first outbreak this year.
The Phillippines has imposed a temporary ban on imports of poultry from West Virginia, USA after an outbreak of avian influenza H5N2 was discovered on the American turkey farm. The ban covers commercial and wild birds, day-old chicks, meat, eggs and semen.
April
22 April: Seven poultry farms near Rangoon in Burma have been hit with H5N1 outbreaks. Around 65,800 birds were culled after testing by the FAO and US Agency for International Development discovered the virus.
An area within a 3km radius of Kabad in the Gulf Arab area has been disinfected following a avian influenza outbreak in birds. The outbreak was identified in 45 locations - the area having a lot of cattle and birds.
Kuwait has reported another case of avian influenza H5N1 in an ostrich near the Saudi border. After the discovery, authorities identified a further 46 'focal points' where they will concentrate their containment and eradication efforts.
16 April: Kuwait has tested 500 falcons for avian influenza in its falcon hospital that houses 3,000 birds. Only four falcons tested positive to the virus and were handed over to the Public Authority for Agriculture.
15 April: The Ministry of Agriculture has culled over 100 ducks and chickens within a 3km radius of an outbreak in Cambodia's Ponhea Kreak district. The cull came after the death of a 13 year old girl last week.
11 April: A further three farms have been infected with avian influenza in Bangladesh. The farms are in Noakhali, Gaibandha and Jessore districts.
9 April: Pakistan has reported avian influenza outbreaks on commercial poultry farms in the southern province of Sindh and the north western Frontier province. One farm had 350 birds that were culled.
8 April: A new outbreak has occurred on a farm in Savar, Bangladesh. Around 3,000 chickens were culled. Movement controls within 10 sq km have been put in place.
March
27 March: Myanmar livestock authorities have confirmed that five townships in Yangon have had avian influenza H5N1 outbreaks. Poultry, quail and pheasants have been culled to stop the virus spreading. The suspicious deaths of crows, pigeons, sparrows and doves in the same five townships has also been investigated with 6 crows suspected of having AI infection. The other birds died of heat stroke, chronic bronchitis and small pox.
24 March: Poultry workers in Bangladesh have protested about the culling of 38,000 poultry by the army. Fearing loss of livelihood the government has assured the workers from the six infected farms that they will receive compensation.
22 March: Saudi Arabia has reported its first avian influenza H5N1 outbreak. Tests confirmed that turkeys, parrots, peacocks and ostriches were infected on a farm in the Eastern Province.
Bangladesh has reported its first case of avian influenza H5N1 on a poultry farm in Savar. Around 30,000 birds were culled to contain the virus. There are 125,000 small and large poultry farms in Bangladesh with around 40 million people associated either directly or indirectly with poultry farming. The country last year banned all imports of chicken and eggs from 25 countries in Europe and Asia, including India.
21 March: The outbreak in birds in Mukdahan (reported below, 19 March) was likely to have occurred due to illegal cock fighting in Lao's Sawannakhet province. Although bird movement restrictions apply, smuggling across the border continues to be a problem.
Around 1,645 chickens have died in another avian influenza outbreak in Rangoon, Myanmar. Authorities culled a further 20,682 chickens within a 1km radius to contain the outbreak.
Three new cases of avian influenza in birds has been discovered in poultry farms in Wafra, southern Kuwait. The virus discovered in two turkeys and a chicken brings the number of reported bird cases to 57 since February this year.
19 March: Avian influenza H5N1 has reappeared in Thailand. Around 30 chickens, ducks and turkeys were found dead at the occupational training centre in Mukdahan near the Thai-Lao friendship bridge earlier this month. As a result, 173 poultry in the surrounding area were culled to contain the virus.
18 March: An endangered moutain hawk eagle was discovered in Japan with avian influenza H5N1. The eagle was found in the village of Sagara in January but died shortly after. The agriculture ministry now plans to catch wild birds and collect their droppings for testing around the area where the eagle was found.
17 March: Kuwait has confirmed a new outbreak of avian influenza H5N1 in chickens. The Gulf Arab state has closed down poultry shops in residential areas and banned the import of live birds to prevent further outbreaks.
15 March: An outbreak of avian influenza has been identified on nine Egyptian poultry farms where poultry has been vaccinated. Of the 41,684 birds raised on the farms, 10,000 have died since the beginning of the year.
The Ministry of Agriculture has killed over 100 poultry in Ponhea Kreak district in Cambodia after the death of a 13 year old girl. The outbreak occurred in backyard chickens and ducks and poultry was culled within a 3km radius of where the girl lived.
12 March: Afghanistan has reported 13 new outbreaks of avian influenza H5N1 in birds. Nine birds were diagnosed across five districts in the Nangarhar and Kunar provinces. Four other cases occurred in the capital. A massive poultry vaccination campaign is taking place in the capital and the two infected provinces.
11 March: Myanmar has had another two outbreaks in birds. Around 1,300 chickens suspected of carrying the virus were culled in two Yangon townships.
8 March: Several avian influenza outbreaks have occurred in Korea. The first outbreak has occurred in 31 ducks in Chonan (south of Seoul). Around 55,000 poultry in a 3km radius will be culled to contain the virus. The virus has only been confirmed as highly pathogenic at this stage. The second outbreak has occurred in Can Tho City where 100 ducks died out of a flock of 500. H5N1 has been confirmed in this outbreak.
A number of birds have died in suspicious circumstances in Pardisan Park in Tehran. The Islamic Students News Agency reported that 24 saker falcons, one kestrel and a number of owls had died. Tests are being done to determine the cause of the deaths.
Afghanistan has had six avian influenza outbreaks in birds. All were home-raised poultry and the outbreaks occurred in the province of Nangarhar, four in Kabul, and three in the eastern Kunar province. Culling, quarantine and vaccination are the measures being used to stop the spread of the virus.
6 March: China has had an avian influenza H5N1 outbreak in remote Tibet. Around 680 fowl on a farm had died from the virus and nearly 7,000 were culled. It has also been reported that thousands of wild birds have died throughout the region.
A chicken farm in Vietnam, which is the biggest chicken supplier to Hanoi, has had an avian influenza H5N1 outbreak. Several chickens died from the virus and a further 550 were culled to contain the virus.
5 March: Burmese military authorities have confirmed that avian influenza has broken out in birds in another three towns in Rangoon. A number of crows had died but authorities have denied that the cause of these deaths were from H5N1 infection.
Officials in Myanmar have reported that no avian influenza virus had been detected in 26 crows, quails, pigeons and sparrows found in 10 townships early last week.
1 March: Kuwait has reported its 41st avian influenza H5N1 outbreak in birds. The latest outbreaks reported were in a chicken and falcon from separate locations.
Avian influenza has been detected in waterfowl in the Mekong Delta's Vinh Long province. Around 800 ducks on the farm were culled to contain the outbreak.
February
28 February: An avian influenza outbreak has occurred in poultry in Myanmar, being the first outbreak since April 2006. A report to the OIE said 68 birds had died from the virus and 1,292 were culled to contain it.
27 February: Kuwait has detected a further seven birds with avian influenza. Two infected turkeys and four chickens were found ina home in Wafra and an infected falcon was reported by its owner in a nearby suburb.
26 February: Vietnam has confirmed an avian influenza outbreak in birds on a farm in the Hai Duong province. Around 70 chickens died and the remaining flock of more than 10,000 were culled. The outbreak comes just weeks after Vietnam declared that the disease had been contained.
25 February: Kuwait has confirmed 20 cases of avian influenza in falcons, chickens and turkeys. The cases were found at the Kuwait zoo, farms and a clinic for falcons. The zoo and bird markets are being closed temporarily and exports and imports are being halted. Kuwait's last known outbreak was discovered in a flamingo in 2005.
24 February: Two separate avian influenza H5N1 outbreaks have occurred in Afghanistan. The first was in backyard poultry in the province of Nangarhar and the second was in turkeys in the Kunar province. Afghanistan has recently banned imports from Pakistan where it gets most of its poultry from, and where recent outbreaks have occurred.
Russia has had an eighth outbreak of avian influenza in birds. Officials have reported that 333 domestic birds have died since February 9 and 1,833 have been culled at eight locations around Moscow. Increased awareness has seen a rush of calls with people reporting dead birds.
15 February: Turkey announced that avian influenza H5N1 had been detected in three more villages following a recent outbreak in birds. More than 3,500 birds have been culled and several villages have been quarantined. Meanwhile authorities are testing a 67 year old woman for avian influenza. She is from one of the villages that have had outbreaks in birds.
Hong Kong authorities have confirmed that two silver-eard mesias birds, found last week in the Mong Kok area had the avian influenza H5N1 virus.
14 February: Hungary has stated that only heat-processed, raw breaded poultry products and turkey breast fillets were transported to the Bernard Matthews Suffolk plant in Britain. Authorities are still trying to identify the cause of the outbreak on the Suffolk turkey farm. The virus found in England is believed to be the same as that responsible for outbreaks in Hungary and other parts of Europe.
10 February: South Korea has confirmed its sixth case of avian influenza H5N1 in poultry. The latest outbreak has occurred on a farm in Ansong, Kyonggi Province.
A third outbreak of avian influenza H5N1 in domestic poultry has occurred in the town of Mansehra in Pakistan.
9 February: Britain's food watch dog is checking to see if contaminated turkey meat has got into the food chain. Britain's avian influenza H5N1 outbreak that occurred last week, has been blamed on the import of contaminated poultry meat from Hungary. Farmers are criticising import protocols while poultry sales have experienced a slump in sales.
Turkey has announced an avian influenza H5N1 outbreak on a farm in the Batman province. Around 800 birds, including turkeys, chickens, geese and pigeons, were destroyed.
6 February: An outbreak of avian influenza H5N1 has occurred in birds on a property at Rawalpindi in Pakistan. Around 40 chickens died from the virus and the remaining flock of 40,000 were culled to stamp-out the virus.
3 February: Avian influenza H5N1 has broken out on a turkey farm in Lowestoft in eastern England. Some 2,500 turkeys died within 3 days on the farm. Authorities have culled the remaining 159,000 birds to contain the virus. Tests have shown it's the same strain that recently appeared in Hungary. Some press reports suggest locals are disappointed in officials' two-day delayed response to the outbreak.
1 February: Avian influenza H5N1 has broken out for a third time in Indonesia's Ang Thong province. The unusual deaths of 6 out of 15 chickens alerted officials to the outbreak. The remaining 9 birds were culled.
January
30 January: The World Organisation for Animal Health has reported that the H5N1 strain recently detected in Hungary is 99.4 per cent the same as the strain detected in Europe last year. This indicates that the virus has not significantly mutated.
Japan has another suspected avian influenza outbreak, this time on a farm in the town of Shitomi. Around 23 birds died of the virus, and 7 out 13 that were tested showed signs of avian influenza.
29 January: Russia has recorded its first outbreak of avian influenza H5N1 this year. The outbreak has occurred in birds in three domestic yards in the southern region of Krasnodar.
A suspected case of avian influenza has broken out in the Hungarian village of Derekegyhaz. Around 9,400 geese were culled as a precaution. The farm is close to the site of Hungary's previous outbreak.
Japan has confirmed its third avian influenza outbreak this year on a farm in the city of Takahashi. At least 39 chickens died from the virus and a further 12,000 have been quarantined.
23 January: Japanese authorities are checking whether avian influenza has killed over 200 chickens on a farm in Hyuga, Miyazaki Prefecture. The farm carrying 500,000 birds is located near the property where an outbreak occurred just over a week ago.
Around 230 chickens have died from avian influenza H5N1 on a farm in Thailand's Nong Khai province. The remainder of the birds on the farm were culled.
Avian influenza H5N1 has re-surfaced in the Nigerian city of Kano. There have been seven confirmed outbreaks in the last two months, resulting in the culling of 10,000 birds. Two northern states, Kastina and Sokoto also have suspected outbreaks in birds and tests are being carried out determine the cause of death.
22 January: Around 40 geese have fallen ill and some have died on a farm in the Hungarian county of Csongrad. The property has been quarantined and five of the dead birds have been sent to Budapest for tests.
21 January: South Korean quarantine officials have begun culling 660,000 poultry after a fresh outbreak of avian influenza H5N1 on a farm in Cheonan.
Thai health officials have culled more than 2,000 poultry in a Mekong Delta province near Laos after the sudden death of 230 chickens on a farm the day before.
18 January: Another outbreak of avian influenza H5N1 has occurred in Vietnam, this time in the Mekong delta's Can Tho city. The virus killed 30 ducklings that had not been vaccinated.
17 January: Hong Kong has detected avian infleunza H5N1 in a dead crested goshawk which was found behind a health clinic in the Shek Kip Mei district in Kowloon. This is the second infected bird found in as many weeks.
16 January: Japan has confirmed its recent outbreak was caused by avian influenza H5N1. Until last weeks' outbreak, avian influenza had not occurred in Japan since 2004.
15 January: A fresh outbreak of avian influenza H5N1 has occurred in Thailand's north. About 100 ducks died from the disease and a further 2,000 were culled to stop it spreading. The ducks belonged to several farmers and roamed the rice fields to feed.
14 January: Avian influenza has broken out in a seventh province in Vietnam. More than 130 ducks were reported to have died in the Soc Trang province in recent days.
12 January: A suspected outbreak of avian influenza has occurred in the farming and forestry town of Kiyotake on Japan's Kyushu island. The outbreak caused the death of around 750 chickens on one farm, which has been quarantined. Tests are being carried out to determine the cause of the deaths.
11 January: New cases of avian influenza have broken out on two poultry farms in Kastina town, Nigeria. Around 1,070 chickens were culled to contain the virus.
7 January: Several hundred dead ducks have been fished out of a canal in Vietnam's Tra Vinh province. The ducks belonged to a local man who had also lost 400 out of his 450 ducks two days prior. His remaining live birds were taken home where they also died. The man did not report the deaths of his birds to authorities. Authorities found the dead birds and they are carrying out tests to determine the cause of the deaths.
16 January: Tests done on 500 stray cats in Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang, Bandung, Tangerang and Lampung have revealed that 100 of them are infected with avian influenza H5N1, having eaten raw infected poultry. The cats were collected from a nearby market place that sold poultry but were released back onto the streets because the laboratory had "no right to destroy them".
Avian influenza in 2006
Learn more about avian influenza, Australia's preparedness and what you can do as a bird owner.
Information provided on this web page has been sourced from various websites and publications including the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the World Health Organisation, Reuters and Australian Government sources.