Progress of Avian Influenza H5N1 Virus

In February 2003, there was a report of a family from Hong Kong who were infected while visiting Fujian province in China, and two of the family died.

From December 2003 to February 2004, eight Asian nations reported H5N1 outbreaks, in this order: Republic of Korea, Viet Nam, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Indonesia, and China.

Three waves of avian influenza have struck. The initial spread of H5N1 in poultry, which saw the death or destruction of more than 120 million birds, was accompanied by 35 human cases, of which 24 were fatal. The human cases occurred in Thailand and Viet Nam only, from January 2004 through March 2004.

After a brief lull, disease activity began to increase in July 2004, with fresh outbreaks reported in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. In August, Malaysia reported its first outbreak. Although the number of affected poultry has been much smaller in this second wave (less than one million), there have again been human cases. From August through October, nine cases, of which eight were fatal, were reported in Thailand (five) and Viet Nam (four).

A third wave of avian influenza in poultry began in December 2004 in Thailand and Viet Nam and since mid-2005 has been spreading out of Asia, possibly through migratory birds.

For avian influenza outbreaks, refer to the bi-weekly maps on the FAO website: http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/empres/maps.html