Volume: 211, Published: 21 February 2023

Indonesia: Foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak
Date: 20 February 2023; Disease: FMD; Location: East Java, Indonesia
An outbreak of FMD that infects cattle in Ponorogo Regency, East Java is showing a sharp increasing trend from the under 100 cases previously reported to more than infected 300 cattle. The head of the Livestock Service Office, Food Security and Fisheries of Ponorogo Regency, Masun, in Ponorogo shared that most cases currently detected are in Sawoo District with 104 cases. The increased number of cases is suspected to be due to the non-optimal vaccination coverage. He added that currently there are eight cows that have died due to FMD. Read more at Antara News.

Canine distemper virus detected in Nepali tigers and leopards
Date: 17 February 2023; Disease: Canine distemper virus; Location: wild setting, Nepal
A team of scientists led by Cornell University has recently confirmed the first cases of canine distemper virus (CDV) in tigers and leopards in Nepal. This virus, usually affecting dogs, can cause fatal neurological diseases and thus be a significant threat to already dwindling big cat populations. Canine distemper virus has been repeatedly identified as a threat to wild carnivores and their conservation, said study senior author Martin Gilbert, a wild carnivore health specialist at Cornell. This study is a first step to understanding the potential impact for Nepalese tiger and leopard populations. Although scientists have already suspected that CDV can infect big cats, this is the first definitive proof of infection in Nepal. The experts found that 11 percent of tigers (three out of 28) and 30 percent of leopards (six out of 20) had antibodies to this virus, indicating that they had been infected in the past. Read more at Earth.

Japan: Avian influenza (AI) outbreaks and cull numbers hit new highs
Date: 16 February 2023; Disease: Avian Influenza; Location: Multiple locations, Japan
Agriculture Ministry of Japan reports that AI is spreading at an unprecedented rate across the country this season in 2022-23, hitting new highs in terms of both the number of outbreaks and the scale of birds culled. The ministry says 76 outbreaks have been confirmed at poultry firms and elsewhere in 25 prefectures since the 1st cases were reported in October 2022. Nearly 15 million birds have been culled so far. October 2022 outbreaks in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, and Atsuma Town in Hokkaido, were the earliest on record to be confirmed in a season. The flu virus is carried by migratory birds wintering in Japan. The flu usually breaks out from autumn to spring, but infected birds are said to have arrived earlier than usual this season. Read more at NHK.

India: Six horses tested positive for glanders in Surat
Date: 15 February 2023; Disease: Lal Darwaja, Surat, Gujrat, India
Six horses from Lal Darwaja area of the city were found infected with glanders disease on 14 February. A notification issued by veterinary officers has restricted movement of these infected horses and animals within 5km around the location for a month. The owners of these horses brought the animals for testing after they did not show much recovery despite treatment. After examination, the officials of the Animal Husbandry Department suspected that horses were infected with glanders. Read more at The Times of India.
Glanders is an infectious disease that is caused by the bacterium Burkholderia mallei. While people can get the disease, glanders is primarily a disease affecting horses. It also affects donkeys and mules and can be naturally contracted by other mammals such as goats, dogs, and cats. Read More at CDC.

Malaysia: Over 14,000 pigs culled as African swine fever (ASF) hits 30 commercial farms in Penang
Date: 14 February 2023; Disease: ASF; Location: Multiple locations in Penang, Malaysia
ASF in Penang has spread to 30 commercial farms and infected 68,659 pigs, according to the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS). Nineteen farms are located in South Seberang Perai, followed by six in North Seberang Perai, three in Southwest district on the island and two in Central Seberang Perai. The spread of the disease is slowing down and there are fewer incidences of pig carcasses at the abattoirs with signs of ASF and there were no complaints of a high number of pigs dying in the farms,” official statement said. The DVS said that this showed its elimination policy to control and prevent the spread of ASF through the destruction of infected or suspected pigs within the infected zone, done in accordance with the Malaysian Veterinary Protocol (PVM), was effective. The statement reported that a total of 14,385 pigs from 14 affected farms have been culled as of 14 February 2023. Read more at MalayMail.

China: Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreak in domestic geese
Date: 14 February 2023; Disease: HPAI (H5N1); Location: Dalin Township, Taiwan province of China
Altogether 2,474 domestic geese were affected by the outbreak of HPAI (H5N1). 1,150 birds died and the rest 1,324 were killed and disposed of. The report adds that HPAI H5N1 was confirmed by Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI) and 1,324 geese have been culled; and that the infected farm has been placed under movement restriction. The surroundings farms within 3 km radius of the infected farm are under intensified surveillance. Read more at WOAH.

Bangladesh: One dies of Nipah virus in Dhaka
Date: 13 February 2023; Disease: Nipah virus; Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
A 22-year-old youth from Narsingdi, who was infected with Nipah virus, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) while undergoing treatment. The patient died at the hospital's emergency department around 8:00pm, hospital official shared. The patient was admitted to the hospital with fever, and as his condition deteriorated. Doctors suggested Nipah virus test and it came out positive in the evening. Read more at The Daily Star. Between 4 January 2023 and 13 February 2023, 11 cases (10 confirmed and one probable) including eight deaths (Case Fatality Rate (CFR) 73%) have been reported across two divisions in Bangladesh, reports WHO.

Rep of Korea: African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in domestic pigs
Date: 12 February 2023; Disease: ASF; Location: Yangyang-gun (Gangwon), Rep of Korea
1,950 domestic swine were culled following the outbreak of ASF in Yangyang-gun (Gangwon). Read more at FAO Empres-i.

Pakistan: Painful, and potentially disfiguring, cutaneous leishmaniasis is a growing threat
Date: 9 February 2023
A parasitic infection spread by the sandfly, cutaneous leishmaniasis is spreading fast in Balochistan, with the Federal Ministry of Health reporting a spike in cases in the province in the first quarter of 2022. The majority of people affected were women and children. Doctors say climate change, urbanisation and migration patterns, as well as inadequate sanitation, are driving the spread of the sandfly-borne parasitic skin ailment. In fact there's little awareness of leishmaniasis in rural parts of Balochistan, often confused with other common ailments. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is one of three forms of the disease. Unlike visceral leishmaniasis, also called "kala-azar", the cutaneous form is not typically fatal – but can be scarring and disabling. Read more at Gavi.

Russian Federation: African swine fever (ASF) outbreak
Date: 17 February 2023; Disease: ASF; Location: Multiple locations, Russian Federation
Two wild boars died of ASF in Zemlya leopard, Khasanskiy rayon. Read more at WOAH. Similarly, three wild boars died of ASF in Verkhniy Voloviy, Galichki and Sokor of Russian Federation, according to WOAH. Read more at WOAH.

Death of a zoo hippopotamus underscores the species’ susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2
Date: 16 February 2023
A recent Emerging Infectious Diseases study investigated the death of a hippopotamus at a zoo in Hanoi, Vietnam. Interestingly, this study detected the presence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus in the hippopotamus. SARS-CoV-2 is the causal agent of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The 20 year old female hippo was treated for lethargy, depression, and reduced appetite at a zoo in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 4 December 2021. Based on the clinical symptoms, veterinary doctors started administering antimicrobial drugs to treat the sick hippopotamus. This hippopotamus became anorexic after six days of onset of clinical symptoms and eventually died seventeen days later. Read more at News Medical or get full text at EID.

Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is less infectious in dogs and cats
Date: 13 February 2023In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv preprint server, researchers at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Germany, assess the susceptibility of cats and dogs to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant. In the present study, researchers use serological methods to evaluate dogs and cats residing in households with human SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. The team recruited human households for the study. Plasma or serum samples were collected between three weeks and three months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis in a pet owner. A total of 290 dogs and 241 cats were enrolled in the study. To cover the period of Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variant transmission, feline plasma or serum specimens were serologically analyzed in Germany from week 11 to week 23 of 2022 or weeks 31 and 32 of 2022. Read more at News Medical, and get full text at bioRxiv.

Will avian influenza outbreaks in 2023 turn fatal
Date: 17 February 2023
The continual spreading of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HAPI) H5N1 influenza A virus across the globe has prompted many questions without clear answers. These questions accelerated recently when seven people, including various mammals, became infected over the past year. Amesh Adalja, M.D. with Med Page Today, published an opinion article on 16 February 2023, focused on whether an influenza pandemic caused by this version of HAP is imminent. 'This is an important question that must be asked of all novel influenza viruses. However, the answers regarding influenza are not that simple and require placing this strain into a larger context of avian influenza more generally,' wrote Dr. Adalja. Read more at Precision Vaccinations or get full text at Med Page Today. Also read a summary of avian influenza outbreaks in human and animals in 2023 in Precision Vaccinations.

African swine fever (ASF) Asia and Pacific situation update
Date: 16 February 2023Highlights from the most recent ASF situation update in the Asia and Pacific region includes confirmation of first case of ASF in a wild boar carcass found in a natural park in the northwest of Singapore; ASF outbreak in a domestic pig farm was reported in Ta Kwu Ling in Sheung Shui, Hong Kong SAR, China; and confirmation of ASF outbreak in a domestic pig farm in Yangyang-gun, Gangwon-do, in the Republic of Korea. Read more at FAO.

New MERS-like coronavirus found in pangolins can infect human cells
Date: 16 February 2023
Scientists in China have discovered a new MERS-like bat coronavirus (CoV) in illegally smuggled Malayan pangolins that can infect and replicate in human cells, suggesting it may jump to humans someday and cause disease. "Our study highlights the importance of pangolins as reservoir hosts of coronaviruses poised for human disease emergence," Peng Zhou of the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and colleagues wrote in a study published in Cell on Thursday. Pangolins, they noted, are among the most trafficked game mammals and often come in contact with humans. Although previous studies have shown linkages of coronavirus to SARS-CoV-2, it is still unclear how humans first became infected with SARS-CoV-2. Read more at Genome Web.

Reintroduction of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A H7N9 virus in southwestern China
Date: 13 February 2023
HPAI A H7N9 virus has emerged in China since 2016. In recent years, it has been most prevalent in northern China. However, several strains of HP H7N9 reappeared in southwestern China (Yunnan Province) in 2021. As a result, we are wondering if these viruses have re-emerged in situ or been reintroduced. Here, we present phylogenetic evidence that the HP H7N9 viruses isolated in Yunnan emigrated from northern to southwestern China in 2020. The northern subregion of China has become a novel epicenter in HP H7N9 dissemination. Meanwhile, a cleavage motif re-emerged due to the T341I mutation, implying a parallel evolution. This cross-region transmission, which originated in non-adjacent provinces and traveled a great geographic distance in an unknown way, indicates that HP H7N9 dissemination did not halt in 2020, even under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional surveillance studies in poultry are required to determine the HP H7N9 virus's geographic distribution and spread. Read full text at Springer.

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