H5 Test Failure in Winnipeg Raises Surveillance Concerns [Commentary]
Recombinomics Company
21 June 06

The Winnipeg lab will attempt to grow virus from samples from the index bird in order to characterize the virus. This process will take up to two weeks. Ultimately, it may not be possible to gain further information about the virus. This situation is not unusual as was evidenced in the 2005 survey of AI in wild birds.

The above comments from the Canada Food Service Program compare the testing of samples collected in August 1005 from healthy young wild birds to the testing of samples from a dead free range goose collected on Prince Edward Island on June 5, 2006.

The results from the August collections are at the Canadian Wildlife Health Center. The data indicated bird flu was frequently detected in the wild birds and almost 20% of the samples were positive for H5. Thus, the testing showed that samples properly collected and stored for several months could still yield positive PCR data as well as isolated virus.

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Canadian Bird Flu Case not Highly Pathogenic H5N1
Reuters AlertNet
20 June 06

OTTAWA, June 20 (Reuters) - A case of bird flu in the eastern Canadian province of Prince Edward Island was not the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, a Canadian source said on Tuesday.

"The news is good. The dead bird was not carrying the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1," the source told Reuters, declining to say exactly what the dead bird had been suffering from.

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Botulism Outbreak Kills Fall Chinook at Ringold Springs Hatchery
The Columbian (Posted by Red Orbit)
08 June 06

Jun. 8--RINGOLD -- Nearly all the 3.5 million fall chinook salmon smolts scheduled for release from Ringold Springs Hatchery near the Tri-Cities on the upper Columbia River have died, probably due to botulism poisoning.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said the 5-month-old fish represent about 20 percent of the fall chinook salmon smolts for release from the upper Columbia.

The vast majority of fall chinook in the upper Columbia River are wild fish, originating from the Hanford Reach, the free-flowing stretch downstream of Priest Rapids Dam.

John Kerwin, hatcheries division manager, said the three-inch smolts began dying shortly after they were transported in mid-May from Oregon's Bonneville Hatchery to Ringold.

Tests for routine viruses and bacterial infections came back negative. There were no problems at Bonneville Hatchery, which rears the fish under an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Two weeks ago, Washington officials learned two of 10 samples sent to Cornell University tested positive for the bacteria that produce botulism.

"We're still waiting for the results from other tests, but botulism appears to be the most likely suspect," Kerwin said.

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