Health minister skips KPK questioning

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 03/27/2012 10:23 AM

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JAKARTA: Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih failed to show up for questioning on Monday at Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) headquarters, claiming that she was sick.

Endang was expected to undergo questioning as a witness in a graft case centering on the procurement of health equipment for a bird flu mitigation effort in 2010.

KPK investigators earlier summoned former health minister Siti Fadillah Supari.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said that investigators in the case will once again summon Endang for a questioning session next week.

“We just received a message that she was sick. We will ask her to come next week,” Johan said as quoted by kompas.com.

Johan said that Endang was facing questioning because she was chairperson of the ministry’s research and development body for biomedics and pharmacy when the alleged graft took place.

The KPK has named former Law and Human Rights Ministry secretary Soetodjo Yunowo a suspect in the case. Soetodjo is suspected of directly opting for private company PT Bersaudara without going through the proper procurement procedure.

The case has also implicated other big names including Aburizal Bakrie, who is said to have received some of the graft money. The case relates to Rp 36.3 billion in state losses.

Health Minister might be involved in bird flu graft case: suspect

Ina Parlina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 03/30/2012 10:52 AM

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Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih: Indonesia Health Minister. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama

Former director general of medical services at the Health Ministry, Ratna Dewi Umar, said Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih may have been involved in a botched procurement project of health equipment used to mitigate bird flu 2006 and 2007.

On Thursday, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) once again grilled Ratna, a suspect in the case that centers on the alleged mark-up of the equipment’s price.

Ratna said that Endang was in charge of the department that proposed the procurement at the time of the case.

“The proposal for the procurement of the avian flu drugs was under the department of biomedical and pharmaceutical research and development,” Ratna said after the questioning. “Endang was the department head during the 2007 procurement.”

Ratna claimed she did not know Endang’s role in the case, however, she said that she has “given everything she knows about Endang’s role to the KPK investigators.”

Ratna insisted that the medical service directorate under her supervision was not responsible for the procurement.

On Monday, Endang failed to show up for KPK questioning as a witness in the case, claiming that she was not feeling well.

KPK also questioned on Thursday former health minister Siti Fadillah Supari, who held office from 2004 to 2009.

Siti claimed, as Ratna’s superior at the time of the case, she did not know that the procurement was troubled.

Overview of This Week’s 

29 March 2012

ANALYSIS – Pressure has been mounting in the US and the UK this week to reduce the use of antibiotics in farm animals, writes senior editor, Jackie Linden. British vets have questioned the assertion by the Soil Association that the evidence for a link between antibiotic use in animals and resistance in E. coli is ‘overwhelming’. In trade news, the US is to appeal a WTO ruling against mandatory Country of Origin Labelling of some foods, including poultry meat.

In the US, a judge has issued a landmark ruling that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must act to limit the overuse of antibiotics in farm animals. 

The ruling stems from a lawsuit brought last year by a coalition of consumer of advocacy groups suing the FDA over its inaction in addressing the growing public health threat posed by the daily dosing of antibiotics in livestock feed and the rise of antibiotic–resistant bacteria. 

The lawsuit came on the heels of an FDA report released to Congresswoman Louise Slaughter confirming that 80 per cent of antibiotics are sold for use in agriculture. 

“It’s about time,’ said Congresswoman Slaughter. “The FDA has been dragging its feet on this for 35 years.” 

In response to a report entitled ‘E. coli Superbugs on Farms and Food’, the Soil Association in the UK is recommending that the preventative use of antibiotics in healthy animals is phased out, and the overall use of antibiotics on farms halved within five years. 

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has urged caution over the findings of a Soil Association literature review, questioning the claim that there is ‘overwhelming evidence’ and in contrast, it points to the scientific opinion of the European Food Safety Authority. 

In a statement, BVA said: “Few studies designed to assess risk factors for ESBL and/or AmpC occurrence in animals are available. The use of antimicrobials is a risk factor for selection and spread of resistant clones, resistance genes and plasmids.” 

The opinion then goes on to state: “How widespread ESBL–carrying bacteria are in food-producing animals in the breeding, rearing and fattening sectors is generally unknown.” 

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Finally, turning to bird flu news, the H5N1 subtype of the virus has continued its spread across Nepal and in Bangladesh, a series of outbreaks has cut chicken production and raised the prices of meat and eggs. Indonesia has announced a sixth victim has died of the disease so far this year.

Strategi baru

Teknik operasi rumah burung walet sentiasa berubah, ianya tidak lain tidak bukan iaitu sentiasa ingin mendahului saingan yang semakin sengit sekarang. WAN ZULSWIFTLET sentiasa mempunyai idea, teknik dan strategi yang significant dalam persaigan memburu sarang burung walet walaupun harganya tidak selumayan dulu.

Give Your Chickens Their "Five a Day"

UK - Popular rural TV presenter and farmer Adam Henson has teamed up with animal feed specialist Dodson & Horrell to create two products for domestic laying poultry.

Adam Henson's new range of Layers Pellets and Mixed Poultry Corn comes in economically sized 12.5kg bags. It is available at all major feed retailers across the country.

We're all regularly encouraged to shop locally for our food and eat "five (portions) a day" of fruit and vegetables. This helps minimise transport costs and contributes towards a more well-balanced lifestyle, but do we apply the same principles to the food we give our animals?

Domestic laying chickens are big cereal grain fans. Wheat always makes up a large proportion of layers feeds for hens, whether they are raised on commercial farms or smallholdings. But used on its own wheat does not give a complete and balanced diet for poultry. This was a huge consideration when Adam Henson and Dodson & Horrell created their two poultry products, Layers Pellets and Mixed Poultry Corn.

Adam Henson says: "As a farmer, with many breeds of poultry, I've always been keen to feed them on wheat from my own crop, but I also recognise the need for a balanced diet. Teaming up with Dodson & Horrell has produced a premium product that I'm genuinely proud to feed to my birds - as well as put my name on."

Adam Henson's Layers Pellets provide all the nutrients a laying hen needs to produce quality eggs. They contain a clever blend of cereals, legumes, fruits, vegetables and herbs, which give your chickens the equivalent of their five a day - and also provides natural carotenoids and other plant colours to enhance the rich natural yellow of your egg yolks.

A balanced feed not only helps support the egg laying but also enhances the health and nutritional welfare of your hen. The ideal complement to this is Adam Henson's Mixed Poultry Corn. It perks up your poultry, allowing them to do what they like best - scratch and peck for food. Used together Adam Henson's Layers Pellets and Mixed Poultry Corn provide an ideal safe and balanced way to support your hen in laying delicious fresh eggs every day.

Traceability of raw materials used in animal feed is of increasing importance to people who keep animals. Bill Chudley, Dodson & Horrell's Sales Director, says: "At Dodson and Horrell, our approach to any new product we create is that it should be clearly traceable from field to feed. And by using wheat from Adam's farm, we've done just that."

Indonesia Reports Sixth Bird Flu Death 27 March 2012

INDONESIA - A 17 year-old Indonesian had died on avian influenza in West Nusa Tenggara, putting the total fatality in the country to six this year,   Health Ministry said here on Tuesday.

The boy died on 9 March after being treated in a hospital and a health clinic for one week.

Two laboratory test confirmed that he had H5N1 viruses, the ministry said in a statement.

The boy first got the symptoms on February 28 as he suffered from fever, then on 1 March he went to a doctor and then was treated in a health clinic and a hospital.

Investigation indicated that he likely had contacted with chickens, as officials found some chickens had died around his house.

The latest death put the total fatality on bird flu since the virus attacks the country in 2005 to 156.

Bird flu had attacked Indonesia, the hardest, since 2005, and then the attacks were eased significantly. But, it has reemerged again since last year, by killing nine people in 2011. 

Teknologi Pengenalan Frekuensi Radio (RFID) untuk mengesan lokasi rumah burung walet

Teknologi kenal pasti sarang burung walet bermasalah


2012/03/26

SEBANYAK 60 pengusaha sarang burung walet tempatan dan kilang pemprosesannya sudah menggunakan Sistem Kesan dan Jejak Dalam Talian Sarang Burung Walet yang menggunakan teknologi Pengenalan Frekuensi Radio (RFID). 

Jumlah itu adalah enam peratus daripada keseluruhan 980 pengusaha tempatan yang sedang memajukan produk berdaya maju tinggi yang mempunyai potensi pasaran besar khususnya dari China itu.

Sistem Kesan dan Jejak Dalam Talian Sarang Burung Walet itu dibangunkan Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (SKMM) dengan kerjasama Jabatan Veterinar, di bawah Kementerian Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani.

Projek di bawah Bidang Ekonomi Utama Negara (NKEA) isi kandungan dan infrastruktur komunikasi (CCI) itu dilancarkan pada 12 Ogos tahun lalu. 


Buat masa ini, Malaysia adalah satu-satunya negara di Asia Tenggara yang memperoleh hak untuk mengeksport secara terus ke China, yang juga pasaran sarang burung walet terbesar di dunia. 


Sijil RFID dari SKMM diperlukan untuk membolehkan sarang burung walet yang bermasalah dikesan menggunakan gelombang frekuensi radio untuk menentukan lokasi rumah sarang burung berkenaan. 


Ia adalah satu daripada tiga syarat yang dikenakan kepada syarikat tempatan yang mengeksport sarang burung walet ke China. 
Dua syarat lain ialah sijil penanda kesihatan veterinar daripada Jabatan Veterinar dan dan sijil kesihatan daripada Kementerian Kesihatan. 


Usaha juga sedang dilaksanakan untuk membolehkan 300 rumah sarang burung walet dan kilang pemprosesan berdaftar menggunakan sistem itu tahun ini. 


Selain itu, pihak berkuasa berkaitan juga sedang berunding dengan China mengenai paras nitrit dalam sarang burung walet yang boleh diterima. "Dah berkurun dok berunding je!!!! kena selesai sebelum pilihanraya umum ke 13"


Buat masa ini, China mengenakan sekatan ke atas sarang burung walet memandangkan paras tinggi nitrit yang disebabkan oleh stok berlebihan sarang terbabit dalam pasaran. 


Sebaik sekatan itu dihapuskan, eksport sarang burung walet Malaysia yang dilakukan menerusi Sistem Jejak dan Kesan Sarang Burung Walet akan mempunyai tahap keselamatan tambahan yang memastikan keasliannya datang dari negara ini. 


Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani, Datuk Seri Noh Omar, berkata syarikat tempatan yang menggunakan jenama 1Malaysia Best akan mengenal pasti sebuah syarikat di China sebagai rakan perniagaan bagi memudahkan eksport sarang burung walet dari Malaysia dipantau. 


“Syarikat di China itu pula mesti melakukan promosi bahawa hanya produk sarang burung walet jenama 1Malaysia Best saja yang dijamin kualitinya dan selamat untuk dimakan,” katanya baru-baru ini. 


Beliau menambah, antara lain, tindakan berkenaan akan memulihkan kembali industri itu yang mengalami masalah pemasaran ke luar negara akibat dakwaan produk itu mempunyai kandungan nitrit yang boleh membahayakan kesihatan. 


“Pada 2011, kerajaan China telah melaksanakan penguatkuasaan kandungan nitrit sifar yang mengakibatkan kejatuhan mendadak harga sarang burung walet sehingga ke paras 50 peratus,” katanya. 


Mengulas lanjut mengenai polisi kerajaan China tersebut, beliau berkata, ketika ini Kementerian Kesihatan kedua-dua negara sedang berbincang bagi mencapai kata sepakat mengenai kandungan nitrit yang dibenarkan. 


Industri sarang burung walet Malaysia yang pesat berkembang kini dianggarkan sudah menguasai 20 peratus pasaran global. 


Begitupun, peserta sektor itu kini terpaksa bersaing dengan sejumlah besar sumber sarang burung yang palsu dari negara jiran, manakala sesetengahnya diseludup ke negara ini untuk dieksport semula ke China.

Hormone, Antibiotic Residues in Animals Stabilised

21 March 2012

EU - Based on 736,806 analytical results collected by Member States, the European Commission has published a report which concludes that for the reporting period 2010, only 0.33 per cent of the total number of targeted samples on residues was detected in animals as being non-compliant with EU standards.

Livestock Prices Up While Feed Prices Rising

ivestock Prices Up While Feed Prices Rising

21 March 2012

 

ANALYSIS - EU feed wheat and corn prices are showing a slight upward trend, although they are still below last year's figures, according to the Agriview EU Market Prices for Representative Products report, writes Chris Harris.

From January to February this year, feed wheat prices rose from €180.26 per tonne to €190.69. However for the same months last year the prices were €218.38 rising to a peak of €232.06.

Teknik lama yang diperbaharui

Berbagai cara di gunakan untuk terus bersaing dalam perladangan burung walet. Gambar ini adalah beberapa teknik lama yang diperbaharui oleh wan zul swiftlet.

Indonesian Bird Flu Suspect Dies

06 March 2012

INDONESIA - A 42-year-old Indonesian man has died after he was suspected of having avian influenza in west Java province, a media reported on Monday.

The man died on 3 March after being treated at the Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung, the capital of the province, since 29 February.

The man was suspected of suffering bird flu as he had been treated for bird flu symptoms. So far there have been no confirmation from two laboratory tests as a requirement for bird flu attacks. Spokesman for avian flu control with the hospital, Primal Sudjana, said that the patient suffered multiple organ failure as his kidneys, respiratory system and liver malfunctioned.

The patient had been treated previously at two other hospitals in the capital province before he was shifted to Hasan Sadikin hospital, the spokesman was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.

Should the laboratory test confirm the man was positive on H5N1, his death would be the fifth bird flu death in the country this year, putting the total fatality to 155 out of 187 cases since 2005.

It was not clear yet whether the man had contact with animal. But, contact with poultry, particularly chicken, is the common cause of fatality in Indonesia.

Indonesia had been hit, the hardest, by H5N1, several years after the virus attacked the country seven years ago, but then the attacks had been slowed and have started to reoccur since last year by killing 9 people, including two children.

Poultry as a Host for the Zoonotic Pathogen, Campylobacter jejuni

6 march 2012

According to researchers in Belgium, the number of human campylobacteriosis cases associated with chickens remains high because, although it is known that chickens are the number one risk factor for disease in humans, there are no effective strategies to reduce Campylobacter prevalence in flocks.

Campylobacteriosis is the most reported foodborne gastroenteritic disease and poses a serious health burden in industrialised countries, according to David Hermans of Ghent University and co-authors there and at the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research in Melle, both in Belgium.

In their paper in Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, they continue that disease in humans is mainly caused by the zoonotic pathogen, Campylobacter jejuni. Due to its wide-spread occurrence in the environment, the epidemiology of Campylobacter remains poorly understood. It is generally accepted, however, that chickens are a natural host forC. jejuni, and for Campylobacter spp. in general, and that colonised broiler chicks are the primary vector for transmitting this pathogen to humans. 
Several potential sources and vectors for transmitting C. jejuni to broiler flocks have been identified. Initially, one or a few broilers can become colonised at any time between two weeks of age and the end of rearing, after which the infection will rapidly spread throughout the entire flock. Such a flock is generally colonised until slaughter and infected birds carry a very high C. jejuni load in their gastrointestinal tract, especially the caeca. 

This eventually results in contaminated carcasses during processing, which can transmit this pathogen to humans, say the researchers. Recent genetic typing studies showed that chicken isolates can frequently be linked to human clinical cases of Campylobacter enteritis. However, despite the increasing evidence that the chicken reservoir is the number one risk factor for disease in humans, no effective strategy exists to reduce Campylobacter prevalence in poultry flocks, which can in part be explained by the incomplete understanding of the epidemiology of C. jejuni in broiler flocks. 

Hermans and co-authors conclude that the number of human campylobacteriosis cases associated with the chicken vector remains strikingly high

Hong Kong Reports More HPAI in Wild Birds

HONG KONG - The country's veterinary authorities have reported three new outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Cheung Chau and Mongkok.

Two dead oriental magpie robins were collected on 25 and 27 February and a crested goshawk was collected on 24 February.

An intensive surveillance system is in place for all poultry farms, poultry markets and pet bird shops in Hong Kong. The H5N1 infected wild birds and goose carcass from unknown source were detected in ongoing surveillance programme on wild birds. The dates of the outbreaks are the same as the dates the birds were collected (i.e. 17 December 2011, 30 December 2011, 1 January 2012, 12 January 2012, 20 January 2012 , 30 January 2012 , 6 February 2012, 7 February 2012, 8 February 2012, 24 February 2012, 25 February 2012 and 27 February 2012 respectively).

A total of 19,451 poultry, including 15,569 chickens, 810 pigeons, 1,950 pheasants and 1,122 silky fowls were culled in the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market on 21 December 2011. The Wholesale Poultry Market was closed. Importation of live poultry and movement of poultry in local farms is banned for 21 days.

Surveillance and monitoring of local chicken farms has been stepped up. No H5 virus was detected in samples taken from the 30 chicken farms in Hong Kong. The Wholesale Poultry Market was reopened on 12 January 2012. 

Antimicrobial Resistance part 3

The 

 main antimicrobial families, their mode of action and common resistance mechanisms are summarised in Table 1.

Deadly disease almost everywhere

mar Reports HPAI

01 March 2012

MYANMAR - The Burmese veterinary authorities have reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Sagaing.

 yesterday, 29 February. 5-month and 18-month old layers have been affected.

A total of 1060 layers were found susceptible, out of which 61 cases were identified. The 61 affected birds were found dead. The remaining 999 birds were destroyed.

A few chickens were found dead on 20 February 2012. A total of 61 chickens died within 4 days. There are 40,000 chickens reared in 139 farms in Chaung U towship. All are layers and broilers of different ages.

The source of the outbreak is yet to be determined.

A dead oriental magpie robin, which was found in Cheung Chau

Thursday, March 01, 2012 A dead oriental magpie robin, which was found in Cheung Chau, has tested positive for the H5 bird flu virus in preliminary checks, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said yesterday.This is the second bird of the species found with the H5 virus on the island within two days this month. In the latest incident, the robin, which is common to Hong Kong, was found and collected at Hok Loo Lane. The department is now conducting further confirmatory tests to check if the virus is the deadly H5N1. A dead oriental magpie robin was found on the rooftop of a building on Hing Lung Back Street in Cheung Chau on Saturday. ADV Testing also revealed H5 and confirmatory test results are pending. "It is not a huge surprise that the two birds of the same species were found dead in Cheung Chau within two days, especially in winter," said Billy Hau Chi-hang, University of Hong Kong assistant professor in biodiversity and conservation. "One bird may come in contact with another which has already contracted the H5 avian influenza virus." The department also announced on Tuesday that a crested goshawk, which is not common to Hong Kong, also tested positive for H5. It was found at Diocesan Boys' School in Argyle Street, Mong Kok, on Friday. Seven dead birds were confirmed with bird flu H5N1 in January and February this year. The department has stepped up disinfection and cleansing work. ALICE SO