Posted on 11/20/2005 8:23:42 PM PST by blam
Bird migration tracker to help fight avian flu
By Mike Pflanz
(Filed: 21/11/2005)
A bird flu early warning system which will track migration routes of potentially infected birds and alert countries where they are heading was announced yesterday.
The system will gather data currently scattered across the world's universities, conservation bodies and wildlife groups into one central computer.
The alert system will give a crucial warning of impending danger
The data base, which is expected to take two years to become operational, will be constantly monitored and updated by global experts studying migratory species.
Special maps will be drawn up to show potential bird flu hot spots, both in countries where birds have been nesting and those to which they are migrating.
While many species vary the times of their migration, most head to the same lake, marshes or wetlands each year.
These locations will be identified by the new alert system which could give otherwise ill-prepared countries in the developing world a crucial warning that danger is on its way.
While measures in place in developed countries may effectively contain any outbreak, there are grave concerns for poorer countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America may not be properly prepared.
"We will know in advance, in detail, the migratory paths of bird species," said Marco Barbieri, scientific officer of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMF), which will run the system.
"This will allow specialised and more effective risk assessment in case of any outbreaks.
"There are important gaps in our scientific knowledge about 'fly-ways' and migratory routes for some species," said Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, which funds CMS.
"We need urgently to bridge that gap. In doing so I believe this initiative can make a valuable contribution to the worldwide effort to deal with this threatened pandemic."
World leaders are trying to control a growing outbreak of the HSN1 avian influenza, which has spread to poultry in several Asian and European countries, killing 67 people since late 2003.
About as reassuring as recent reports of plans to stockpile enough Tamiflu (of dubious value anyway) to treat one in six Americans by late, er, 1997...
Sorry, no.
'expected to take two years to become operational'
It takes one year, 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 55 seconds less to load a 12 gauge.
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