Posted on 06/05/2006 2:40:39 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe
Migrating wild birds have played and will likely continue to play a role in transporting highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, or bird flu, over long distances. This was among the main conclusions of a two-day international scientific conference called by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
But the conference, attended by over 300 scientists from more than 100 countries also recognized that the virus was mainly spread through poultry trade, both legal and illegal.
"Several presentations at the Conference, some supported by recent publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, implicated wild birds in the introduction of HPAI H5N1 virus at considerable geographical distance from known H5N1 outbreaks in poultry," the meeting said in a concluding document.
But the participants admitted they could not resolve another of the key issues at the conference, which was the role of wild birds in the spread of HPAI to more than 50 countries on three continents, and whether wild birds should now be considered a permanent reservoir of the virus.
(Excerpt) Read more at news-medical.net ...
ping
I can answer that, yes. 'It' or something close is here to stay.
Only YOU Can Help Stamp Out Migratory Birds
I see a fortuitous intersection with the 2nd amedment on the horizon...
Some migratory wild birds, particularly waterfowl, appear to have adapted to be able to have the H5N1 virus and not get sick, or have only a mild illness. Of course, many have died, ie the migrating geese at Qinghai (spelling?) Lake, in China.
All human flu originates in China, where waterfowl pass influenza to pigs, which are the mixing vessel for human and bird viruses, which all live in close proximity to humans in rural areas. Most flus are not novel and most are variations of previous flus to which humans have adapted.
Each year, vaccine manufacturers pick the three influenza viruses most likely to spread around the world to make the annual flu vaccine. They aren't always the correct choices, and sometimes a strain will spread (A-Fujiian, iirc) that wasn't included in the vaccine.
H5N1 is a special case: it hasn't made the leap to pigs on a big scale (although some pigs have gotten it), there are relatively few cases (miniscule numbers compared with other identified flu viruses), and H5N1 kills the eggs in which the viruses are normally grown to produce vaccine.
Again, H5N1 is not spread efficiently, yet, in mammals. Although I remind everyone of two things: 1)that neither China nor WHO have been transparent about the true numbers and 2) viruses evolve constantly--it's what they do for a living--and every case in a bird or animal is another chance for a deadly (to the majority of humans) mutation to occur.
One more reminder: in 2005, the WHO was saying that H5N1 could not be transmitted in humans. This year, the WHO is saying it cannot be EFFICIENTLY transmitted in humans. That's an important change, and one that means H5N1 bears watching and preparation for.
Please, anyone, if I am wrong, feel free to correct me.
Some cases have been transmitted from bird to human by defeathering and cleaning the birds for cooking. So, a bird carrying H5N1 could be healthy, but still infect the person preparing it for a meal. Chickens apparently die very quickly from H5N1, many waterfowl do not.
sw
Europe tested thousands of migrating wild birds this Spring and did not find a single case of H5N1 in those tested.
To be honest, it appears that the infection rate in wild populations is crashing.
A swan in Scotland tested positive, and iirc, Germany had birds test positive.
There were other former East bloc countries with positive wild birds as well.
I'm correcting myself, here, and thanks for the information: (Here's a link that supports your post)
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060511/ZNYT04/605110853/-1/HEALTHMATTERS
The migrating birds they were testing were the ones that go south to Africa and then back north. You are absolutely correct, no cases were found in those birds, and I was wrong.
The migrating birds that come to and from the north of Asia are the ones of concern to me. That's why we're keeping watch in Alaska, iirc.
Somewhere I read or heard that the disease is traveling among the fighting birds... some cockfighting birds have a buildup of mucous or blood in their respiratory systems that their handlers remove by (for lack of a better word) 'slurping' it out during a fight. This brings the disease into close contact with the human respiratory system and makes the person vulnerable.
I'd file it as apocryphal at this point, but it's an interesting thought
I've heard that too.
Disgusting...
On the other hand, the Vietnamese cluster last year was from drinking duck's blood soup (raw) iirc...
Add to that the fact that no one really knows what has been going on in Indonesia (as admitted by their head bird flu expert a few months ago).
I suspect what we need is year round hunting, no minimum size, no restrictions on take per hunter per day.
;-)
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