Posted on 04/19/2003 9:57:26 AM PDT by InShanghai
Severe bird flu hits Europe
LONDON - Europe is becoming rattled by a severe Dutch outbreak of bird flu that is infecting humans and prompting fears that a mutated version of the virus could spark a flu epidemic in people.
The Dutch Agriculture Ministry said there was a danger that bird and human flu could mix in pigs and produce a mutation that humans have no resistance against.
World Health Organisation spokesman Iain Simpson said: 'It is possible. Up to now avian flu has never acquired the ability to transmit from one person to another - if it does... it could cause a large number of infections.'
The Netherlands has been grappling to contain the month-long outbreak that has spilled into Belgium and is approaching Germany.
About 15 million out of more than 100 million birds have been slaughtered in the Netherlands as the authorities battle to suppress its spread.
The new worry is that the disease could mutate and jump to humans after several pigs were found to have antibodies to the avian flu.
The chief form of transmission is consumption of infected materials or faeces.
Mr Simpson said that any flu hybrid created would be different from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which scientists believe to have been caused by human and avian viruses mixing in Guangdong, China, and which has killed about 160 people worldwide.
The Paris-based International Animal Health Organisation (OIE) said there was no clear evidence of any risk to people.
'There is no way this could turn into a human virus like Sars,' said Mr Alex Schudel, head of OIE's scientific and technical department. -- Reuters
Don't know if it worked --- I wouldn't know one if it landed and took a crap on my shoulder. The treaty regulated a number of migratory species related to the common crow, but left it up to states to regulate how and when crows were fair game.
Isn't it amazing how those buggers [crows] are always planning their next raid on the crops?
What are you --- you some sort of a yankee? [For what its worth all my ancestors sat that one out--in Utah on my father's side in Turkey or modern day Iraq on my mother's side.] :<)
Yup. And a firm believer in the wisdom of Ignatius J. O'Reilly.
Not quite by accident. The treaty recognized that Norte Americanos were going to utilize their shotguns to thin out crows. My understanding is that the treaty permitted shoting crows during established seasons and apparently left a loophole for controling crop predation. By way of disclaimer, most of what I have related is simply what I was told, but I do know that crow seasons were established and shooting magpies became an absolute no no [when there had been a small bounty on magpies only a few years earlier.]
Some individuals in the Netherlands have become ill and at least one person has died of this. It's still considered only an incidental risk to humans. It can become devastating to the continental poultry business.
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