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Bird flu may be spreading via plane, fish farmsThursday, December 29, 2005Meatingplace.com Bird flu may be spreading via plane, fish farm by Deborah Silver on 12/29/2005 for Meatingplace.com Bird flu is more likely to spread around the world by plane than by migrating birds. Scientists have been unable to link the spread of bird flu to migratory patterns, suggesting that the thousands of wild birds that have died are not primary transmitters of the virus and that shipments of domestic poultry pose a far greater threat. As a result, vigilant monitoring of poultry farms and markets is essential to avoid a possible pandemic. According to Hon Ip, a virologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., the H5N1 strain, which is lethal to humans, most likely has evolved to specifically exploit domestic poultry, whose short lives spent in tight flocks mean the virus has to skip quickly from bird to bird to survive. That also means that, while the virus can pass from domestic to wild birds, the latter may not be suitable transmitters. However, wild birds should not be ruled out as future transmitters of the H5N1 strain. Bird flu may also spread by using poultry litter as food in fish farms, a routine practice in Asia, according to BirdLife International, a leading bird conservation organization. Fertilizing fish ponds with the litter improves fish growth, but also sets up potential reservoirs for the deadly H5N1 strain if the chickens providing the manure are infected. BirdLife is calling for an investigation into the possibility that thousands of such fish farms across Asia may be responsible for incubating the virus. |