The authorities in affected countries are stomping on this fairly hard, from what I read; ignoring it would be potentially quite dangerous WRT a new flu variant becoming an epidemic or pandemic.
http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/79/96291.htm?printing=true "...The part of the flu bug that determines immunity is the H (for hemagglutinin) molecule on the outside of the virus. There are 15 different H molecules in birds. But people get only three kinds: H1, H2, and H3. "Type A flu is a wily bug. It likes to shift its genes around. That happened this year, when the H3 Panama flu morphed into the H3 Fujian flu. But that difference -- called a drift -- isn't as bad as when the flu bug "shifts." That happens when it picks up a new H gene from an animal flu virus... "...The bird flu sweeping Asia is an H5 flu bug. It's tried to break out before. In 1997 it broke out in Hong Kong. Eighteen people got infected; six died. Authorities ordered the extermination of all the chickens in Hong Kong. This mass slaughter ended the threat. "An H9 bird flu infected two Hong Kong children in 1999. Both recovered fully. Other H9 infections were reported in China, but this bug hasn't broken out. "Last year, an H7 bird flu infected chicken handlers in the Netherlands. One veterinarian died. Authorities called for the slaughter of infected birds. And health authorities gave human flu vaccines to all poultry handlers in an effort to prevent dual infection that might lead to a new human flu... [article about this was posted] http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=afp/health_flu_who_vietnam "Bird flu, which has killed at least four people in Vietnam, is largely transmitted through bird droppings and uncooked meat, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, casting doubt over the need to ban imports of chicken meat...Piled one on top of the other in cramped cages, the birds easily pass the disease on with their dirty droppings, the health body said, noting that chicken breeders also risked inhaling the bug...Fears about spreading the disease prompted Japan on Friday to ban Taiwanese poultry imports after bird flu was discovered on the island. It also began burying the carcasses of 34,600 of its own birds that may have been infected. "The WHO warned that it was equally dangerous for humans to be close to infected birds whether they are alive or dead. Only a few animals manage to survive once they catch bird flu and those who survive continue to lay contaminated droppings for a minimum of 10 days. "The WHO earlier confirmed that a fourth person has died from bird flu in Vietnam, but stressed that the disease was only being transmitted through birds and not yet through humans...Vietnam has ordered the slaughter of all chickens in the 12 regions grappling with a bird flu epidemic and banned the sale of poultry in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's largest metropolis..." Over-crowding animals and promoting 'cannibalism,' especially in what naturally is herbivorous, will continue to introduce new or variant pathogens. Debbi __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
