FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] New problems for birds?

["IE Ries" <featherchaser@xxxxxxxxxx>]

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050906/hl_afp/healthfluasiawho

   
  WHO repeats warning of rapid bird flu spread 
  Tue Sep 6, 6:49 AM ET 

  COLOMBO (AFP) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) repeated a warning that 
bird flu had spread from farm poultry to migratory birds which could spark a 
pandemic. 

  WHO director general Lee Jong-wook warned Asian health ministers meeting in 
Colombo that there was a fresh threat of the virus spreading quickly.
  "He cautioned them about a possible impending Avian influenza pandemic," the 
Geneva-based organisation said in a statement after the two-day meeting.

  "Dr. Lee said that the reservoir of the virus had moved from domestic poultry 
to ducks and has now been established in migratory birds in China. The danger 
of the expanding geographical range of the virus increases possibility for 
human cases to occur, increasing the potential for it to become more 
contagious."

  The organisation said Asian countries at risk needed to improve efforts at 
case detection to ensure an early warning to others, mobilise international 
stockpiles of antiviral drugs and speed up vaccine manufacturing capacity.

  Other experts have previously said wild birds were spreading avian influenza, 
known as H5N1, far beyond its epicentre in the backyard farms of Asia.

  But scientists have argued over the disease transmission path, which most 
recently saw it spread to parts of Russia and Kazakhstan and prompted warnings 
it could next move into Europe and South Asia.

  Two Asia-based British ornithologists this week refuted the theory the virus 
was spread by migratory birds.

  Martin Williams, an ornithologist in Hong Kong, and fellow bird watcher Nial 
Moores in 
  South Korea, say their studies show the spread of bird flu does not match 
with migration patterns of wild birds in Asia.

  Asia has been battling bird flu since late 2003, with vaccination campaigns 
and massive culls of tens of millions of chickens and ducks that have 
devastated poultry industries, particularly in Thailand and Vietnam.

  Bird flu has killed 62 people in Asia in the past two years, including 43 in 
Vietnam.

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  Please be advised that if you click the link to view the entire article, a 
photo of a chicken being burned appears.  I hope the animal isn't being burned 
alive, but it would not surprise me if it were, since these particular animals 
are subject to the most inhumane conditions on the planet.  Warning to viewsers.