Trinidad tests dead seabirds for bird flu

[Sally Furniss]

Trinidad tests dead seabirds for bird flu
AP
Saturday, February 18, 2006

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - Trinidad officials tested five dead seabirds yesterday to see if they had contracted the bird flu virus that has swept from Southeast Asia into Europe and Africa, authorities said.

Residents of the eastern town of Manzanilla reported finding the birds - four pelicans and another seabird - on Thursday at a local beach, the agriculture ministry said in a statement. Dead fish were also found at the site.

Although there have been no cases of bird flu reported in the Caribbean, Jamaica recently said it has tested some of the country's bird population in a bid to protect against the deadly virus.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has devastated poultry stocks in Asia and has led to the forced slaughter of hundreds of thousands of birds there and elsewhere. It has been detected in birds in Egypt, Russia, Nigeria, Romania, Croatia, Turkey, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria.

Bird flu has killed 91 people in Turkey and in Asia since 2003, with most victims infected directly by sick birds, according to the World Health Organisation.

Scientists fear the H5N1 virus could mutate to a form more easily passed between humans and spark a human flu pandemic.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...R_BIRD_FLU.asp

[DB]

Re: Trinidad tests dead seabirds for bird flu

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index...s?id=138198453

More dead birds, fish at Manzanilla Beach

Ariti Jankie South Bureau

Friday, February 24th 2006
More dead birds and fish have been found on Manzanilla Beach, near the area where carcasses of several birds were found last week, the Poultry Surveillance Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture has reported.
The birds and fish were found by members of the PSU who have been combing the area since the first deaths were recorded.
Bird flu has been ruled out as the cause of death based on tests conducted so far.
Dr Lisa Musai, head of PSU, said it appeared that something in the water poisoned the fish.
She said that the PSU believed that the seagulls and other birds ate the fish and died as a result.

Further tests to find out the cause of death have been conducted and results from the veterinary laboratory are expected soon, she said.
Musai said that the PSU had increased surveillance, prepared an outbreak management programme and an awareness project to deal with a possible outbreak of bird flu.
Afzal Khan, contracts manager at Nutrimix Poultry Division, said that ducks and turkeys have been removed from all the company's poultry farms.
He said that visitors now had to undergo footbaths before entering the farms.
Khan said that the number of mesh wire fences had been increased and ducks and turkeys have been were removed as a precautionary measure.

[DB]

Re: Trinidad tests dead seabirds for bird flu

Cough Cough...:bs:

[Snowy Owl]

Re: Trinidad tests dead seabirds for bird flu

TT health officials probe more bird deaths

Trinidad and Tobago health authorities are investigating the cause of death of 15 pelicans whose carcasses were washed ashore along the coast of Point Galeota in the south of the country over the weekend. The Ministry of Agriculture said the carcasses were sent to the veterinary clinic at the Eric Williams Medical Complex to determine cause of death.

The dead birds had been discovered by members of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard stationed in the area.

Officials said they were not in a position to state whether the birds had died from the deadly strain of the Bird Flu virus responsible for the deaths of a number of birds in Asia and Europe. It has also been blamed for the deaths of some people in those countries.

Earlier this year, local health authorities destroyed thousands of chickens from several farms in the eastern part of the country following fears of an outbreak of the virus, but tests later revealed that the chickens had died from the virus, aspergillosis.

http://www.radiojamaica.com/news/story.php?category=6&story=23684

[Joe Neubarth]

Re: Trinidad tests dead seabirds for bird flu

Lots of reports of dead birds and other animals throughout the Caribbean. There is something running loose in the area that is killing with glee. In Panama and Costa Rica the governments claim that it is the rain. It rained so much that the leaf and fruit eating monkeys forgot to eat and the grass eating cows and horses and burros forgot to eat the grass. Somehow, I really find that hard to believe.

In Guatamala they have an admitted outbreak of H5N2 and people are dying in hospital of H3N2. Could be. Yet, I wonder.