Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Bird flu spreads wings wider
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1480485.cms
PHNOM PENH: The death of a boy of 12 in Cambodia and the case of a sick baby girl in Egypt underlined on Wednesday the threat posed to children by the bird flu virus.
In Europe, experts called for new precautions because cats, and possibly other mammals, can be infected and could spread the virus. Albert Osterhaus, of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, warned that cats may help the virus to adapt into a more highly infectious strain in humans which could spark a pandemic.
H5N1 bird flu has spread rapidly across Europe and the Middle East in recent weeks, and has flared anew in Asia. Germany said on Wednesday that tests had shown a form of H5N1 had spread to domestic fowl on a large farm in the eastern state of Saxony.
Several European Union countries, including Germany, have reported cases of avian flu in wild birds, but most have managed to keep it out of domestic flocks. France, in February, was the first EU nation to report an outbreak on a poultry farm.
Britain found H5 bird flu in a dead swan in Scotland and tests are under way to see if it is the deadly H5N1 strain, the government said on Wednesday. Results are due on Thursday.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1480485.cms
PHNOM PENH: The death of a boy of 12 in Cambodia and the case of a sick baby girl in Egypt underlined on Wednesday the threat posed to children by the bird flu virus.
In Europe, experts called for new precautions because cats, and possibly other mammals, can be infected and could spread the virus. Albert Osterhaus, of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, warned that cats may help the virus to adapt into a more highly infectious strain in humans which could spark a pandemic.
H5N1 bird flu has spread rapidly across Europe and the Middle East in recent weeks, and has flared anew in Asia. Germany said on Wednesday that tests had shown a form of H5N1 had spread to domestic fowl on a large farm in the eastern state of Saxony.
Several European Union countries, including Germany, have reported cases of avian flu in wild birds, but most have managed to keep it out of domestic flocks. France, in February, was the first EU nation to report an outbreak on a poultry farm.
Britain found H5 bird flu in a dead swan in Scotland and tests are under way to see if it is the deadly H5N1 strain, the government said on Wednesday. Results are due on Thursday.