Bird flu virus (H6N2) remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills

[nomadic wench]

Bird flu virus remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills
May 27th, 2009 Bird flu virus remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills


Poultry carcasses infected with bird flu can remain infectious in municipal landfills for almost two years, scientists report. Credit: People?s Republic of China

Amid concerns about a pandemic of swine flu, researchers from Nebraska report for the first time that poultry carcasses infected with another threat ? the 'bird flu' virus ? can remain infectious in municipal landfills for almost 2 years. Their report is scheduled for the June 15 issue of ACS? semi-monthly journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Shannon L. Bartelt-Hunt and colleagues note that avian influenza, specifically the H5N1 strain, is an ongoing public health concern. Hundreds of millions of chickens and ducks infected with the virus have died or been culled from flocks worldwide in efforts to control the disease. More than 4 million poultry died or were culled in a 2002 outbreak in Virginia, and the carcasses were disposed of in municipal landfills. Until now, few studies have directly assessed the safety of landfill disposal.

?The objectives of this study were to assess the survival of avian influenza in landfill leachate and the influence of environmental factors,? says the report. The data showed that the virus survived in landfill leachate ? liquid that drains or ?leaches? from a landfill ? for at least 30 days and up to 600 days. The two factors that most reduced influenza survival times were elevated temperature and acidic or alkaline pH.

?Data obtained from this study indicate that landfilling is an appropriate method for disposal of carcasses infected with avian influenza,? says the study, noting that landfills are designed to hold material for much longer periods of time.

More information: Environmental Science & Technology, Journal Article: ?Survival of the Avian Influenza Virus (H6N2) After Land Disposal?

Source: American Chemical Society (news : web)

http://www.physorg.com/news162666620.html

 

[kiwibird]

Re: Bird flu virus (H6N2) remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills

Mind boggling. Is this applicable to all bird flu viruses? If leachate gets into water supplies - there would be no way of containing an outbreak.

 

[mixin]

Re: Bird flu virus (H6N2) remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills

I had to re-read this 3 times.

It's surprising to me also that they really saying that it's ok to dump infected birds in landfills because they are designed to hold materials in for a period of time longer than the virus can survive.

Some of us actually have to take junk to the landfills and wade through the muck and mire while unloading.

 

[senegal1]

Re: Bird flu virus (H6N2) remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills

and some of us even like to bring other peoples junk back sometimes!

 

[kiwibird]

Re: Bird flu virus (H6N2) remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills

yes - people least likely to be able to get care are most likely to be exposed!

 

[nomadic wench]

Re: Bird flu virus (H6N2) remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills

I know it's not exactly the same strain as H5N1 but I found this report very alarming too.

All those pigs in Egypt...how were they disposed of? Some were thrown in the Nile (according to a post I saw on here a few days ago) and I saw a disturbing video of some getting thrown in pits... but I think they were covered in lime so the pH wouldn't be neutral. I don't know if any just got dumped in ordinary landfills. Just wondering how many of those pigs might have been asymptomatic carriers of H5N1 in view of the current outbreak of H5N1 in Egypt.

And what happens to all the infected chicken carcasses in SE Asia? Knowing that region quite well and having seen horrendous trash problems there, I very much doubt if disposal of the infected carcasses is state of the art.

 

[mixin]

Re: Bird flu virus (H6N2) remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills

Then we have Jakarta and Tangerang with their high numbers of H5N1.

This recent article denies a rumor to move a city-owned pig slaughterhouse out of Jakarta as an attempt to keep people and pigs apart. They are now planning to "improve" the operation. I can only imagine the before improvement conditions.

It also talks briefly about developing Ciangir sanitary landfill into a waste management system. I wonder what all goes into their landfill?

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/...-moving-pig-slaughterhouse-tangerang.html?1#1

 

[nomadic wench]

Re: Bird flu virus (H6N2) remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills

Here's a picture of what trash looks like in Indonesia sometimes for those who don't know Indonesia. It's a picture I took of Manado harbour a couple of years ago. You can't see them on this picture but there were bloated dead pig bodies black with oil (or something) amongst the trash. Manado is a Christian area so they eat pigs (and dogs) there.

Speaking of bloated dead pigs.... there were quite a lot lying about near that Smithfield foods farm in Mexico weren't there?

http://observers.france24.com/en/co...gloria-smithfield-pork-pig-farm-contamination

 

[gsgs]

Re: Bird flu virus (H6N2) remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills

survival is not enough. It must ultimately find another host,
replicate and spread

environment <---> no mutations

which sometimes happens, but is still rare
see e.g. this thread:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52214


the Suffolk/Hungary H5N1 was another example, the only real example
in Qinghai H5N1 so far

 

[tigger2]

Re: Bird flu virus (H6N2) remains infectious up to 600 days in municipal landfills

senegal1's post made me laugh. I am guilty of sometimes bringing back more than I take to the dump.