prepdeb
Moderator
First cases found of avian flu caught from wild
? Four Azeris died after plucking swan feathers
? Virus spread by humans in Indonesia, WHO confirms
David Adam and James Meikle
Monday June 26, 2006
Guardian
Four people have died after catching avian flu from infected swans, in the first confirmed cases of the disease being passed from wild birds, scientists have revealed.
The victims, from a village in Azerbaijan, are believed to have caught the lethal H5N1 virus earlier this year when they plucked the feathers from dead birds to sell for pillows. Three other people were infected by the swans but survived.
Andreas Gilsdorf, an epidemiologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, who led the team that made the discovery, said: "As far as we know this is the first transmission from a wild bird, but it was a very intensive contact. We know that the virus is carried by swans and we know that you can catch the virus if you have close contact, so it doesn't change anything, it's just the first time it has been reported."
Some ornithologists and conservation experts have tried to play down the role that wild birds could play in spreading the disease. The UN's Convention on Migratory Species organised a "world migratory bird day" in April, which it said came "at a time when migratory birds are being unfairly portrayed solely as the harbingers of death and disease".
Almost all of the 220 other confirmed human cases of bird flu, including 130 deaths, have been linked to infected domestic poultry. A handful are believed to have caught the disease directly from infected humans.
The cluster of cases in the Salyan district of Azerbaijan, 90 miles south-east of Baku, was first reported in March. Six of the seven, all aged between 10 and 20, were from the same family. Relatives initially denied any contact - hunting and trading wild birds and their products there is illegal - but eventually admitted that the victims had plucked the feathers from dead swans among a huge number of the birds to have died in February.
Only one wild bird has been found with H5N1 in Britain in recent years, the dead swan floating off Fife in April. But surveillance of migratory birds returning this autumn is likely to be far greater and more targeted on specific species of ducks, geese and swans than it was this winter and spring. Checks are being carried out this summer on the black headed gull and lesser black back gull, which might have travelled from North Africa. Nigeria suffered a big outbreak in poultry this year.
Andy Evans, head of terrestrial research for the RSPB, said: "You have to get extremely close to an infected bird. Most cases are associated with poultry and preparing poultry for the pot. This is essentially the same process. If you have extremely close contact with an infected carcass, it is possibly to contract the disease, but it remains difficult."
The Health Protection Agency said: "Our advice remains the same, if you see a dead bird, don't pick it up." Defra said its scientific advisers regarded the risk of bird flu transmitting to humans from wild birds as small.
Separately, the World Health Organisation has confirmed fears that a cluster of cases in Indonesia was caused by the virus passing directly from person to person. Seven people died, but officials insisted there was no risk of wider transmission. Scientists found that the virus had mutated slightly, but not into a form that could be passed on easily.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1805813,00.html
I couldn't help but notice they mentioned "preparing poultry for the pot". The danger of preparing infected poultry is normally dowplayed by repeatedly telling us that fully cooked poultry is safe, even if infected.
? Four Azeris died after plucking swan feathers
? Virus spread by humans in Indonesia, WHO confirms
David Adam and James Meikle
Monday June 26, 2006
Guardian
Four people have died after catching avian flu from infected swans, in the first confirmed cases of the disease being passed from wild birds, scientists have revealed.
The victims, from a village in Azerbaijan, are believed to have caught the lethal H5N1 virus earlier this year when they plucked the feathers from dead birds to sell for pillows. Three other people were infected by the swans but survived.
Andreas Gilsdorf, an epidemiologist at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, who led the team that made the discovery, said: "As far as we know this is the first transmission from a wild bird, but it was a very intensive contact. We know that the virus is carried by swans and we know that you can catch the virus if you have close contact, so it doesn't change anything, it's just the first time it has been reported."
Some ornithologists and conservation experts have tried to play down the role that wild birds could play in spreading the disease. The UN's Convention on Migratory Species organised a "world migratory bird day" in April, which it said came "at a time when migratory birds are being unfairly portrayed solely as the harbingers of death and disease".
Almost all of the 220 other confirmed human cases of bird flu, including 130 deaths, have been linked to infected domestic poultry. A handful are believed to have caught the disease directly from infected humans.
The cluster of cases in the Salyan district of Azerbaijan, 90 miles south-east of Baku, was first reported in March. Six of the seven, all aged between 10 and 20, were from the same family. Relatives initially denied any contact - hunting and trading wild birds and their products there is illegal - but eventually admitted that the victims had plucked the feathers from dead swans among a huge number of the birds to have died in February.
Only one wild bird has been found with H5N1 in Britain in recent years, the dead swan floating off Fife in April. But surveillance of migratory birds returning this autumn is likely to be far greater and more targeted on specific species of ducks, geese and swans than it was this winter and spring. Checks are being carried out this summer on the black headed gull and lesser black back gull, which might have travelled from North Africa. Nigeria suffered a big outbreak in poultry this year.
Andy Evans, head of terrestrial research for the RSPB, said: "You have to get extremely close to an infected bird. Most cases are associated with poultry and preparing poultry for the pot. This is essentially the same process. If you have extremely close contact with an infected carcass, it is possibly to contract the disease, but it remains difficult."
The Health Protection Agency said: "Our advice remains the same, if you see a dead bird, don't pick it up." Defra said its scientific advisers regarded the risk of bird flu transmitting to humans from wild birds as small.
Separately, the World Health Organisation has confirmed fears that a cluster of cases in Indonesia was caused by the virus passing directly from person to person. Seven people died, but officials insisted there was no risk of wider transmission. Scientists found that the virus had mutated slightly, but not into a form that could be passed on easily.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1805813,00.html
I couldn't help but notice they mentioned "preparing poultry for the pot". The danger of preparing infected poultry is normally dowplayed by repeatedly telling us that fully cooked poultry is safe, even if infected.
; rather I said that migratory birds have been one of the less-important pieces of this puzzle (and least controllable!). Again, given the real, known threat of poultry/poultry waste/wild bird transport across borders (both legal and illegal), I would be much more concerned if I lived near a poultry farm, a railroad, a major agricultural throughway, an important port.