- (Reuters) -- The widespread use of poultry excrement
to fertilize fish farms does not greatly increase the risk of bird flu,
a senior United Nations expert said on Wednesday [28 Dec 2005]. Joseph
Domenech, chief veterinary officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization,
dismissed a wildlife group's claim that using animal feces to boost fish
farming was a serious danger.
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- Global environmental group Birdlife International said
wild birds have been unfairly blamed for the virus. It says human practices
like the trade in poultry and wild birds, and modern agricultural methods,
probably play a major role in spreading the virus.
-
- The FAO, which is monitoring the global spread of bird
flu, supports the practice whereby feces from farm animals are used to
boost fish production. The excrement is used to boost nutrients in water
for the organisms the fish feed on.
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- Domenech told Reuters there was a theoretical risk of
fish farms becoming a source of infection if excrement from infected poultry
were poured into the ponds. It could create "an infection outbreak
in the environment, in the water, which can be the source of contamination
of other birds which come to drink there." He added, however, that
as long as the correct surveillance was in place, infection should not
happen, or could be dealt with quickly if it did. "To ban these systems
of raising livestock, which are extremely efficient and irreplaceable to
feed the populations in those countries, would be like banning the raising
of ducks because ducks are considered one of the main sources."
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- The FAO, which has warned that Europe could be at risk
of bird flu when migratory birds return from the south in spring, is tracking
outbreaks of the flu to determine how it is spread. "Today, it's impossible
to say that wild birds are not playing a role," said Domenech. "We
hope in 3 to 4 months, at the end of this migration period, we will see
better."
- ProMED-mail
Patricia A. Doyle, DVM, PhD-
Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases" message board.
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- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
Go with God and in Good Health
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