- Hello Jeff - How are we ever going to stop Avian Influenza
in animal populations? In this case, in Malawi, people reportedly scooped
up the dead birds as they fell, like manna from heaven, and took the birds
home to eat.
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- "Someone alerted police that people are feasting
on mysterious manna from heaven."
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- At this time, we do not know if the birds were killed
by H5N1...and neither did the people who scooped up the birds and took
them home to eat. How can we prevent H5N1 in humans when people are either
utterly uninformed or act so recklessly?
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- FromProMED-mail
- Sapa-AP via Independent On Line
- 12-16-5
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- Malawi dispatched blood and tissue samples to neighboring
South Africa on Friday to be tested for avian influenza after thousands
of migratory birds were found dead on a hill in the central Ntchisi district.
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- Agriculture officials expressed alarm after local villagers
started scooping up the dead fork-tailed drongos -- known locally as namzenze
-- to eat earlier this week in the district about 200km east of the capital,
Lilongwe.
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- "Someone alerted police that people are feasting
on mysterious manna from heaven," said Wilfred Lipita, director of
livestock and animal health in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
"We sent officials to caution the people not to eat them, since they
may have the avian flu which has proved deadly to humans in other countries."
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- The H5N1 strain of bird flu has ravaged poultry stocks
across Asia since 2003, killing or forcing the slaughter of more than 160
billion birds. It has also killed at least 71 people. Health officials
fear the virus could spark a pandemic if it mutates into a form easily
passed from human-to-human.
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- http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking
_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=259412
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- ProMED-mail
- promed@promedmail.org
-
- Clearly, everyone is on the alert for avian influenza.
We look forward to hearing the official test results.
-
- Although it is not unheard of for one particular avian
species to be more susceptible to the virus, it seems unlikely that only
one type of bird in a region would be affected. The description of "manna
from heaven" makes me wonder if the birds were literally falling out
of the sky. If that were the case I might be inclined to think about a
metabolic toxin of some kind.
-
- For those not familiar with the drongos, they are a common
bird with black feathers and distinctive red eyes. Although usually they
are diurnal, lights around buildings will prompt them to eating the moths
attracted to the light, well into the dark hours. A good picture can be
found at :
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- http://www.kenyabirds.org.uk/drongo.htm - Mod.TG
-
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, DVM, PhD- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural
Economics
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
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- http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
- Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
-
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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