Zambia: Stakeholders Quiz Govt Over Animal Diseases
The Post (Posted by allAfrica.com)
27 July 2006
Joan Chirwa
Stakeholders in the livestock industry on Tuesday sought an explanation from government on what measures had been put in place to prevent further outbreaks of animal diseases in the country.
During group discussions on livestock farming and marketing at the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) stakeholders' meeting at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, swine farmers expressed concern at the rate in which African Swine Fever (ASF) had become endemic in most parts of the Eastern Province.
Other concerns raised were on the Contagious Bovine Pleural Pneumonia (CBPP) attacking cattle in Western and some parts of Southern Province as well as the tick-borne disease that claimed over a hundred heads of cattle in Petauke district.
Dead Fish Will be Left to Nature
The Olympian
27 July 2006
Christian Hill
Hundreds of fish that died in McIntosh Lake shouldn't pose a public health risk but will draw nuisance pests, a state fish biologist said Wednesday.
The small rainbow trout died Sunday because of a lack of oxygen or because they moved to the surface to get air and encountered water that was too warm, biologist Hal Michael said.
Rainbow trout is a cold-water fish and highly susceptible to a low level of dissolved oxygen and warm water temperatures.
An initial review by a pathologist ruled out death from a virus or another pathogen, Michael said. It will take about a week to get the results from a formal analysis.
Wild birds can Spread Bird Flu to People
The Associated Press (Posted by chron.com)
27 July 2006
Mike Stobbe
A study of duck hunters in Iowa is believed to be the first to show people can catch bird flu _ a non-threatening kind _ from wild birds. Previous cases of people being infected with any form of bird flu have involved domestic poultry, like chickens.
The type of bird flu seen in the study is not H5N1, the deadly form that emerged in Asia which has sparked concerns of a potential worldwide flu epidemic. Rather, it is H11N9, another form seen in ducks and other waterfowl that has not been associated with human illness.
In the Iowa study, one hunter and two state environmental workers tested positive for the virus, though none of the three men got sick, said Dr. James Gill, the University of Iowa researcher who led the study.
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