Mysterious Disease Killing Seabirds and Poultry not Wild Birds More Likely Carries of Influenza [News]

Disappearing Seabirds in Puget Sound
UC Davis News and Information
15 February 2006
Photo courtesy of UC Davis News and Information

Something is killing the seabirds and sea ducks of Puget Sound, and UC Davis experts are working to uncover the causes of the problem. They estimate that today's population of birds in 30 species is only about half what it was in the 1970s.

"Thirty percent -- nearly one-third -- of these bird species are already listed as threatened or endangered in our region, or are candidates for listing," said UC Davis wildlife veterinarian Joe Gaydos, who works on Puget Sound ecosystem issues at his office on Orcas Island, north of Seattle. "The birds are sentinels for the health of our regional ecosystem and they are telling us that something is seriously wrong."

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Poultry, Not Wild Birds, Most Often Carries Deadly Avian Flu to Africa
The Washington Post
16 Februray 2006
David Brown
Photo courtesy of The Washington Post

The lethal strain of H5N1 bird flu found in Nigeria this month probably got there in poultry and not through the movement of wild birds, according to migratory-bird experts and several lines of circumstantial evidence.

The first Nigerian cases were found at a commercial farm with 46,000 chickens, not among backyard flocks that would have greater contact with wild birds. Nigeria imports more than a million chicks a year from countries that include Turkey, where H5N1 appeared last fall, and China, where it has circulated for a decade.

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