Birdflu Detected in Ukrainian Zoo - Officials [News]
Reuters AlertNet
27 Feb 2006
KIEV, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Parrots and pheasants have died of bird flu at a zoo in southern Ukraine, prompting officials to slap a quarantine on the facility's bird enclosures, officials said on Monday.
But Ukrainian media quoted veterinary officials as saying the strain of flu detected was the H5 type -- and not the particularly dangerous H5N1 strain. Cases of H5N1 have already been detected in Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula.
"We have recorded deaths of birds -- three or four pheasants and several parrots in two of the enclosures at Odessa zoo," a spokesman for the zoo in the Black Sea port said by telephone.
"A quarantine has been set up in all enclosures. The zoo has been declared a zone of heightened risk."
Do Migratory Birds Spread Avian Flu? [News]
Voice of America
28 February 2006
Andrew J. Baroch
Photo courtesy: Reuters AlertNet
International health officials continue to report new outbreaks of the dangerous H5N1 strain of avian flu among domestic and wild birds, and among a small but growing list of human victims. There are concerns that migratory bird populations could be hastening the spread of the disease. Those concerns are growing as tens of millions of wild birds begin their spring migrations to the United States and other regions all across the northern hemisphere.
Nearly 100 people have died since the H5N1 outbreak in southeast Asia in 2003, mostly due to close contact with infected birds. Health officials worry the virus could one day mutate and be passed easily between humans -- which is why they're trying to stop its spread now among birds.
Many experts suspect that migratory birds are the main culprits in the steady advance of the disease to the west from Asia into Europe and Africa.
H5N1 News and Resources about Avian Influenza [News]
News articles and resources from different sources are collected and posted here on this news blog.
Doc Martin - H5N1 and Wild Birds Forum [Editoral]
Intersting discussions about the connection between the conservation of wild birds, the business of poultry and the spread of avian influenza.
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