Europe
takes precautions against bird flu Several countries ordering poultry be kept away from
wild fowl By the Associated Press
Chicken
are pictured inside a chicken farm in Dietramszell,
south of Munich, Germany.
GENEVA - European
governments are bolstering their guard against bird
flu, faced with a growing number of dead swans and the
risk that migratory birds — which begin returning
north next month — could bring the disease from
Africa. Concerns about the disease, and its possible
threat to humans, have mounted.
“Avian influenza is a big threat,” Dr.
David Nabarro, the U.N.’s top bird flu specialist,
said Wednesday. “It is spreading throughout the
world.”
Song birds are expected to start arriving in southern
Europe from Africa in two weeks. They are judged to
be less likely carriers of bird flu than ducks and other
water fowl because song birds fly longer distances and
tend to stay away from wetlands, where the disease is
more prevalent. The migration period is heaviest in
March and April, but runs into May for some species.
France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Sweden
all took steps Wednesday to try to prevent the spread of the
deadly H5N1 strain, ordering that domestic fowl be kept in
screened, ventilated buildings, where they are less likely
to come in contact with wild birds. Britain and the Netherlands
have yet to record bird flu outbreaks, but ordered similar
precautions.
Bird conservationists cautioned against a rush to judgment.
They maintain that bird flu most likely reached Nigeria in
poultry trade from Turkey and China. Veterinary specialists
said they have yet to determine how the disease arrived in
Africa, but that measures being ordered by European officials
Wednesday were prudent.
The fear of birds migrating from Africa has been augmented
by the deaths of swans from the Baltic Sea to the southern
tip of Italy. Because of their susceptibility to bird flu,
swans are among the first birds to die from the disease, giving
an indication of where it is present, experts told The Associated
Press.
The first swan deaths in Europe were recorded in Croatia
in October, leading to controls on contacts with wild birds.
In Austria, authorities said two swans found dead were infected
with H5N1. At least nine dead swans have been found on Danish
islands in the Baltic, and two swans died in Germany.
In Slovenia, a swan infected with bird flu was found dead
last week. Laboratory tests are still under way to determine
whether it is the H5N1 strain. Bulgaria has confirmed one
swan death from H5N1 and is testing three others. The country
has implemented disinfection of cars and shoes at the entrance
to poultry farms.
Greece has four confirmed cases — in three swans and
a goose — and Cyprus has a confirmed case in a chicken.
Italy confirmed six swans died of the disease, which has also
been detected in birds in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and
Azerbaijan.
91 human deaths
Bird flu has killed at least 91 people since 2003, according
to the World Health Organization. Almost all the human deaths
have been linked to contact with infected poultry, but experts
fear the H5N1 virus could mutate into a form that spreads
easily among people, possibly sparking a pandemic.
Dr. William Karesh, director of the field veterinary program
for the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, said
it was likely the virus spread from Asia in a leapfrog fashion,
with one bird picking it up from another, rather than one
bird flying a long distance with the disease.
Experts are now concentrating on Nigeria, where three states
have confirmed H5N1 among domestic poultry and five others
have suspected cases. Scientists assume migratory birds brought
the disease to Africa, but have yet to find proof.
“We don’t know how the disease got into Nigeria,”
said Juan Lubroth, head of the infectious disease group at
the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
An FAO team is taking samples from wild birds in Africa to
get a better idea of which birds may be carrying the virus.
But Lubroth said it will take four to six weeks to get results,
and European officials are correct to take precautions in
case migratory birds bring the disease from Africa.
“If there were an outbreak in poultry, it would be
rapidly detected,” and the outbreak could be contained,”
he said. “The situation could be a little more delicate
on the eastern side of the Mediterranean, only because surveillance
is not as strong as on the western side.”
Experts said, however, that it might be necessary to order
the slaughter of birds or a vaccination program.
Christianne Bruschke of the Paris-based World Organization
for Animal Health said the most likely birds to carry H5N1
from Africa would be ducks, because they can transmit the
virus without getting sick.
“We think the virus has been brought into Africa by
migratory birds, but we think that the virus will be transmitted
on the ground more by trade, markets, transport,” she
said.
Maria Cheng of the World Health Organization said the disease
could continue to be primarily a bird affliction, but experts
still fear it could mutate into a virus that could transmit
easily among humans and cause a pandemic.
“After we saw H5N1 in Turkey, that drove home the point
that we would not be able to predict with any accuracy where
... H5N1 would go next. It looks like it’s the same
virus that was in western China last year that we saw in Turkey
and also in Nigeria,” Cheng said.
“It’s clear that H5N1 is capable of going thousands
of miles,” she said.
