Two more dead swans had bird flu
7:00pm Friday 1st February 2008
Comments (2)TWO more wild swans found dead on a reserve in Dorset have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 bird flu, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.
The latest results bring the total number of swans found to have the disease at the Abbotsbury Swannery, an open reserve in the Chesil Beach area, to nine.
Defra said further cases in the coming weeks "would not be unexpected", but there is still no evidence of widespread infection among mute swans or that it has spread to poultry.
However Defra has urged poultry keepers to remain vigilant for signs of bird flu in their flocks.
Earlier this week an epidemiology report into the case said H5N1 was most likely to have been introduced by an infected migratory bird.
It also said the strain of the virus is similar to those found in Europe in the latter part of last year.
The first birds to test positive were found dead at the open reserve in December during routine surveillance, while further swans were found to have the disease last month.
Restrictions on the movement of poultry and other captive birds in the Wild Bird Monitoring Area around Abbotsbury Swannery were imposed in the wake of the first positive tests, but were lifted last week.
However, movement restrictions in the Wild Bird Control Area remain in place, according to a Defra spokeswoman, and the control measures will be kept under review.
Enhanced surveillance, including patrols looking for dead birds, will continue in the area, Defra said.
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wilfriedsoddemann, Germany Everswinkel says...
8:16am Sat 2 Feb 08
There is a widespread link between avian flu and water, e.g. in Egypt to the Nile delta or Indonesia to residential districts of less prosperous humans with backyard flocks and without central water supply as in Vietnam:
http://www.cdc.gov/n
cidod/EID/vol12no12/
06-0829.htm.
See also the WHO web side:
http://www.who.int/w
ater_sanitation_heal
th/emerging/h5n1back
ground.pdf and
http://www.umg-verla
g.de/umwelt-medizin-
gesellschaft/407_m_s
.html
Influenza: Initial introduction of influenza viruses to the population via abiotic water supply versus biotic human viral respirated droplet shedding and http://www.thelancet
.com/journals/laninf
/article/PIIS1473309
907700294/abstract?i
seop=true
Transmission of influenza A in human beings.
Avian flu infections may increase in consequence to increase of virus circulation. Transmission of avian flu by direct contact to infected poultry is an unproved assumption from the WHO. There is no evidence that influenza primarily is transmitted by saliva droplets.
Infected birds and poultry can everywhere contaminate the drinking water. All humans have contact to drinking water. In hot climates/the tropics flood-related influenza is typical after extreme weather and floods. Virulence of influenza viruses depends on temperature and time. Special in cases of local water supplies with young and fresh H5N1 contaminated water from low local wells, cisterns, tanks, rain barrels, ponds, rivers or rice paddies this pathway can explain small clusters in households. At 24°C e.g. in the tropics the virulence of influenza viruses in water amount to 2 days. In temperate climates for older water from central water supplies cold water is decisive to virulence of viruses. At 7°C the virulence of influenza viruses in water amount to 14 days.
Human to human and contact transmission of influenza occur - but are overvalued immense. In the course of influenza epidemics in Germany, recognized clusters are rare, accounting for just 9 percent of cases e.g. in the 2005 season. In temperate climates the lethal H5N1 virus will be transferred to humans via cold drinking water, as with the birds in February and March 2006, strong seasonal at the time when drinking water has its temperature minimum.
The performance to eliminate viruses from the drinking water processing plants regularly does not meet the requirements of the WHO and the USA/USEPA. Conventional disinfection procedures are poor, because microorganisms in the water are not in suspension, but embedded in particles. Even ground water used for drinking water is not free from viruses.
Dipl.-Ing. Wilfried Soddemann - Free Science Journalist - soddemann-aachen@t-o
nline.de