What is Bird Flu and Who is at Risk?

[linda040899]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4967188

This is a very easy to read, informative Q&A article that gives a lot of information.

[Janie]

Linda, thank you for a great link! I've been reading every thing I can about this bird flu and this article is a good one!

[butterfly1061]

Thanks Linda! I've been listing to news about this and it can get confusing. This put my mind at ease, at least about my "pet" birds. :)

[Janie]

Jackie, me, too! Every time it comes up on the news, and that's been quite a bit lately, I keep listening for the word "parrot" and am always relieved that I'm only hearing about mostly chickens....so far.

[LauraO]

The article was good. I also read about the parrot in the UK but it was quarantined with like 600 other birds. My brother and law called us last week asking us to be careful as we have birds, but I'm not so worried because they are not around other birds. I'm more fearful that humans will bring it here to Hawaii. We are a small island with an international airport that has tons of flights from Asia. We have a huge Asian population and tourist industry.

[linda040899]

Laura,
When END struck in California, your birds didn't have to be around other birds. All they had to do was be in a quarantined area. There were a lot of parrots that were depopulated just because there was poultry nearby. I protect my own. I'm just not trusting after that episode.

[LauraO]

Too true Linda. I think the only way to feel safe is to build a birdy biosphere ;)

[linda040899]

Heather,
To the best of my knowledge, H5N1 has not yet mutated to the point where it is easily passed from human to human. However, I don't think that point is far away. I get updates from several of my mailing lists and I also do a Google search for "bird flu" when I'm looking for current information. In "Your Attention, Please," I have a link for Backyard Biosecurity that may prove helpful.

[BarbieH]

Heather;

As I understand it, if the virus mutates so that it is passed among humans, the biggest risks would be actually contracting it from other humans. Bird-related risks would be far outweighed by human-related risks. So far that has not happened, but as we are told by the scientific community, viruses are adaptable.

People could still panic and take their fears out on birds. I am hoping that people with pet birds will be found to have some natural immunity, but that's just a hope of mine, not founded in science.

[Z28Taxman]

Heather;

As I understand it, if the virus mutates so that it is passed among humans, the biggest risks would be actually contracting it from other humans. Bird-related risks would be far outweighed by human-related risks. So far that has not happened, but as we are told by the scientific community, viruses are adaptable.

People could still panic and take their fears out on birds. I am hoping that people with pet birds will be found to have some natural immunity, but that's just a hope of mine, not founded in science.

I researched this last year. Everything I found stated that once the virus mutates for human to human infection it's no longer able to infect birds (or it's very rare that it can). But if I get the flu I'm still gonna be careful with the Dittobird.