1,000 turkeys in Suffolk UK died from bird flu, page 3

I am absolutely astounded at the misinformation put forward in this thread as "fact."

Far too much ignorance to deal with - but here's a quick hit:

BS:

Originally posted by stumason

Firstly, the virus needs a host, or it too dies. I do not know the specifics, but I doubt they will live for long (a day at most) inside of a dead bird.

As you do not know the "specifics," why don't you refrain from sharing your ignorance?

FACT: Bird flu does NOT need a living host - that's why it's so friggin' dangerous. The primary reservoirs appear to be environmental. Flu viruses can live for millenia in ice, over 200 days in lake water, and indefinitely where conditions involve high humidity and low temperature.

Flu Viruses May Be Preserved in Ice for Millennia

Influenza viruses may be preserved in glaciers and Arctic ice for thousands of years and released into the environment when the frozen water is thawed, potentially touching off lethal pandemics, researchers said.

Global warming may speed the release of the microbes, increasing the frequency of outbreaks, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Virology. The study is based on tests of water and ice from three lakes in Siberia, where large populations of migratory waterfowl breed before traveling to North America, southern Asia, Europe and Africa.

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High moisture and low temperatures increase (bird flu) virus survival in manure. ...Virus will be inactivated
once daily temperatures have consistently risen to 90ºF for one week.

The virus can enter the environment by a variety of routes, including feces - and of course, infected carcasses as they decay.

Influenza can also be transmitted by saliva, nasal secretions, feces and blood. Infections either occur through direct contact with these bodily fluids, or by contact with contaminated surfaces.

H5N1 bird flu is a zoonosis - so a variety of birds, animals and insects can "pick up" the virus from environmental reservoirs and then, spread it further in what's called "mechanical transmission."

Scientist warns of bird flu in flies

"A study we are conducting here, for example, has convincingly found that it is possible for flies to spread the bird flu virus," he said.

Wasito said the virus had also been found in flies taken from places that have been declared bird flu free. Only flies taken from locations that have never had a bird flu outbreak were always found H5N1 negative.

"This means that the virus in flies is still inherited in at least the 25th generation, as the research was conducted generally two years after an outbreak," said Wasito, explaining that the flies had a one-month life span.

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In the wake of the increasing number of bird flu cases in Indonesia, an Indonesian scientist has warned the government not to place too much of the blame for bird flu on poultry as other animals could also carry the virus.

Veterinary pathologist Wasito of Yogyakarta’s Gajah Mada University’s veterinary medicine said other animals such as cats, dogs and even flies could also carry the H5N1 virus.

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1985: Characterization of virulent and avirulent A/chicken/Pennsylvania/83 influenza A viruses: potential role of defective interfering RNAs in nature.

In April 1983, an influenza virus of low virulence appeared in chickens in Pennsylvania. Subsequently, in October 1983, the virus became virulent and caused high mortality in poultry. The causative agent has been identified as an influenza virus of the H5N2 serotype. ...Chickens infected with the virulent strain shed high concentrations of virus in their feces ...and the virus was isolated from the albumin and yolk of eggs layed just before death. Virus was also isolated from house flies in chicken houses. ...This adaptation may have involved the loss of defective RNAs, as well as mutations, and thus provides a possible model for a role of defective-interfering particles in nature.

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Detectio n and isolation of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza A viruses from blow flies collected in the vicinity of an infected poultry farm in Kyoto, Japan, 2004.

During the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza that occurred in Tamba Town, Kyoto Prefecture in 2004, a total of 926 flies were collected from six sites within a radius of 2.3 km from the poultry farm. The H5 influenza A virus genes were detected from the intestinal organs, crop, and gut of the two blow fly species, Calliphora nigribarbis and Aldrichina grahami, ...the virus from C. nigribarbis (A/blow fly/Kyoto/93/2004) was characterized as H5N1 subtype influenza A virus and shown to have > 99.9% identities in all three RNA segments to a strain from chickens (A/chicken/Kyoto/3/2004) and crows (A/crows/Kyoto/53/2004) derived during this outbreak period in Kyoto in 2004. Our results suggest it is possible that blow flies could become a mechanical transmitter of H5N1 influenza virus.

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High moisture and low temperatures increase virus survival in manure. Mechanical transmission by anything that can walk, crawl, or fly from farm to farm can and will occur. Mammals, like rats and mice, insects (including flies) and wild birds, especially waterfowl can transmit avian influenza. AIV can also be found on the outer surfaces and inside of shell eggs. Transfer of eggs is a potential means of AIV transmission. Airborne transmission of virus from farm to farm probably does not occur. The spread of avian influenza between poultry premises almost always follows the movement of people and equipment.

Also FYI - there is a significant body of evidence showing that "bird flu" is transmitted "genetically" in several species.

BS:

Thats because the only people it kills are those that literally sleep with their chickens. To be honest, if those people don't get Bird flu, they probably have some other nasty disease as a result and at the very least fleas. For the western world, the only threat is to livestock and that itself is apparently minimal.

The unadultered hate-mongering ignorance underlying this statement is almost beyond belief.

You are parroting the agricultural industry's disinformation campaign.

FYI - most scientists agree:

"High-pathogenic avian flu that causes death among birds seems to originate from intensive poultry farms."

Also FYI - North America is rife with low-path H5N1 bird flu - and by most accounts, the real danger and pandemic potential lies with low-path H5N1.

Bird flu lite may become biggest killer

HEALTH Experts have called for closer study of less-lethal strains of the H5N1 bird flu virus because they might be more likely candidates to spark an influenza pandemic.

"This makes sense from an evolutionary viewpoint. If a virus is so lethal that it kills 50 percent of its hosts, then it will not transmit very far to infect many other people, and it will die out relatively quickly. It is less likely to become a worldwide pandemic," Tang said.

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Low-pathogenic forms of bird flu do cause illness among birds

Wild birds were thought not to suffer from mild forms of avian influenza. But new data suggest that so-called ‘low-pathogenic’ avian influenza viruses do affect the lives of birds. ...a team of ecologists and virologists showed that infected individuals initiate their migration by the end of January or early February, while uninfected individuals already do so by the end of December. Also, their next ‘fuelling station’ is only 35 km away instead of the usual 250 km. Sick birds fuel at a lower rate: they take fewer bites per day and their digestion seems to be impaired. Presumably, this is due to their need to channel more energy towards their immune system.

Migratory swans carrying a mild form of avian influenza depart from The Netherlands more than a month after their healthy counterparts do. They also feed slower and fly shorter distances. These insights will be published on January 31, 2007 in PLoS ONE, the International, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication from the Public Library of Science ( PLoS ) by scientists from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology ( NIOO-KNAW ) and the Department of Virology of the Erasmus MC. This contrasts previous ideas that mild forms of bird flu do not cause illness among wild birds. Moreover, these patterns can affect the rate of spread of avian influenza.

"These mild virus-types always formed the origin of massive pandemics such as the Spanish Flu. Only such viruses that are non-lethal to birds can be spread easily by ( wild or captive ) birds, simply because the birds stay alive." Only after mixing with human flu can such a low-pathogenic avian flu cause the nightmare of a deadly pandemic among humans. "High-pathogenic avian flu that causes death among birds seems to originate from intensive poultry farms."

It's funny how on one hand people claim a conspiracy to cover up the truth with this outbreak, but then on the other, panic because of what they read in the paper. I find those two facts hard to reconcile, seeing as the Media is deliberately over-hyping the situation and there has been no cover up.

The Media is dancing to industry's tune and the whole issue is nothing but cover ups. For example:

Bali's bird flu researchers under political pressure

It seems that speaking the truth on avian influenza has not won the scientists investigating the lethal virus on Bali any friends.

It all started when the results of the research appeared in a number of national and local media publications.

The most shocking part of the results was the discovery of the infection in dogs, cats and pigs.

As for the human risk, last years outbreak of Bird flu in Norfolk resulted in one human infection (incidentally, a farm worker, not a Joe Bloggs). The only symptoms he showed were a mild eye infection.

Until we see a case of human to human transmission of the virus, there is bugger all risk. Considering that even those infected in Asia lived with the birds and even then only SOME family members got ill and then only SOME of them died, it's hardly the Human killing mega-plague they want you too believe.

What they want you to believe is that the danger is a "Human killing mega-plague." And you're buying it. Or at least promoting it.

But the real danger is a mega-plague that does NOT kill, but rather sickens survivors, causes long term chronic illness and disability - and can be transmitted "genetically" unto the following generations

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