Re: China: H5N1 infected poultry -- symptomless

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:28:03 -0000, " Jill" <news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


"Peter Duncanson" <mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:mr0312lpfkueo06a3t2u0bma7rrmsqmqjf@xxxxxxxxxx
For your information.

Thanks Peter

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Up to one percent of apparently healthy
chickens, ducks and geese in wet markets in southern China are
infected with the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus, researchers in
Hong Kong and China have found.

...this is the first time researchers have found and documented
on such a large scale infected chickens which do not show signs
of the disease. Chickens usually die within 24 hours of being
infected.

"This means out of every 100 birds in wet markets, one is positive
and infected with the virus. They look healthy but they can infect
others and they can kill people," Guan told Reuters on Friday.
<snipped for brevity >

But this is not news - mortality has always been put at around 90%
If anything one should have expected the figure in chickens and similarly
affected birds to have been higher!!!!

This news report seems to imply that the 1 in 100 figure is for areas in
which the mortality is 0%. That is, there have been no reports of
suspicious bird deaths in these areas. I was careful to write "reports"
because reporting might be very poor in those areas.

What we don't yet know is whether the birds involved are gentically
resistant to the virus, have an acquired immunity, or whatever. Immunity
caused artificially by vaccination that does not prevent the virus being
replicated and transmitted could have the same result. [Eggs, suck,
Grandmother!]

Experts began questioning this week if apparently healthy but
infected birds might be the culprit when a Chinese man died

But this has been stated over and again in the past 5 years !!!
The fact that birds are sold live to ordinary people who will keep them in
their back yard for a day or two until they are ready to eat them
At which time they are killed and eaten in the household.
Whilst many do keep birds on a more long term basis very many more keep them
alive instead of refrigerated [especially if they don't have a fridge !!!!]


...chickens, China pledged last year to vaccinate all of them. ...
experts say that is impossible because millions of China's backyard
chickens roam free.

Well that is not rocket science either

Its a shame the scientists are being so shallow as well as the media

I would be reasonably gentle with the scientists in this case. Most of
the general public lacks understanding of the subject of viruses and
their spread. They are being taught by the media. The media have to be
taught by scientists. Unfortunately for the media, and for the general
public, most scientists are highly specialised, and, to be fair, do not
have the time to look at and understand the bigger picture.
--
Peter Duncanson
UK (posting from ukba)
.