Reply To: I don’t believe wild birds are spreading h5n1

[Martin W]

Just had email from someone at same meeting mentioned in Reuters report, who said there were reports on testing for H5N1 in wild birds, from Australia and New Zealand north to Mongolia, and west to France. Over 73,000 samples, and only one positive for HPAI – H5N1 from a faecal sample in Mongolia.

Related news item re wild birds wrongly accused, in China Daily:
Migratory birds wrongly accused

Includes:

Quote:

“Migratory birds can be vectors, but evidence indicates this is very rare and they are more often victims of HP H5N1,” Colin Poole, Asia programme director of the international Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), based in the US, told China Daily last week at a Beijing symposium.

…

British scientist Poole, a former chairman of the Oriental Bird Club, a non-governmental organization based in Britain, says data collected by many people shows that the majority of H5N1 infected birds have been resident, not migratory.

In most cases, infected wild birds lived near poultry farms.

And migration routes of wild birds didn’t match patterns of bird flu occurrence.[/url]