Reply To: Farms, wild birds and biosecurity re flu esp H5N1

[Martin W]

After news from Romania suggesting itinerant sellers involved in spread of H5N1, this note from Richard Thomas of Birdlife International: "The buyers could be the main source of spreading the disease. We saw that they went from one farm that had suspected avian flu to another farm and within three days it broke out there," says Centre Director Dr Isep Sulaiman. "Then, the buyer sold the infected live chickens at market, people took them home and didn’t kill them immediately and it spread even further." Taken from the FAO’s: Enemy at the gate: saving farms and people from bird flu (April 2005)