#4215
Martin W
Participant

    Futher evidence/proof re wild bird flus being mild:

    Quote:
    Tests on nearly 75,000 wild ducks, gulls and other birds have turned up no sign of dangerous H5N1 avian influenza in the United States, a federal agency said on Thursday.

    "The program was unprecedented in scope in terms of the range of species of birds sampled, which included waterfowl, shorebirds, gulls and terns, among others," Hon Ip of the U.S. Geological Survey said in an e-mail posted to an infectious-disease message group. "As of today, the testing of over 74,506 samples in wild birds from across the United States has been completed, and no highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses have been found," said Ip, who works at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin … The tests did turn up several samples of a low-pathogenic H5N1 virus, which is not particularly dangerous to either birds or to people, the USGS reports on its Web site

    Canada has run similar surveys and found no dangerous bird flu. Birds infected with low-pathogenic H5N1 were found in states including Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maryland. This virus is apparently not dangerous to the birds, although Ip said he wanted to study infected birds to see if it has subtler effects on their ability to survive and migrate.

    U.S. wild-bird survey finds no evidence of H5N1