Article For Bird Flu Vaccination, Not Extermination

[Guest guest]

It points out that vaccination could save the lives of backyard and

free-range flocks, and the US reluctance to use vaccines on any but

commercial indoor flocks.

 

http://www.thegoosesmother.com/id79.html

 

I can't comment on the accuracy of the info in the article, but put

it out for your consideration. I do believe that the US silence

about what people need to do to protect companion birds is very

disturbing. The government has already banned backyard domestic

birds in Hong Kong and Vietnam, and all that's left are factory

farms. I suspect they'll want to do that here, and besides all the

suffering that causes, breeds that have been with us for centuries

could go extinct.

 

And here are some gems:

---

Start planning for bird flu, U.S. warns cities, business

 

" Communities and businesses should prepare their own plans in case

of an avian flu pandemic without counting on a last-minute rescue

from Washington, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt

warned Monday. "

 

http://tinyurl.com/od4bg

 

How many of your communities or animal shelters have bird flu plans?

(I'm betting none. Mine doesn't.)

 

--

Does bird flu cloud have silver lining for Vietnam's poultry sector?

http://news./s/afp/20060312/hl_afp/healthfluvietnampoultry

--

 

Fowl play: The poultry industry's central role in the bird flu

crisis

http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=194

--

 

Why is Europe so neurotic about bird flu?

 

" In some countries, sales of poultry have hit the floor. Panicky pet-

owners have dumped their dog or cat, fearing that felines and

canines can somehow pass on an avian virus. "

 

http://news./s/afp/20060321/hl_afp/healthflueurope=

 

Cheryl

[Guest guest]

>It points out that vaccination could save the lives of backyard and

>free-range flocks, and the US reluctance to use vaccines on any but

>commercial indoor flocks.

 

Actually, there is some speculation that this vaccine may not be completely

effective, because the current avian influenza (H5N1) has diverged into 2

clades, only one of which the current vaccine is for. It may provide

partial protection for the other circulating clade, or it may not. This is

a highly evolving virus and this vaccine may not protect for the virus that

may arrive in the U.S.

 

One reason the government may not be " acting " on this as you wish they would

is that everything is not known and research is still being conducted on how

this virus is mutating and moving and what is the best way to properly

combat it without causing the most disturbance to farmers and the natural

environment.

 

If you are interested in the latest scientific findings on avian flu from

researcher (and not second hand news reports), I suggest you to

ProMed (a listserv on emerging diseases).

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/promed/f?p=2400:1000

[Guest guest]

Actually, the reason some countries decided not to vaccinate is that

they were worried that it would help the virus mutate into a more

virulent form for humans. However, since many countries are already

vaccinating, I think they basically made the decision for us.

 

I'm aware that they are concerned that the vaccines won't work

completely (this was just published recently on news):

 

Bird Flu Undergoing Genetic Change

http://tinyurl.com/jk2k7

 

Even if it will provide partial protection, that certainly would be OK

with me and my birds... Also, they'll come up with a new vaccine, and

they need a plan to produce, distribute, and use it. In France,

they're apparently vaccinating on waterfowl migration routes. We're on

the Pacific flyway.

 

What bothers me, however, is the lack of education. Our government is

doing a *terrible* job of letting people with companion birds, small

backyard flocks, and free-range operations know how to implement

biosecurity so their birds won't be killed. About 20 years ago, the

state vets travelled throughout California and gave presentations at

feedstores and left literature about how people with domestic birds

can implement biosecurity for their flocks. It is not a new concept,

but one that people rarely know about. If you look at those notes,

they are planning to kill birds who are infected and they do not

mention education. I have called them and spoke to them about it, and

they either say " good idea " (and I still don't see any change) or they

don't respond at all. This is a tremendous opportunity for the

commercial poultry industry to take over the market from small free-

range producers and eliminate backyard companion birds. And if you

think your indoor birds are safe, even if they are exotic birds, you

should know that during the exotic newcastle outbreak, they killed

indoor birds as well, depending on where they were located in relation

to an outbreak. So your neighbors need to implement biosecurity, too,

because you don't want to be right next to an outbreak if you have

birds.

 

Bird flu could be here at any time, and while I am not personally

concerned about it (the transmission rate to humans is extremely low --

you should be more concerned about antibiotic-resistent staph at

local hospitals), I don't want my birds to be killed. I'm implemention

biosecurity. I also don't want my neighbors to be concerned because

they weren't properly educated. My birds are no threat to them

whatsoever.

 

Further, where is the education at animal control? Bird flu test kits

have been available for a very long time, and yet they aren't

recommending that animal control use them. It's only by request. An

infected animal could go to animal control, infect others, and spread

it throughout the area. They haven't given recommendations for

quarantine, obtained test kits for cats and dogs (even though they're

available, at least for cats), or planned for a huge influx of animals

as has happened in Europe. There's no excuse, really, as you can

easily find out how people are reacting in Europe, and they are

considered more " up on current events " than our general population is.

 

While the virus does have a high death rate in birds, and people would

most likely know that their bird is infected, there are always

survivors, even if a small number, and they would become carriers.

Will people release their birds rather than let the government kill

them, as they've done in some countries? Last fall, the state poultry

vet told me that H5N1 is highly mutable, so it could be low path in

one flock, and then when it infects a neighboring nieve flock, it

could become high path. Whether they still believe that now or bird

flu, I don't know.

 

There is a lot we don't know, but we do know about biosecurity, and

they should be educating bird keepers, and cat and dog keepers, now!

They should be guiding animal shelters about what they're supposed to

do, too.

 

There was some article about a high survival rate if the bird ate

kimchi, like raw sauerkraut, which caused the sales of that product to

skyrocket (they think it's the lactobaccilus [also in yogurt], I

guess.)

 

http://www.germanfoods.org/trade/sauerkrautbenefits.cfm

 

And some people think Concord grape juice helps. I haven't looked that

up.

 

Here are some UK biosecurity guidelines that I think are quite good,

and some of the US guidelines:

 

UK Biosecurity/Bird Flu Prevention Info

http://tinyurl.com/csan8

http://tinyurl.com/g22mq

 

USDA and UC Davis Biosecurity Info:

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vetext/INF-PO_Biosecurity.html

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/birdbiosecurity/hpai.html

 

Cheryl