Flocks of migrating wild bird maybe a flying danger

HONG KONG, January 27 (IslamOnline.net) – Fingers were pointed at migrating wild birds as responsible for the unprecedented spread of bird flu that has broken out across south Asia killing at least seven people and stirring up fears of a deadly pandemic sweeping the world, expert in Hong Kong said Monday, January 26.

The contagious bird flu broke out in Asia in a few weeks hitting out South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and finally Pakistan who confirmed on Monday it had also found the flu in some of its chickens, Reuters said.

The disease fast spread called by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "historically unprecedented" bewildered scientists who put a theory accusing the wild birds of being behind it.

"Migratory birds may explain the rapid spread of the virus in the region," said Lo Wing-lok, an infectious disease expert in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's health minister, Yeoh Eng-kiong, warned residents to keep away from wild birds although the financial hub has been spared an outbreak of the virus so far.

"Wild birds may be infected and their faeces are known to carry the virus, so people have to be careful," Yeoh said.

A government spokeswoman added: "People who come in contact with wild birds must wash their hands thoroughly."

Flying Danger

The theory of migrating bird carrying a flying danger of the disease was dismissed earlier by Japanese experts in mid-January. However, wild birds were blamed for a small outbreak in Hong Kong from late 2002 and early 2003.

That winter, dead waterfowl were found infected with the virus in a park. Although workers moved in quickly to cull other birds in the Shatin park, chickens were found sick with the virus within days, Reuters said.

"The likely source of the infection of those birds are migratory birds landing in those parks," said Lo.

The close danger of H5N1 bird flu virus did not reach China yet but authorities are wary.

"We are worried about the bird flu situation in neighboring countries because birds all have wings," said an official at the State Forestry Administration in Beijing.

Efforts to face the expected danger were made as many farms in Hong Kong were netted to keep out wild birds but they received a shock when authorities found last week a dead peregrine falcon infected with the virus.

Officials do not know where the falcon came from although a handful of the migratory birds, which breed in Siberia, are known to spend the winter in the region around Hong Kong, Reuters added.

Pakistan Hit, Indonesia Admit

However, recent reports announced the death of a 6-year-old Thai boy who became Asia's seventh confirmed bird flu fatality.

While Indonesia finally admitted on Sunday, January 25, it had been hit by the contagious disease, Pakistan joined on Monday the list of countries affected by the disease that has sparked mass chicken culls across the region, Reuters reported.

Scientists found no proof that the flu is being passed between people although it has devastated chicken populations wherever it appeared and killed six people in Vietnam and one in Thailand. However it is claimed that the seven deaths were resulted from direct contact with infected chickens.

But the big fear is that the virus may attach itself to a human flu virus, mutate and spread between people.

The H5N1 bird flu virus first jumped the species barrier in Hong Kong in 1997. The swift culling of 1.4 million birds in Hong Kong that killed six people averted a global health crisis, according to the WHO.

This time it seems to have broken out more or less simultaneously in places thousands of kilometers apart.

"We don't know how this virus is spreading and so it's safe to presume that nowhere can consider itself safe," Peter Cordingley, spokesman
at the WHO's East Asia headquarters in Manila, said. "The challenge is growing by the day."