[thatboyaintright]

It's a lot closer than anyone is willing to discuss.

Here's the article

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A strain of avian flu different from the one that has infected humans in Africa and Asia was detected at a turkey farm, requiring the slaughter of 25,000 birds, state agriculture officials said Monday.

"People should not be worried," said Buddy Davidson, a spokesman for the state Agriculture Department. "This should not affect the average person at all."

The turkeys are being destroyed to prevent the virus, which can kill birds, from mutating and spreading.

Authorities are telling poultry farms in five counties not to remove any bird bedding or manure until testing can be done.

The flu was detected during routine screening. Routine tests have been done since a 2002 outbreak in Virginia.

[surepip]

We see outbreaks of some of the other strains of Avian Influenza all the time. It is endemic [occurs naturally] in the gastro-intestinal tract of just about all waterfowl. They are immune to the disease itself and act as a host.

But our domesticated birds have no resistance and hence the problems created.

Because this was an H5N2, and could possibly mutate from a Low Pathenogenic to a High Pathenogenice strain, the flocks was destroyed. Here is another link:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/content...7/04/lpai.shtml

Our poultry industry here in the USA monitors itself rigorously, and does not take any chances when it comes to AI. We destroy the flock quickly, and confirm if it was Low Path or High Path later. And we blood check every flock within 5 to 6 miles of the infected flock.

Note that the testing we do just tells us if the bird has been exposed. This particular flock of turkeys was not sick, and were not dying. But they tested positive for the antibodies so they were destroyed. If this had been done in Asia from day 1 of identifying the H5N1 strains, we may have contained it locally there. Unfortunately that was not done, and now we have the H5N1 strain from Indonesia to England and it could become endemic in some of the fowl there meaning we will continue to have outbreaks making it more and more likely the virus will eventually mutate into a form which can spread person to person.

[LibertyLady]

Surepip-
What to do about local waterfowl? Is duck hunting still considered sport here?

[surepip]

AI is, and has been, endemic in waterfowl for millenia. The virus occurs naturally, in the gastrointestinal tract of virtually all waterfowl, and has for millions of years. It has never affected its natural hosts before the past year [there have been numerous reports now across Europe, Africa, and Eurasia/Mid East of migratory waterfowl flocks dying and they have all tested positive for H5N1].

But then again, mutation is what this virus is very, very good at.

The problem occurs when the ducks, geese, etc. are able to pass on the new strains of the virus like H5N1 to domestic chickens and other confined fowl who have no immunity to it. That is one reason anyone with chicken houses, or like me, anyone who visits commercial poultry operations are not allowed to have other fowl or be around other fowl of any kind. In addition to the Avian Influenza there are other diseases such as infectious Newcastle will can be spread from say a cockatiel to chickens.

The ducks themselves in the Americas are fine though and pose no threat to people.......yet. We have not seen H5N1 on this side of the oceans. And some countries who run much more biosecure facilties than we do here, such as Brasil, have had no Avian Influenza in their chickens at all.