Steps have to be taken to protect our poultry industry as well as the Bahamian people against the threat of Avian Influenza. The following article by The Associated Press predicts that Bird Flu could hit the Americas within the next 6 to 12 months. One positive aspect of this is that our poultry industry is based on caged production and not free-range production or backyard production.
Stakeholders and the government veterinary unit have to mount a concerted effort to deal with this impending health dilemma. The UN’s chief bird-flu expert thinks the deadly strain of the disease will hit the Americas in the next six to 12 months. And German scientists say the virus is infecting more animals.
Dr. David Nabarro said migratory patterns would probably take birds carrying the virus from West Africa to the Arctic and Alaska this spring. And then, he said, some infected birds will likely move south in the fall to the Americas.
A U.S. Agriculture Department official said scientists are watching wild birds in Alaska and along the North American migratory flyways. Scientists are planning to test as many as 100,000 birds this season, far above the normal number.
The H5N1 strain has spread rapidly through Asia and Europe and recently reached Africa. Virtually all people who have gotten bird flu have had close contact with infected poultry.
Human cases are not common. Fewer than 100 people have died from it, mostly in Asia. But scientists worry that the virus will mutate into a form that could lead to a worldwide human pandemic.
And German lab said Thursday the disease has spread to another animal species there.
The lab found the virus in a weasel-like mammal called a stone marten.
The marten was found on a northern German island where an infected cat was found last month. Infected cats have since been found in Austria. Cats are believed to have caught the virus by eating infected birds.
A German official noted that martens and cats eat comparable foods.
By: Godfrey Eneas, The Bahama Journal
