HKBWS BBS 香港觀鳥會新聞組


    
      
        HKBWS BBS 香 港 觀 鳥 會 新 聞 組
        (http://www.hkbws.org.hk/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl)
      

        Special Topics 特別主題 >> Wild Birds & Avian Flu 野鳥與禽流感 >>  BirdLife: Statement on Avian Flu 國際鳥盟有關禽流感的公告
        
(Message started by: Kwok Jai on Oct 17^th, 2005, 3:14pm)

Title: BirdLife: Statement on Avian Flu 國際鳥盟有關禽流感的公告
Post by Kwok Jai on Oct 17^th, 2005, 3:14pm

BirdLife International: Statement on Avian Influenza

14-10-2005

The H5N1 virus seems to be spreading, with recent outbreaks in China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, regions of Russia and countries around the Black Sea, on top of the spread through Asia since the end of 2003. It is not yet entirely clear how the disease is spreading, but clearly there is a possibility that migrating waterbirds may be involved.

There are numerous strains (at least 144) of avian influenza, many of which circulate in wild birds at low levels, but which can occur more frequently in waterbirds. Most of these viruses within wild bird populations are benign. Highly pathogenic-avian influenza viruses can cause great mortality in domestic poultry flocks but are very rare in wild birds. H5N1 is highly pathogenic but was never recorded in wild birds before the recent outbreaks in SE Asia, Russia and countries around the Black Sea. It is likely that it originated in domestic poultry through mutation of low pathogenic sub-types and was subsequently passed from poultry to wild birds.

http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2005/10/avian_flu.html