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  PlanetArk 30 Nov 05
Wild Bird Culls Unlikely to Help Bird Flu Fight - UN

FAO 29 Nov 05
FAO warns against killing wild birds to fight bird flu
Danger of distracting attention from core control campaign

Rome – FAO today warned against culls of wild birds in cities in countries affected by bird flu, saying this could distract attention from the campaign to contain the disease among poultry.

The warning followed reports that wild birds were being killed in Ho Chi Minh City in Viet Nam as a precautionary measure. (see Vietnam City Poisons Pigeons to Prevent Bird Flu
PlanetArk 28 Nov 05 )

Juan Lubroth, FAO senior officer responsible for infectious animal diseases, commented: “This is unlikely to make any significant contribution to the protection of humans against avian influenza.”

He added: “There are other, much more important measures to be considered that deserve priority attention. Fighting the disease in poultry must remain the main focus of attention.”

“Wild bird species found in and around cities are different from the wetland waterfowl that have been identified as carriers of the avian influenza virus,” he said.

FAO, along with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO), recommend a series of measures to fight bird flu outbreaks. These include: Improving veterinary services, emergency preparedness plans and control campaigns including culling of infected animals, vaccination and compensation for farmers; Strengthening early detection and rapid response systems for animal and human influenza and building and strengthening laboratory capacity; Support and training for the investigation of animal and human cases and clusters, and planning and testing rapid containment activities.

“Controlling the virus in poultry is the most effective way by which the likelihood of the bird flu virus acquiring human-to-human transmissibility can be reduced,” Lubroth said.

PlanetArk 30 Nov 05
Wild Bird Culls Unlikely to Help Bird Flu Fight - UN

ROME - The United Nations urged countries against culling wild birds in their fight to halt bird flu, saying the main concern must be tackling the disease in poultry.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) issued the warning after reports that wild birds were being killed in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam as a precautionary measure.

"This is unlikely to make any significant contribution to the protection of humans against avian influenza,"said Juan Lubroth, a FAO official with responsibility for infectious animal diseases. "There are other, much more important measures to be considered that deserve priority attention. Fighting the disease in poultry must remain the main focus of attention," he added.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus is known to have infected 133 people in Asia since late 2003, killing 68 of them. It remains hard for people to catch but experts fear it could mutate and become easily passed from person to person, sparking a global pandemic in which millions could die.

Another senior FAO official said wild birds found around Ho Chi Minh City were highly unlikely to carry the H5N1 virus, while Vietnam as a whole had some 43 million domestic ducks -- which are very susceptible to the disease.

"Culling the wild birds is time consuming and costly and risks distracting authorities from the real risk, which is the one posed by poultry," FAO officer Jan Slingenbergh told Reuters.

"Controlling the virus in poultry is the most effective way of limiting the likelihood of the bird flu virus acquiring human-to-human transmissibility," he added.
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Related articles on Global issues: Bird Flu
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