300 Scientists in Rome to discuss bird flu

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Scientists in Rome to discuss bird flu By ARIEL DAVID, Associated

Press Writer Tue May 30, 4:14 AM ET

ROME - Three years after the first outbreaks of bird flu in Asia,

experts are still puzzling at how the disease spread across three

continents so quickly and how wild birds have helped disseminate the

deadly virus.

More than 300 scientists and animal experts discussed these and other

questions at a two-day conference which opened in Rome on Tuesday.

The meeting was organized by the U.N. Food and Agriculture

Organization, based in Rome, and by the Paris-based World

Organization for Aniabdo

Experts were invited from about 100 countries.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed at least 127 people worldwide

and ravaged poultry flocks in Asia, Europe and Africa, but experts

are still unsure if migrating birds or the commercial poultry trade

deserve most of the blame for spreading the disease.

Also experts wonder why the virus, widespread in South East Asia

since 2003, only started moving across the continent to Europe and

Africa last year, said Jutzi, director of FAO's animal

production and health division.

" Why all of a sudden that happened is not entirely clear, " Jutzi told

The Associated Press on the eve of the conference. " And if the wild

birds had a role in that, why didn't they have one before? "

So far, most human cases have been traced to contact with infected

poultry, but experts fear the deadly virus could mutate into a form

that passes easily from human to human, possibly sparking a global

pandemic. Understanding how the bird flu virus spreads is a key

factor in the fight against the disease.

Evidence on the role of wild birds is not always conclusive in the

areas where H5N1 has appeared. Migratory birds introduced the disease

in Russia and Eastern Europe, but in the case of recent outbreaks in

Africa no evidence has yet been found pointing to wild birds, Jutzi

said.

" Ornithologists are very knowledgeable on the movement of the birds

but not on their diseases, " he said. " We hope the conference will

indicate some research in this direction. "

So far, research shows that wild birds are likely to introduce the

virus in unaffected areas but that the disease becomes widespread

mostly through poor hygiene and through poultry trade, Jutzi said.

http://news./s/ap/20060530/ap_on_he_me/un_bird_flu_conference

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