1,000s Of Migratory Birds Drop Dead In Malawi - H5N1?

[Guest guest]

1,000s Of Migratory Birds

Drop Dead In

Malawi - H5N1?

From Doyle, PhD

dr_p_doyle@...

12-17-5

Hello Jeff - How are we ever going to stop Avian Influenza in animal

populations? In this case, in Malawi, people reportedly scooped up the dead

birds as they fell, like manna from heaven, and took the birds home to eat.

" Someone alerted police that people are feasting on mysterious manna from

heaven. "

At this time, we do not know if the birds were killed by H5N1...and neither did

the people who scooped up the birds and took them home to eat. How can we

prevent H5N1 in humans when people are either utterly uninformed or act so

recklessly?

FromProMED-mail

Sapa-AP via Independent On Line

12-16-5

Malawi dispatched blood and tissue samples to neighboring South Africa on Friday

to be tested for avian influenza after thousands of migratory birds were found

dead on a hill in the central Ntchisi district.

Agriculture officials expressed alarm after local villagers started scooping up

the dead fork-tailed drongos -- known locally as namzenze -- to eat earlier this

week in the district about 200km east of the capital, Lilongwe.

" Someone alerted police that people are feasting on mysterious manna from

heaven, " said Wilfred Lipita, director of livestock and animal health in the

Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. " We sent officials to caution the

people not to eat them, since they may have the avian flu which has proved

deadly to humans in other countries. "

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has ravaged poultry stocks across Asia since 2003,

killing or forcing the slaughter of more than 160 billion birds. It has also

killed at least 71 people. Health officials fear the virus could spark a

pandemic if it mutates into a form easily passed from human-to-human.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking

_news/breaking_news__africa/ & articleid=259412

ProMED-mail

promed@...

Clearly, everyone is on the alert for avian influenza. We look forward to

hearing the official test results.

Although it is not unheard of for one particular avian species to be more

susceptible to the virus, it seems unlikely that only one type of bird in a

region would be affected. The description of " manna from heaven " makes me wonder

if the birds were literally falling out of the sky. If that were the case I

might be inclined to think about a metabolic toxin of some kind.

For those not familiar with the drongos, they are a common bird with black

feathers and distinctive red eyes. Although usually they are diurnal, lights

around buildings will prompt them to eating the moths attracted to the light,

well into the dark hours. A good picture can be found at :

http://www.kenyabirds.org.uk/drongo.htm - Mod.TG

A. Doyle, DVM, PhD- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics

Please visit my " Emerging Diseases " message board at:

http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?

Cat= & Board=emergingdiseases

Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa

Go with God and in Good Health

__________________________________________________