Word: waterfowl
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...region near Lyon, around 600 km to the east of the Landes. Several dozen wild birds have died of the infection in Ain. Could the Landes be the virus' next target? With its high concentration of domestic birds, and its lakes along the Atlantic coast favored by migratory waterfowl soon due to return from Africa, the Landais are on high alert. Still, when it comes to the virus, there are things local farmers can do: keep a vigilant eye on their flocks and wild birds, dip their boots in disinfectant, even vaccinate their ducks, an option that remains unauthorized almost...
...more than 100,000 birds in the region over the past five years, more than any other scientist. It's hard, dirty work--every day researchers pick through less than hygienic live poultry markets, persuading traders to allow them to take blood and feces samples from their chickens and waterfowl. From those samples, Guan and his team have managed to sequence the genetic code for more than 250 strains of H5N1--giving them a chillingly accurate picture of how widespread bird flu is in the region and how the virus is mutating. "We have to know what's in animals...
...species barrier at any time ... Shortridge says, 'It's a dangerous situation' ... Since the 1997 outbreak when Hong Kong authorities' citywide slaughter of 1.4 million chickens was largely credited with stopping the flu's spread, the government has instituted several preventive measures: increased testing of imported chickens, segregating live waterfowl from other poultry at markets and enforcing a monthly market 'rest day' to disinfect cages...
...What caused this outbreak? One theory is that wild waterfowl (the natural hosts of avian-flu viruses) have spread the virus while migrating across Asia. Live-bird markets may also have played a key role in spreading avian flu, with domesticated poultry excreting the virus, for at least 10 days, in their mucus and feces...
...possibility that the H5N1 strain would infect migratory birds. Since huge amounts of virus are shed in bird feces, such an epidemic among migratory birds would mean death raining down from the sky in the form of H5N1 virus. In November and December of 2002, there were numerous migratory-waterfowl deaths due to H5N1 in Hong Kong's Penfold and Kowloon parks. Mysteriously, when further screenings of migratory birds were conducted immediately after, no H5N1 was detected. "Did birds from Hong Kong, which nest in Siberia and North Korea, somehow spread the virus elsewhere?" asks Rob Webster, a pioneering expert...