Posted on 06/01/2006 9:59:46 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
ROME - The U.N. food agency said Thursday it is considering a plan to fit wild birds with tiny backpacks and monitor their annual migrations to help combat the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu.
The project would rely on communications satellites and a network of computers to track the birds' movements, and would cost $6.8 million, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization said in a statement.
"All we have now is a snapshot. We need to see the whole film," said Joseph Domenech, the organization's chief veterinary officer.
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 there is scarce evidence pointing to wild birds.
Bird flu has killed at least 127 people worldwide since it began sweeping through Asian poultry stocks in late 2003. Most human victims were infected through direct contact with sick birds, but experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily between humans, and spark a pandemic.
The virus has ravaged poultry flocks in Asia, Europe and Africa since 2003 and experts have pointed to the poultry trade as the area where the disease is easiest to manage.
The U.N. agency's plan would entail capturing thousands of wild birds before they migrate, testing sample birds for the virus, and fitting some with backpacks weighing less than 1.8 ounces. After the birds are released, the telemetry equipment inside the packs would track their every movement, FAO said.
When the birds stop for rest, ground teams would grab them and retest them and, in case of a positive result, have a good idea where the infection originated and where it might head next, the agency said.
A system of radio beacons and satellites would feed data into the computers of ornithologists, ecologists, virologists and epidemiologists around the world.
"Early warning would give governments and producers more time to respond to potential threats — with great benefits for the poultry industry and society at large," the FAO said.
The agency said it needs to raise most of the money for the project.
The U.N. agency released details of its plan a day after scientists at an international conference on bird flu in Rome urged countries to refrain from mass killings of wild birds, saying that only further research can reveal whether the H5N1 bird flu strain will become endemic in wild birds, causing periodic outbreaks across the globe for years to come.
The conference was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health.
I thought for sure this was the "Onion".
Little backpacks!
Do they mention if they'll test for the nasty bug first?
Yes.
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The U.N. agency's plan would entail capturing thousands of wild birds before they migrate, testing sample birds for the virus, and fitting some with backpacks weighing less than 1.8 ounces. After the birds are released, the telemetry equipment inside the packs would track their every movement, FAO said.
When the birds stop for rest, ground teams would grab them and retest them and, in case of a positive result, have a good idea where the infection originated and where it might head next, the agency said.
A system of radio beacons and satellites would feed data into the computers of ornithologists, ecologists, virologists and epidemiologists around the world.
I knew there had to be a reason for this scare. It seems to be to give the UN somehing else to do.
The UN can't find their butt with both hands. How can they keep track of flu carrying birds?
tiny backpacks and tinny weenie blue helmets
Migratory waterfowl in the US were tracked for years (and may still be) through banding programs, the leg bands would be sent in by the hunter and the 'history' of the bird would be sent to you.
Nongame species were tracked by recoevering the band from recovered carcasses or capturing live birds and noting the band number.
This is how the flyways were mapped out in the US and Canada.
I imagine it would be harder to do this in a region where you not only have a large number of languages to contend with, but a literacy problem as well.
If the data do not exist, this would probablly be the fastest way to get them, but I'd be less skeptical if an accredited University biology department were running the study as part of someone's advanced degree than I am with the UN running the show.
ping (Thanks, Lucy T!)
Right.
Okay, this isn't a joke, but I still can't stop laughing.
Bizarre...I do not see how this will benefit Avian Flu research and save lives, but, okay...
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