Bird flu virus survives for days in droppings (35 days at 39 degrees F)

Reuters ^ | 1-21-06

[Termite_Commander]

I guess this means I'd better stop licking bird droppings... =/

Seriously though, I guess Turkey and neighboring countries might have some problems then, since they're going through a nasty cold snap, and patches of virus exist all over the place from migratory birds. Why, look what the spring thaw brings this year.

[Mother Abigail]

Five Children with Bird Flu
Symptoms Hospitalized in Turkey

20 January 2006 | 18:14 | FOCUS News Agency

Ankara. Five children that were suspected to have bird flu virus were hospitalised in Turkey today, ITAR TASS reports.

Anadol Agency informs that all the children, three of which are under 10 years, live in the eastern province of Agri, which borders Iran.

According to the received information about a week ago the children ate a chicken that might have been infected with the bird flu virus H5N1.

[Termite_Commander]

Uh oh; is that new? *scurries off to check on situation*

[Westlander]

'low temperature 4 degrees C or 39 degrees F' That's low?

Hepatitis a,b,and c can 'live' in a 100% isopropyl solution for 30 days at whatever the freezing point of isopropyl alcohol is. This is a crappy report from the WHO.

[snippy_about_it]

Poultry, especially those kept in small backyard flocks, are the main source of the virus.

You said: ..and patches of virus exist all over the place from migratory birds.

They can call this the "bird" flu all they want but it is more specifically a POULTRY flu. I don't think poultry migrates.

[dandelion]

Some good, hard data here...

Do we have a ping list for avian flu?

[heartwood]

Well, that's lovely. My son and I (math nerds) estimated 4000 Canada geese on the sod farm fields today.

[snippy_about_it]

The geese are not currently carriers. Only poultry.

[snippy_about_it]

I should clarify, so far only domesticated poultry.

[ordinaryguy]

They can call this the "bird" flu all they want but it is more specifically a POULTRY flu. I don't think poultry migrates.

Please see a comment in a ProMed posting from today

"[Dr Litvin's statement about the role of wild birds in the dissemination of H5N1 is probably based upon the results of virological investigations carried out in 2 laboratories, namely the Federal Centre for Animal Health (FGI-ARRIAH) in Vladimir (national reference laboratory for avian influenza) and the State Scientific Centre for Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk ('NPC Vector'). The data are included in Russia's follow-up report No 5, sent 27 Dec 2005 to the OIE (see )".

Phylogenetic trees constructed from fragments of the HA gene (nucleotides 801-1113 ) and NA gene (nucleotides 605-937 ) show that Russian isolates of the year 2005 exhibit greatest sequence similarity with the A/Qinghai/05 H5N1 group of isolates.

The HA gene homology was shown in the following isolates: A/mallard/Kalmykia/09/2005
A/swan/Astrakhan/04/05
A/wild duck/Kurgan/01/2005
A/wild duck/Omsk/01/2005
A/duck/Novosibirsk/04e1/2005
A/chicken/Crimea/06/2005
A/duck/Novosibirsk/02e1/2005
A/gull/Kurgan/02/2005
A/duck/Tumen/02/2005
A/Bar-headed Goose/Qinghai/5/05
A/chicken/Chelyabinsk/05/2005
A/wild duck/Tumen/01/2005
For the detailed dendograms, see:
Fig 1. Phylogenetic tree. HA gene
http://www.oie.int/cartes/TABA18_52RUS2.PDF
Fig 2. Phylogenetic tree. NA gene
http://www.oie.int/cartes/TABA18_52RUS3.PDF.

The inclusion of the Crimean (Ukraine) isolate underlines the claim that the virus has been transported by wild birds. - Mod.AS]

There is, indeed, evidence that migratory birds are spreading this disease.

[snippy_about_it]

Migratory ducks. I was thinking of your "regular birds".
All in all, still no reason to panic. It's happening in third world countries because of bad sanitation habits and not just falling from the sky.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/News/avian_flu.htm

[ordinaryguy]

Migratory ducks. I was thinking of your "regular birds".

Ah, so in post #10, when you wrote, "I should clarify, so far only domesticated poultry.", you were referring to 'domesticated migratory' ducks? Oxymoron alert.

And in post #9, when you wrote, "The geese are not currently carriers.", I guess you were implicitly excluding all of the geese from which HPAI H5N1 has been isolated, for example A/Bar-headed Goose/Qinghai/5/05 I mentioned in my earlier post?

Your bird-watcher's article lends nothing to my knowledge of H5N1. If that is your primary source of information then I can understand why you are uneducated about this disease.

[snippy_about_it]

I may be uneducated about the disease. What concerns me is that people seem to be ready to panic at any moment, here in the US. There is a run on tamiflu. This is really blown out of proportion imo.

I know it is in ducks and chickens and has even been spread to the caged birds in England when they came in contact with infected poultry.

My uneducated understanding is that the disease is being spread to humans in third world countries by folks using bad sanitation practices.

I really don't think the sky is falling.

[dandelion]

Unfortunately, evidence indicates that migratory birds ARE spreading H5N1 - but unlike chickens, who die when infected, ducks can be carriers without evincing any symptoms of the disease...

[Termite_Commander]

Oh, come on. You think a chicken has been running across the world, and that's how the virus has spread?

It has been confirmed to be in migratory birds on countless occasions.

[ordinaryguy]

What concerns me is that people seem to be ready to panic at any moment, here in the US.

So, your solution to what you see as irrational panic is to spew misinformation? Maybe if you knew more about the disease, you might be more concerned about what it could do to the world and a little less concerned about people blowing it out of proportion.

[WideGlide]

The H5N1 avian influenza virus can survive for more than a month in bird droppings in cold weather

No $hit.

[snippy_about_it]

You just keep on believing those WHO reports and whatever gets spewed out of the UN. Did you feel the same way about the swine flu?

[snippy_about_it]

No dear. I think it started on farms in third world countries where people handle chickens and ducks. I truthfully hadn't thought about migratory ducks. I've already been corrected in that area, thank you.