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.
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.