Via the Globe and Mail, a CP story (but not by Helen Branswell): Experts can't explain B.C.'s avian flu outbreaks. Excerpt:
Experts have difficulty explaining why the Fraser Valley has been hit so often but there are theories.
“We're on the Pacific flyway so there are lots of birds passing through every year,” says Ron Lewis, the chief veterinary officer for British Columbia.
"And we know wild waterfowl carry a variety of different strains of avian influenza.”
People can easily walk over the areas where wild waterfowl have been.
“And we know avian influenza has some capability of aerosol transmission,” he says.
Mr. Lewis and Sandra Stephens, veterinary program specialist with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, suspect the main culprits are the wild birds moving throughout North America and the world on migratory flyways.
Avian influenza virus is prolific and when wild waterfowl have it “they shed tremendous numbers of viral particles.”
“All these birds when they get to their summer or wintering grounds they co-mingle,” says Ms. Stephens.All true enough, but it would be more persuasive if we had evidence of H5 viruses in areas like the Fraser Delta, where millions of wild birds pause on their way up and down the Pacific Flyway. A wildlife refuge like the Reifel Bird Sanctuary ought to be a place where avian flu is a constant problem, but I've never heard of a case there.
I'm not disagreeing with the authorities, just hoping for more evidence.
