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medpundit |
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Friday, November 25, 2005Glauer points out that poultry raising in Asia is vastly different from that in the United States. In Asia, most poultry is raised outdoors, often in backyard flocks, offering more exposure to humans and to wild birds. In the United States, for the most part, poultry is raised in poultry buildings. The flocks have limited contact with people and no exposure to wild birds, which have been responsible for spreading the virus from Asia to Europe. Guess those free range birds aren't necessarily better or healthier. And watch out for smuggled exotic birds - they're evidently big business, exceeded only by drug smuggling in profits: And an oil tanker was found in Taiwan with 1,500 contaminated birds aboard. The birds were destroyed, but they could easily have spread the virus if they had been sold and smuggled into the United States. The poultry company in the article forbids its poultry farmers to own exotic birds, but it isn't clear if that's the policy of most poultry companies/farmers. If avian flu does reach these shores, look for it in Alaska - it's the most likely to first receive migrating birds returning next summer from spending the winter with their Asian friends. posted by Sydney on 11/25/2005 08:14:00 AM 1 comments 1 Comments:Thanks very much for this angle!
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