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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Ducks may infect humans with bird flu
2004-10-30
Can't feed the ducks any longer as well?
Domestic ducks may be infecting humans with bird flu, even though they show no external signs of having the disease, the U.N. health agency warned. Bird flu has been reported in ducks that exhibit no clinical signs of the disease, Dr. Klaus Stohr, the World Health Organization's influenza chief, said on Friday. "In the last few months there is an increase in the number of human cases which cannot necessarily be linked to poultry exposure," Stohr said. "We
There is a high risk of transmission to humans because many villagers in affected areas in southeast Asia have ducks inside their houses...
don't know the infectious dose for humans, but assuming that poultry can infect humans, we must consider that apparently healthy ducks can also infect humans." There is a high risk of transmission to humans because many villagers in affected areas in southeast Asia have ducks inside their houses, Stohr said.
Boy, is that hard on the carpeting. Ducks don't do much but eat, quack, and poop...
"What is urgently needed now is that governments invest in research to discover just how widespread H5N1 (bird flu) is in domestic ducks," he said, adding that no human cases can be directly traced to ducks. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu appeared throughout Asia early this year, ravaging poultry farms and sparking a region-wide health scare. Authorities in Asia culled tens of millions of birds in an attempt to thwart the spread of the disease, but it resurfaced in July.
Oh, this is just ducky news!
Bird flu does not transmit easily from human to human, he said, while human influenza is highly infectious.
But it can ...
Stohr said there is no vaccine for bird flu.
or the regular flu either!
Posted by:Mark Espinola

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