Aviculture blamed for HK bird Flu

[GregH]

In a story published in this weeks New Scientist, they propose that the current and deadly H7N9 outbreak came from budgies! As a bird 'flu we know it can be transmitted to all birds but this story makes a point of saying that in addition to poultry it is also transmitted to finches and sparrows. Their profiling of human H7N9 victims says that a disproportionate number are single elderly men as they are more likely to keep birds. I'm outraged at their profiling - I'm married and 52 isn't that old! Anyway the paper that prompted the New Scientist report, Possible Role of Songbirds and Parakeets in Transmission of Influenza A(H7N9) Virus to Humans published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, does offer some sound advice for bird keepers "finches, sparrows, and parakeets may be intermediate hosts and sources of A(H7N9) viruses and that their frequent interaction with wild birds, domestic poultry, and humans renders them a particular risk factor in the emergence and transmission of novel influenza strains". In other words don't keep free-range poultry and make sure your aviaries are fully roofed.

[finchbreeder]

The assumption that because a disproportionate number of unmarried or widowed elderly men die of the disease and keep birds, a majority of bird keepers are unmarried or widowed elderly men is like saying a disproportionate number of women die in childbirth, thefore a majority of parents are women.
LML