BC bird flu.
I haven't exactly been freaking out about international bird flu. I understand the concern and find the argument that we're overdue for a pandemic convincing and frightening. It's just in the case of H5N1, I think the economic losses to countries rocked not so long ago by the tsunami and the huge waste of sustenance from the culls and various governments' reluctance to force people to actually do the requisite amount of culling were and remain bigger reasons for concern than the still unlikely (that I can tell -- you can be the judge going by the wiki) chance that the virus will mutate into a form that will routinely pass human-to-human. But, given the large amount of concern (in some cases freaking out) about bird flu from the WHO and other international and national organizations and commentators, the reports of the avian flu strain found on a BC farm today strike me as really sort of oddly restrained. The CBC says:
A commercial farm in British Columbia's Fraser Valley has been quarantined after a duck was found infected with an avian flu virus.
B.C. government officials said Friday there is no risk to human health, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency closed off the farm as a precaution after an outbreak of avian influenza in the area in 2004.
...While Clark confirmed the virus detected is the H5 strain, it will take another two days of tests to determine whether it is the same type that has infected humans in Asia. The duck will be sent to the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg for further testing.
OK, but if it does turn out to be H5N1, then it's not exactly true that "there is no risk to human health", at least for people who work around poultry. And apparently the authorities already know that it's one of the H5 types rather than an H7 strain like the one that infected BC birds in 2004.
The Globe and Mail adds:
The infected duck was pulled off the processing line for inspection, but for reasons unrelated to avian flu. As a result of increased surveillance, the duck was also be tested for the flu virus.
So some random duck was pulled off the processing line for some random reason and later found to be infected with a strain of avian flu? It's not as if Canada's livestock doesn't already have a (largely undeserved) bad reputation. Hopefully, this comes to nothing. In the meantime, cook your chicken well.
A commercial farm in British Columbia's Fraser Valley has been quarantined after a duck was found infected with an avian flu virus.
B.C. government officials said Friday there is no risk to human health, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency closed off the farm as a precaution after an outbreak of avian influenza in the area in 2004.
...While Clark confirmed the virus detected is the H5 strain, it will take another two days of tests to determine whether it is the same type that has infected humans in Asia. The duck will be sent to the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg for further testing.
OK, but if it does turn out to be H5N1, then it's not exactly true that "there is no risk to human health", at least for people who work around poultry. And apparently the authorities already know that it's one of the H5 types rather than an H7 strain like the one that infected BC birds in 2004.
The Globe and Mail adds:
The infected duck was pulled off the processing line for inspection, but for reasons unrelated to avian flu. As a result of increased surveillance, the duck was also be tested for the flu virus.
So some random duck was pulled off the processing line for some random reason and later found to be infected with a strain of avian flu? It's not as if Canada's livestock doesn't already have a (largely undeserved) bad reputation. Hopefully, this comes to nothing. In the meantime, cook your chicken well.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home