Vet's Work in Cambodia May Hold Clues to Spread of Avian Flu
Alan Sipress
Washington Post, US
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Stoeng, (Cambodia):
Martin Gilbert, a globetrotting veterinarian is now stalking bird flu across East Asia by tracking the migration route of Bengal Floricans using satellite transmitters strapped on the birds and by taking the bird's fecal swab to test for the virus.
Although avian flu has been prevalent in Asia for at least three years and hopscotched to Europe and Africa, there is no consensus among health experts about the role migratory fowl play in spreading the disease and remarkably little knowledge about which species could do so.
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See Also:
Bird flu 'heading for America'
Bird migration set to bring flu to US, experts warn
Expert Declares Crisis in Parts of West Africa
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These questions have acquired new urgency in recent weeks after wild birds introduced the virulent H5N1 strain into Western Europe. Gilbert's hunt in the wilderness of northwestern Cambodia could provide crucial clues about the role wild birds play in spreading the disease, even helping answer whether bird flu will ultimately arrive on American shores and how it might get there.
Influenza specialists blamed the initial outbreaks in East Asia on the movement of infected poultry, saying farming and marketing practices have kept the virus circulating once it has been introduced into new countries in Asia and elsewhere.Gilbert, the son of two Scottish country veterinarians, drove more than two days over a barren landscape to reach the remote site so he could catalogue the birds and take samples.
Mar 09, 2006
Alan Sipress
Washington Post, US
_______________
Stoeng, (Cambodia):
Martin Gilbert, a globetrotting veterinarian is now stalking bird flu across East Asia by tracking the migration route of Bengal Floricans using satellite transmitters strapped on the birds and by taking the bird's fecal swab to test for the virus.
Although avian flu has been prevalent in Asia for at least three years and hopscotched to Europe and Africa, there is no consensus among health experts about the role migratory fowl play in spreading the disease and remarkably little knowledge about which species could do so.
_______________________
See Also:
Bird flu 'heading for America'
Bird migration set to bring flu to US, experts warn
Expert Declares Crisis in Parts of West Africa
______________________
These questions have acquired new urgency in recent weeks after wild birds introduced the virulent H5N1 strain into Western Europe. Gilbert's hunt in the wilderness of northwestern Cambodia could provide crucial clues about the role wild birds play in spreading the disease, even helping answer whether bird flu will ultimately arrive on American shores and how it might get there.
Influenza specialists blamed the initial outbreaks in East Asia on the movement of infected poultry, saying farming and marketing practices have kept the virus circulating once it has been introduced into new countries in Asia and elsewhere.Gilbert, the son of two Scottish country veterinarians, drove more than two days over a barren landscape to reach the remote site so he could catalogue the birds and take samples.
Mar 09, 2006
