Feeders not a great risk

Good news is that feeding birds is probably going to remain pretty safe. Most of the carriers are ducks and then the birds most susceptible are domestic fowl. I suppose as the flu moves through the birds in the USA we will have to keep aware and update our information, but with general hygiene right now the recommendations are to keep feeders up even when the flu is in the US.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/homegarden/homegarden.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/02/20060402-I12-01.html

Q: My husband and I [disagree whether] I should continue to feed the local wild birds in my backyard. I wish to continue to feed them but, my husband is concerned that I am exposing us and our dogs. To feed or not to feed, that is the question!
Danielle Kelly, Phoenixville, Penn.

A: Walter Boyce and Carol Cardona, co-directors of the Wildlife Health Center in the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine respond: The type of avian influenza causing problems in Asia (H5N1) is not present in North America. The risk that wild birds found at bird feeders in the United States are carrying this Asian strain is very small.

There has never been a documented case of a person becoming infected by contact with a wild bird. Most or all of the human cases in Asia occurred because of very close contact with infected poultry.



If as you say "humans catch the disease through close contact with live infected birds. Birds excrete the virus in their faeces, which dry and become pulverised, and are then inhaled", why is nothing being done about the large pigeon populations is many town centres? Surely they must be a very high risk to large number of people of all ages.
Mr P Wilkinson, Isleworth

Feeding birds remains safe, but it is sensible to wash your hands thoroughly after filling or cleaning bird feeders, hand-feeding pigeons or ducks, or if you come into contact with bird droppings. There are several ways by which H5N1 might be transmitted. Globally, the most important of these has been the unrestricted movement of poultry and poultry products. This is how the disease spread through south-east Asia and probably how it reached Nigeria. The virus has been isolated and contained in wild-caught birds in customs or quarantine in Belgium, England and Taiwan.

The passive transfer of infected material on vehicle wheels or feet is another possible route of transfer. The only way to control the disease is through continued surveillance, improved bio security, good public information, effective border controls, and swift action to contain an outbreak through efficient culls of infected poultry flocks. The species most likely to carry the disease are ducks, geese and swans. Obviously, it would be sensible to wash your hands after cleaning up droppings - any bird can carry bacterial infections. Basic hygiene is always sensible.