Update from Australia: Re: Bird flu

[AZWhitefeather]

Positive reading material is always a welcoming sight.

Pigeon panic not needed: expert
http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/c...5E1702,00.html

Cindy

[pdpbison]

Yippeeee!

A Voice-of-Reason amid all the confusion...

Nice news indeed Cindy!


Phil
Las Vegas

[Trees Gray]

Cindy,

Thanks so much for sharing this news article which told the truth, and didn't put a negative spin on pigeons and the avian flu.

[feralpigeon]

Good article, Cindy, and good sleuthing The range of response is understandable and unfortunate all at once. Too bad there is so little coverage
for the voices of reason....

fp

[alaska]

I posted this in the other Bird Flu topic, thought it may be useful here aswell:

'Ok, I live in Australia, and I just finished talking to friends and relatives about the higher resistance of pigeons to 'bird flu' than other poultry type birds. Then comes the panic news reports about 'bird flu' coming to our shores in pigeons and the like. Geez thanks media, you sure know how to get people panicked!!

Here is another article about what happened here in AU with the pigeons:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SYD68806.htm
Heres the important bits:

And I quote:
'All the birds were tested on arrival and three were found to have avian influenza antibodies, but did not test positive for the H5N1 strain or any other avian influenza virus.
Four other birds tested positive for Newcastle Disease antibodies. Newcastle Disease is also a highly contagious viral disease in poultry, cage and aviary birds and wild birds.'

So the pigeons had antibodies, meaning at some stage they had a bird flu 'but did not test positive for the H5N1 strain or any other'. So they didn't even have flu, just antibodies to fight flu, and the antibodies they had weren't even for the H5N1 strain.

The more pressing reason why these birds were destroyed was because four tested positive to Newcastle Disease (we don't have that here in Australia).

Shows you how the media can blow up a story to get great ratings.
Unfortunately this kind of exageration is not helping us bird owners from the 'fear'virus spreading around.'

Regards
Alaska

[feralpigeon]

Hi Alaska,

It sounds as if the four only tested positive for the antibodies only. Does this present a problem to the health of other birds if they come into contact w/other birds who only have the antibodies, or were there other concerns about them "shedding the virus"?

fp

[alaska]

Antibodies are proteins that are secreted into the blood in response to antigenic stimulus, like a virus, bacteria or parasite. They neutralise the antigen by binding to it.
In other words these pigeons actually had the antibodies to resist flu in them, not the bird flu virus itself, and the antibodies where not antibodies for the H5N1 strain (which is the deadly bird flu), but for another form of bird flu (There are many types of bird flus, only the H5N1 is the one that is going around now and is deadly).
So these birds did not have the H5N1 Bird Flu, or had they ever come in contact with it.

Regards
Alaska

[Pigeonpal2002]

Hi Alaska,

Great post btw...very concise and accurate Just to add as well, the pigeons that were sent to Australia from Canada, did have the antibodies in their blood. But from what I've been hearing on our end, this is simply because the birds were vaccinated already for avian flu in Canada. So, of course the antibodies are going to show up in the blood stream because they'd been exposed to the "dead" virus through innoculation.

And you're right Alaska, people are freaking out about any and all strains of bird flu now when the main concern is the H5N1 strain.

[WhiteWingsCa]

Hubby told me that he'd read on another pigeon list that Australia realized the "error of their ways" and lifted the ban....

[feralpigeon]

Hi Alaska,

My post seemed clear to me last night, but now I could see the confusion--

this is what I was referring to:

The more pressing reason why these birds were destroyed was because four tested positive to Newcastle Disease (we don't have that here in Australia).


Were they actually sick w/Newcastle Disease, or just the antibodies? I'm sorry,
I'm confused on this. And if the antibodies, was that from a vaccination or having at one time had the disease? Also, was there a fear of shedding this?

I read elsewhere that the 50 Pigeons that were found dead had actually been poisoned and didn't have the H5N1 strain at all. Apparently poultry farmers are freaking out about migrating birds and taking things in their own hands.

fp

[vondutch]

i concur...alaska, you seem to know alot. i dont listen to the news enough

[Birdmom4ever]

I seem to remember reading that pigeons that have been vaccinated for PMV-1 test positive for Newcastle because it's a related virus. Anyone recall? Presumably racing pigeons would have been vaccinated for PMV-1.

BTW, I was reading up on pigeon diseases last night and one of my books stated that pigeons are not susceptible to avian influenza. So yes, they can resist it. Hopefully this will keep our pigeons safe from both the disease itself and widespread slaughter by authorities should it come here. Although I'm afraid that if the H5N1 virus mutates to where it can pass from human to human, our pet birds will be the least of our worries.

[TAWhatley]

Yes, strains of the virus are closely related .. more than you probably wanted to know at: http://www.urbanwildlifesociety.org/...V-RH&H-WWW.htm

Terry