One thing I find rarely mentioned is that even with H5N1 one of the more dangerous vectors is through pigs. Feeding infected carcasses and chicken meal to pigs and then jumping to humans is a far easier vector than poultry to human.
Yes it should be of concern to all of us. But, we need to educate ourselves and those around us.
I have seen some very good articles in the media and others that are nothing but sensationalized alarmist garbage. It is unfortunate, but the public often remembers the sensationalized version, because the factual one is dull and boring.
In Canada we saw the result of knee jerk reactions to an avian influenza outbreak in the Fraser Valley. The stories that hit the media where along the alarmist line and the CFIA and Government reacted to stem misinformed public fear by killing everything in sight. It wasn't H5N1 was the later admission and the H7 strain had not spread through the region as initially reported. This was a case where misinformation caused the needless deaths of many animals including families pet parrots.
So yes I believe this needs to be discussed in an open, objective and realistic manner.
Yes it should be of concern to all of us. But, we need to educate ourselves and those around us.
I have seen some very good articles in the media and others that are nothing but sensationalized alarmist garbage. It is unfortunate, but the public often remembers the sensationalized version, because the factual one is dull and boring.
In Canada we saw the result of knee jerk reactions to an avian influenza outbreak in the Fraser Valley. The stories that hit the media where along the alarmist line and the CFIA and Government reacted to stem misinformed public fear by killing everything in sight. It wasn't H5N1 was the later admission and the H7 strain had not spread through the region as initially reported. This was a case where misinformation caused the needless deaths of many animals including families pet parrots.
So yes I believe this needs to be discussed in an open, objective and realistic manner.
