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Australia under bird flu flightpath
<!-- body content within gutter --> <!-- page title and top right promo --> Australia under bird flu flightpath
By Rachael Langford
March 11, 2006
<!-- end page title and right promo --> <!-- floating lead items --> <!-- end floating lead items --> BRISBANE residents may be at risk of catching bird flu because the city's north-eastern suburbs are under a migratory bird flight-path from Asia, a city councillor says.
Northgate councillor Kim Flesser said today migratory birds were flying through parts of Asia in which the deadly H5N1 virus has been found. "The foreshores of Moreton Bay are part of the East Asian-Australasian fly-way and that's a path where migratory birds travel between Australia, up the east Asian area and right up to Siberia and back again," Councillor Flesser told ABC radio.
"They fly through different times of the year and they are flying through areas where bird flu has been reported and where there has been definite cases of bird flu."
His comment came after the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) this week described the risk of the H5N1 strain reaching Australian shores as "very high".
OIE director-general Bernard Vallat told a French parliamentary commission detailed analyses of the widening area hit by the deadly flu strain showed a "pessimistic" outlook for Australia, Canada and the United States.
"The probability of this strain appearing in Australia is very high. The possibility is also very high for the United States and Canada," he said.
Australia would likely see infection brought from Indonesia by migratory birds, he said.
However, Australia's chief veterinary officer Gardner Murray said the threat of avian influenza to Australia remained low.
"While there is a risk of migratory birds introducing the H5N1 strain of avian influenza into Australia, the risk is substantially less than for most other countries because waterfowl ... which are the normal host of avian influenza viruses do not normally migrate to Australia," Dr Murray said.
"The migratory shorebirds and waders that do come to Australia from infected regions are less likely to carry avian influenza viruses.
"While these birds do pose a risk, the pathway for transmitting a virus into domestic birds would need to involve a number of intermediate steps."
Dr Murray said migratory birds would need to infect nomadic wild birds like ducks and water fowl, which would then need to pass it to production birds such as chickens.
However, while Australia's strict biosecurity laws and tight surveillance favoured keeping the disease out, he said, authorities could not afford to be complacent.
"It is important to remember we are dealing with a biological agent, and it is virtually impossible to know with absolute certainty how it will continue to evolve and spread," Dr Murray said.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said the state government had a bird flu emergency plan, adding: "...there is no danger of an epidemic."
By Rachael Langford
March 11, 2006
<!-- end page title and right promo --> <!-- floating lead items --> <!-- end floating lead items --> BRISBANE residents may be at risk of catching bird flu because the city's north-eastern suburbs are under a migratory bird flight-path from Asia, a city councillor says.
Northgate councillor Kim Flesser said today migratory birds were flying through parts of Asia in which the deadly H5N1 virus has been found. "The foreshores of Moreton Bay are part of the East Asian-Australasian fly-way and that's a path where migratory birds travel between Australia, up the east Asian area and right up to Siberia and back again," Councillor Flesser told ABC radio.
"They fly through different times of the year and they are flying through areas where bird flu has been reported and where there has been definite cases of bird flu."
His comment came after the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) this week described the risk of the H5N1 strain reaching Australian shores as "very high".
OIE director-general Bernard Vallat told a French parliamentary commission detailed analyses of the widening area hit by the deadly flu strain showed a "pessimistic" outlook for Australia, Canada and the United States.
"The probability of this strain appearing in Australia is very high. The possibility is also very high for the United States and Canada," he said.
Australia would likely see infection brought from Indonesia by migratory birds, he said.
However, Australia's chief veterinary officer Gardner Murray said the threat of avian influenza to Australia remained low.
"While there is a risk of migratory birds introducing the H5N1 strain of avian influenza into Australia, the risk is substantially less than for most other countries because waterfowl ... which are the normal host of avian influenza viruses do not normally migrate to Australia," Dr Murray said.
"The migratory shorebirds and waders that do come to Australia from infected regions are less likely to carry avian influenza viruses.
"While these birds do pose a risk, the pathway for transmitting a virus into domestic birds would need to involve a number of intermediate steps."
Dr Murray said migratory birds would need to infect nomadic wild birds like ducks and water fowl, which would then need to pass it to production birds such as chickens.
However, while Australia's strict biosecurity laws and tight surveillance favoured keeping the disease out, he said, authorities could not afford to be complacent.
"It is important to remember we are dealing with a biological agent, and it is virtually impossible to know with absolute certainty how it will continue to evolve and spread," Dr Murray said.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said the state government had a bird flu emergency plan, adding: "...there is no danger of an epidemic."
