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(RTTNews) - A study by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization-FAO says that chickens are no longer the root cause behind the outbreak of bird flu, but it is ducks, rice and human beings.
According to a new study titled "Mapping H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Risk in Southeast Asia: Ducks, Rice and People" by the FAO, ducks, rice and human beings are the most significant factors in the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Using satellite mapping, researchers observed a number of different factors, including the numbers of ducks, geese and chickens, human population size, rice cultivation and geography, and found a strong link between duck grazing patterns and rice cropping intensity.
The study found that in Thailand, the population of young ducks in flocks was found to peak in September-October and consequently these rapidly growing young ducks benefit from the peak of the rice harvest in November-December.
As a result, during these periods when the congregation of ducks peaks, there is an increase in the chances for virus release and exposure, and rice paddies often become a temporary habitat for wild bird species to spread the disease further, the agency said in a news release.
Additionally, with virus persistence becoming increasingly confined to areas with intensive rice-duck agriculture in eastern and southeastern Asia, evolution of the H5N1 virus may become easier to predict.
The study can also help better target control efforts and avoid indiscriminate mass vaccination, the release said. FAO estimates that approximately 90 per cent of the world's more than 1 billion domestic ducks are in Asia, with about 75 per cent in China and Vietnam.
The study was published in the latest issue of a science journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States"-PNAS.
According to a new study titled "Mapping H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Risk in Southeast Asia: Ducks, Rice and People" by the FAO, ducks, rice and human beings are the most significant factors in the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Using satellite mapping, researchers observed a number of different factors, including the numbers of ducks, geese and chickens, human population size, rice cultivation and geography, and found a strong link between duck grazing patterns and rice cropping intensity.
The study found that in Thailand, the population of young ducks in flocks was found to peak in September-October and consequently these rapidly growing young ducks benefit from the peak of the rice harvest in November-December.
As a result, during these periods when the congregation of ducks peaks, there is an increase in the chances for virus release and exposure, and rice paddies often become a temporary habitat for wild bird species to spread the disease further, the agency said in a news release.
Additionally, with virus persistence becoming increasingly confined to areas with intensive rice-duck agriculture in eastern and southeastern Asia, evolution of the H5N1 virus may become easier to predict.
The study can also help better target control efforts and avoid indiscriminate mass vaccination, the release said. FAO estimates that approximately 90 per cent of the world's more than 1 billion domestic ducks are in Asia, with about 75 per cent in China and Vietnam.
The study was published in the latest issue of a science journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States"-PNAS.
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