permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

From NC State University Poultry Veterinarian Dr. Donna Carver.

Facts:

The Asian strain of bird flu has never been found on the North American
Continent.

The strains of bird flu that have been found on the North American Continent
to date have never been known to cause death in humans.

In the last eight years of monitoring, the Asian strain of bird flu is not
very transmissible from person to person,,, only one documented case so far.
In all other cases people who were affected had been in direct contact with
sick poultry.

So far, there have been less than 70 deaths attributed to the Asian strain
of bird flu in the last eight years.

The American population at risk are travelers (military and civilian) that
go to Asia, Russia, or China and are exposed to sick birds or people with
the Asian strain of flu.

The two most probable ways of starting a pandemic in the U.S. are: Illegal
importation of live birds from Asia, Russia or China, OR exposure of
travelers that are exposed to sick birds or people and come back and infect
our American public. Note: person to person transmission has a very low
probability as of now.

The NCDA veterinary division takes blood samples from over 200,000 birds
annually from representative flocks all over North Carolina. If any strains
of known contagious poultry diseases are found (including bird flu) the
flocks are quarantined and disposed of as needed.

Our U.S. poultry and egg products are safe to eat.

Poultry workers are not at risk of being exposed to the Asian strain of the
bird flu.

Migratory water fowl are thought to be the natural reservoir for this virus.

Concerns:

When using a modified live virus that is known to be able to cross over
species lines i.e., Asian strain of bird flu... if we vaccinate poultry
workers and inoculate them with a modified live virus of the Asian strain of
bird flu, what is to stop this virus from infecting the commercial poultry
flocks that they normally work with?  This could destroy our commercial
broiler industry as we know it and cause severe economic depression in the
southeast region of the U.S. and in North Carolina in particular. It may be
better to use a killed vaccine product so there is virtually "NO" risk of
species crossover IF we decide to vaccinate humans at all.

Is our U.S. and NC customs doing a good job of decontaminating people who
have traveled to Asia, Russia or China at our International airports across
America and North Carolina?

Putting things in perspective...

In a normal year, the "human" flu strains that people get in the U.S. will
kill 10,000 people in the U.S.

In the next 10 years, half the human population in Africa is expected to die
from HIV-Aids unless monies from the U.S. and Europe are used for further
research.

Thousands of North Carolina citizens are affected by the HIV-Aids virus
every year, many of whom will die.

Many pharmaceutical companies use mercury or aluminum to stabilize their flu
vaccines.  It is being found that continued inoculations of annual vaccines
that use mercury or aluminum may in fact be responsible for a number of
human health problems that are cropping up in infants and older people such
as autism, seizure disorders, immune system disorders, Alzheimer's disease,
dementia, etc.

Is our Chatham Co Health Dept. using and finding vaccines that do not use
heavy metals to stabilize the vaccines that they use annually to help
control the flu?  If not,  is the County going to be held legally
responsible for these health issues related to using vaccines with mercury
or aluminum stabilizers in the future?


Biosecurity Measures for Poultry Producers

1.  Keep human traffic to bird areas to a minimum.

2. Make strangers wear boots and/or coveralls while in bird area.

3. Try to keep domestic birds away from ponds and natural resting places
that migratory water fowl normally use.

4.  Try to discourage overwintering of geese and/or ducks on farm ponds.

5.  Only buy birds from flocks/hatcheries that are annually blood tested and
certified free of contagious diseases.

6.  Only buy birds that are accompanied by a health certificate.