Bird flu trail leads medical detectives back to farms
Bloomberg
May 30, 2006

The fight to stop the spread of deadly bird flu is leading back to farms, health experts say.

Officials looking to contain the avian influenza virus that may spark a human pandemic are downplaying the importance of migrating wild birds as the source of infections among domestic poultry. Farms and poultry traders are the more likely cause of the spread of the flu, which has killed 51 people so far this year, more than all of 2005.

The focus on wild birds has led to misguided attempts to control the virus, Richard Thomas, a spokesman for BirdLife International, a Cambridge, U.K.-based conservation society, said in an interview. New research suggests the wild animals may be getting the virus from farm-based chickens and ducks.

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