Smugglers undercut fight against bird flu
International Herald Tribune
April 19, 2006

Experts say that increasing evidence that there is a thriving international trade in smuggled poultry products. This includes birds, chicks, eggs, meat, feathers, and other products. This illicit trade is contributing to the spread of the H5N1 and in some parts of the world could be the main way that it is spreading rather than by wild bird migration. It is a huge business and is possibly only exceeded by narcotics in smuggling. H5N1 survives not only in live birds but also in the frozen meat, feathers, bones, and used cages. It can be killed with cooking.