Goose hunter gets bird Flu

[JABIII]

Wild goose tests positive for bird flu

13 February 2006 15:25
Officials in Greece have said a wild goose found on the Aegean island of Skyros tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the fourth migratory bird to be found infected in the country.

'The EU lab in London has confirmed the pathogenic H5N1 strain in the sample of the Skyros wild goose,' the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

On Saturday, authorities said three swans found around the northern gulf of Thermaikos had also tested positive, the first time the virus had appeared in wild birds in the European Union.

Young hunter hospitalised

Earlier, a young hunter in northern Greece was reported to have been hospitalised with bird flu-like symptoms.

If confirmed, it would be the first known human case of the H5N1 virus on European soil.

The 19-year-old has been isolated in a special unit of the Papanicolaou hospital in Salonica.

A second case is also being examined. In both cases, initial tests have been negative, but the results of a second round of tests are expected in the next one to two days.

The hunter had handled wild ducks with his bare hands several days before becoming ill.

Virtually all of the more than 160 known human cases worldwide - over half of them fatal - have been contracted by people handling infected poultry.

Test in Belgium

Belgian authorities are to test a swan found dead in the northeastern city of Lommel for avian influenza.

The swan was found dead on Sunday near a pond but authorities so far have no indication of the cause of death.

A specialist lab in Padua in Italy earlier confirmed the presence in a sixth wild swan of the H5N1 strain.

Tests are under way on swans found dead in the Puglia and Calabria regions and on the island of Sicily.

Germany could order an enclosure of poultry before the planned date of 1 March following the discovery of a dead swan infected with bird flu in Slovenia.

Scientists fear that the disease, which is already lethal to humans if they come into close contact with infected birds, will mutate to allow it to pass between people, potentially causing a pandemic that could kill millions.

H5N1 has killed at least 88 people and caused the death of millions of birds since 2003.

[Turd Ferguson]

Gadzooks--that aint good

How long before it jumps the pond?

[Candor]

H5N1 makes me nervous...and I am typically not a paranoid person.

[Dook]

it is a terrorist plot against europeans and americans! The terrible part is Our on government probably helped develope the disease during the cold war and like everything else, sold it when they found out what others would pay for the deadly virus.

The terrorist are probably trying to get it to american soil so they can inviltrate our poultry operations and attempt to bring our nation to its knees with one oif its major food sources.


be paranoid, we ain't in kansas no more toto.

[JABIII]

Dook, you have been talking to Nab again haven't you....

[Dook]

nab [img]graemlins/confused.gif[/img] , not so much, I talk to myself alot though, and I read WAY to much, this thing about 30 year old man made diseases showing up is a little fishy if you ask me.........everything is a plot against ME & my countrymen, until deemed otherwise.

[HuntinCosta]

i saw last night where they are having more and more cases of avian flu in europe. They said their biggest fear is people are going to illegally ship fighting cocks into the us that will transport the flu here from asia or europe