Good news!  It appears that the routes currently being used to control
bird flu (killing infected chickens, inoculating healthy ones, protecting
domestic flocks and educating farmers can work) are working, even in
countries with economic problems, but
 
>Dr. Nabarro and other officials warn that it would be highly premature
>to declare any sort of victory.  The virus has moved rapidly across
>continents and is still rampaging in Myanmar, Indonesia and other
>countries nearby.  It could still hitchhike back in the illegal trade
>in chicks, fighting cocks or tropical pets, or in migrating birds.
 
If we get lucky the H1N5 influenza strains will stop existing in the
next few years before it can mutate to a casually caught form, but
remember that direct contact risk remains.
 
See:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/world/asia/14flu.html?
hp&ex=1147579200&en=2e2d7c79762b3aab&ei=5094&partner=homepage>
 
begins:
> Avian Flu Wanes in Asian Nations It First Hit Hard
>
>By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
>Published: May 14, 2006
>Even as it crops up in the far corners of Europe and Africa, the
>virulent bird flu that raised fears of a human pandemic has been largely
>snuffed out in the parts of Southeast Asia where it claimed its first
>and most numerous victims.  Health officials are pleased and excited.
>"In Thailand and Vietnam, we've had the most fabulous success stories,"
>said Dr. David Nabarro, chief pandemic flu coordinator for the United
>Nations.
 
Vietnam has not had one human case this year so far even though it had
around half the human cases in the past few years.
 
Thailand has not had a poultry case in 6 months or a human case in over a
year even though it had been the second worst nation for human cases
until Indonesia recently passed it.  (BTW, Thailand used to have a
veterinary epidemiologist who wrote a marvelous website with a superb
ferret section years ago.  Sadly, he passed away too young.)
 
>The governments of Thailand and Vietnam "believe they got rid of it,"
>she said, "but they also believe that it might be coming back at any
>time."...
>
>While Vietnam began vaccinating all its 220 million chickens...
>Thailand did not because it has a large poultry export industry, and
>other nations would have banned its birds indefinitely.  (Vaccines can
>mask the virus instead of killing it.)... Thailand culled wide areas
>around infected flocks, compensated farmers generously and deputized a
>volunteer in every village to report sick chickens... in February,
>Thailand reported that samples from 57,000 birds had come back
>negative...
>
>Hints suggest that the disease is also being beaten back in China,
>the country where it is assumed to have begun...
>many scientists contend the virus incubated there between its first
>appearance in humans in Hong Kong in 1997 and the current human
>outbreak, which began in Vietnam in 2003...
>
>Dr. StOhr, who is in charge of W.H.O. flu vaccine efforts, said he was
>told by Chinese agriculture officials that the country was now producing
>46 billion doses of poultry vaccine a year
 
There is a second good piece of news:
>Confounding expectations, birds making the spring migration north from
>Africa have not carried the virus into Europe.
 
Those are just short segments, so, please, realize that there is
a lot more info there.  I hope that the article is available to
non-subscribers, but if not it is likely to be picked up by the
wire services and appear elsewhere so search the news sites for it.
 
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5242]