14 DAY TRIAL // Chinese scientists from Wuhan Institute of Virology in Central China's Hubei Province have recently reported that they found H5N1 bird flu virus (photo) in sparrows two years ago.
This is first time the deadly virus has been discovered in common, non-migratory birds on the Chinese mainland. The researchers tested excrement samples from 38 sparrows after an outbreak of bird flu in Henan Province in 2004 and four birds were positive for H5N1 strains. "There's no need for the public to panic. The findings are two years old and there is no indication that sparrows pose a risk," said Li Tianxian, a researcher from Wuhan Institute.
Previously, scientists found the bird flu virus in sparrows in the region of Hong Kong in 2002 and also in Turkey and South Africa. Researchers had thought that the virus could be transmitted only by migratory birds and non migratory birds cannot be the carriers of bird flu. "It was thought that bird flu was mainly transmitted by migratory water fowl, but this finding proves that non-migratory birds are also a potential channel for bird flu transmission," Li told.
Thus, strains of the virus can be spread even by sedentary anthropic (that roam human localities) birds, even if - till now - scientists did not discover any dead sparrows. The virus found on sparrows seems to have a new genotype of H5N1. China possesses the largest poultry population in the world and this increases the possibility of a bird flu strain mutation into a form transmissible between people.
Most countries are taking drastic measures to control the spread of this virus before it mutates and causes a pandemic all over the world. 256 people in 10 countries have already been infected by the H5N1 virus in the last three years, out of which 151 have lost their lives because of the flu. Since 2003, China has reported 21 human infections of bird flu, with 14 deadly cases. Besides the constant threat to human life, this virus also causes severe economic loses to the poultry industry.
In late September and early October, two new viral focuses outbroke in poultry on Northern China, killing at least 2,000 domestic fowl in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.