And if you are surprised that the Poultry Association is planning to feed you birds that have recovered from Avian Influenza, you'll be interested to hear the panel explain that birds aren't too different from people, they may have been sick once but then can make full recoveries.
Today Chief Veterinary Technician Depaz told us that what the Belizean labs have been able to find in the bird's systems are antibodies, not the actual Avian Flu. Here's more from today's BAHA panel:
Dr. Miguel Depaz, Chief Veterinary Officer
"The process of controlling this disease, to control measures apart from many others is how do you get rid of the birds that test positive to the disease. One way of doing it is what everybody is calling depopulation or the OIE, the World Organization for Animal Health refers to it as stamping out, but there exists another way of getting rid of birds that would have shown to be positive and that is the controlled marketing. If the virus is no longer circulating in the bird, you can move those birds to slaughter. Yes, there is the potential of certain sub-types of Avian Influenza that can be transmitted to humans, it's not many subtypes that can do that. There is over 144 subtypes, there is only known 6 or 7 subtypes that are known to be transmitted to humans. If you can all recall, the H5N1 outbreak, highly pathogenic Avian Influenza in the age where humans got infected with the H5N1, but it's not any person, it is usually - I call it an occupational risk - you have to really be in constant close contact with birds, live birds for those subtypes to move to humans. Like I previously said, I strongly believe that if we indeed have it, it will be of the low pathogenic type which even if it enters through the processing plant, the likelihood that we have tested those birds and ensure that the virus is not in that poultry."
