Sunday, April 30, 2006
Wildlife smugglers could bring bird flu to US
US government officials are increasingly worried that bird flu will enter the country through smuggled wildlife. Government officals are already on the lookout for migrating wild birds that could also bring the disease to the US.
The concern over the trade in wild animals, pets and animal parts has some precedent, here and abroad.
Gambian rats imported from Africa brought the monkeypox virus to the United States in 2003. They infected prairie dogs purchased as pets. Seventy-two people in the Midwest became ill, but none died.
In 2004, two Crested Hawk-Eagles, (see story here), carrying the virulent strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus were seized from the hand luggage of a Thai passenger at Brussels International Airport in Belgium. The passenger had planned to sell the birds to a Belgian falconer.
Not one of the 25 people exposed to the virus became ill. Officials killed 200 parrots and 600 smaller birds that had contact with the Crested Hawk-Eagles.
“We’re very concerned about it coming into the U.S. by whatever means,” Assistant Secretary of State Claudia McMurray said.
The deadly H5N1 bird flu virus that has spread through Asia, Europe and Africa but has not arrived in the U.S. Scientists fear the virus could evolve into a form that would pass easily from person to person, sparking a global epidemic.
A surveillance plan for monitoring migratory birds for the bird flu virus says a migrating wild bird is the most likely carrier of the H5N1 virus.
The plan, developed by the Interior and Agriculture departments and the state of Alaska for use in all 50 states, also says the virus could arrive through smuggled poultry, an infected traveler, black-market trade in exotic birds or even an act of bioterrorism.
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