04/03 | Daily BF: First International Conference on Avian Influenza in Humans

Link to yesterday's thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=192009

Since January, 2004 WHO has reported human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) in the following countries:

* East Asia and the Pacific:
o Cambodia
o China
o Indonesia
o Thailand
o Vietnam

* Europe & Eurasia:
o Azerbaijan
(see update)
o Turkey

* Near East:
o Iraq

For additional information about these reports, visit the
World Health Organization Web Site.

Updated March 21, 2006

Since December 2003, avian influenza A (H5N1) infections in poultry or wild birds have been reported in the following countries:

* Africa:
o Cameroon
o Niger
o Nigeria

* East Asia & the Pacific:
o Cambodia
o China
o Hong Kong (SARPRC)
o Indonesia
o Japan
o Laos
o Malaysia
o Mongolia
o Myanmar (Burma)
o Thailand
o Vietnam

* South Asia:
o Afghanistan
o India
o Kazakhstan
o Pakistan (H5)

* Near East:
o Egypt
o Iraq (H5)
o Iran
o Israel
o Jordan

* Europe & Eurasia:
o Albania
o Austria
o Azerbaijan
o Bosnia & Herzegovina
o Bulgaria
o Croatia
o Denmark
o France
o Georgia
o Germany
o Greece
o Hungary
o Italy
o Poland
o Romania
o Russia
o Serbia & Montenegro
o Slovak Republic
o Slovenia
o Sweden
o Switzerland
o Turkey
o Ukraine


For additional information about these reports, visit the
World Organization for Animal Health Web Site.

Updated March 29, 2006

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/outbreaks/current.htm

WHO, Avian Flu Timeline in .pdf: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/timeline.pdf

http://www.isanh.com/avian-influenza/index.php

Bird flu virus found in dead owl in Romania​

03 April 2006 0832 hrs (SST)

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/201249/1/.html

BUCHAREST : The bird flu virus has been discovered in a dead owl near a school in Constanta in south-east Romania, health officials said on Sunday.

"The research laboratory in Bucharest has confirmed the presence of the bird flu virus in an owl," the Mediafax news agency quoted Gheorghe Dinca, the local representative of Romania's National Health-Veterinary Agency (ANSV) as saying.

"The head of the school saw the dying owl and informed the ANSV immediately, but the bird was dead before the vets arrived."

Special disinfection and surveillance measures have been put in place in the region.

But Dinca said quarantine had not been imposed because it was an "isolated case".

Romania is among the European countries worst affected by bird flu.

Approximately 50 small towns and villages have suffered outbreaks of the virus, around 15 of them in the Constanta region.

In all, nearly 350,000 poultry in around 15,000 farms have been culled since the discovery of Romania's first bird flu case on October 7. - AFP/de

According to this study, humans with bird flu have more virus in their throat and nose than standard flu victims. This doesn't conflict with the report that the flu receptor cells are in the lungs (and that is where it originates), but it moves upward to the throat and nose.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1606935.htm
(fair use applies)

Bird flu goes for the throat
Helen Carter
ABC Science Online

Humans infected with bird flu appear to have more of the virus in their throat and nose than people with standard human influenza strains, a conference is due to hear today.

The findings may help explain why avian influenza A (H5N1) has such a high death rate in humans, more than 50% mortality.

Dr Menno de Jong, head of the virology department at the University of Oxford's clinical research unit at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, studied 17 patients with bird flu.

He found the virus is often associated with disseminated infection in blood and faeces, and with higher levels of viral replication in the nasopharynx compared with contemporary Vietnamese influenza cases.

High viral levels, disseminated infection and an intense inflammatory response also seem associated with poor outcomes, he is due to tell the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases annual scientific meeting in Wellington, New Zealand today.

"Our main findings are that influenza H5N1 seems to be characterised by high virus levels in the respiratory tract, evidence suggesting disseminated infection [virus detection in blood and rectum] and [likely as a result of this] an intense inflammatory response," de Jong says.

High levels of viral replication are likely to play a role in determining a patient's outcome by direct effects of the virus or by the inflammatory response to the virus, he says.

"The reason for the high mortality probably is not high replication rates per se, but high replication rates of an extremely virulent virus," he says.

Antiviral drugs should be started early to prevent as much inflammatory response as possible, he says.

Two of the people in his study developed resistance to the antiviral drug oseltamivir and died, as reported in the New England Journal of Medicine last December.

Resistance implies suboptimal suppression of replication and strategies to minimise it include ensuring adequate levels of the drug in the body by increasing the dose or giving it intravenously, or combining it with other antiviral drugs, he says.

De Jong says avian-type cell receptors being mostly in the lower respiratory tract could explain why bird flu does not spread among humans, as reported in the journal Nature recently.

This may explain why viral load seems higher in the throat than nose, and why all infected developed pneumonia, he says.

news from Pakistan

Monday, April 03, 2006

Mysterious bird deaths were not due to bird flu

By Akhtar Amin

PESHAWAR: Blood samples of the crows and kites (cheel) which had mysteriously died in hundreds within three days in Peshawar and the areas adjacent to it, have been cleared of bird flu.

The Livestock Disease Investigation chief sent hundreds of blood samples to the National Veterinary Research Laboratory, Islamabad for testing. But no case of bird flu was detected in the mysteriously dead birds. The deaths of the birds had scared the people of the area following confirmation of bird flu in two NWFP districts.

The Livestock Disease Investigation Chief Dr Sher Mohammad told Daily Times that the deaths of these birds at this time of the year was usual. But this year, he said, the deaths of these birds were more alarming, since the presence of the bird flu virus had been confirmed in nearby Charsadda district.

He said, “Our Livestock Diseases Investigation teams are going all over the province collecting samples of poultry blood from farms to check for bird flu and alleviate people’s scare of eating chicken meat.”

The federal heath department has registered medicines in its preparations for possible bird flu cases in the country. After the registration of bird flu medicines, two Peshawar based pharmaceutical companies have manufactured them for bird flu affected humans. The medicine is in the shape of capsules with the name “Influed” and an affected person could use four capsules a day.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also recommended the capsules and called it a successful ‘anti-viral medicine’ against the bird flu virus, Dr Mohammad said. He said that though these capsules were vaccines but could protect the affected person from the affects of the bird flu virus.

The provincial poultry industry witnessed losses of Rs 5 billion in the month following confirmation of two bird flu cases in two NWFP districts, NWFP Poultry Association president Niaz Gul said. He said that 60 percent of the poultry farms of the province had been shut down and the rate of chicken meat declined to Rs 30 from Rs 120.

The provincial government has asked people to adopt precautionary measures while eating chicken or working in the poultry farms. The precautionary measures issued by the provincial government are —

1) People working in poultry farms must use breath-filtering masks.

2) They must wear rubber gloves while touching the birds because the virus can transfer with touching of infected birds.

3) Rubber boots must be used for walking in the poultry farms.

4) The wastes and feathers of the birds must be put in plastic bags and buried.

5) Goggles must be used along with gloves and boots before coming in contact with the birds in commercial poultry farms as well as with domestic poultry pets.

6) Keeping pet birds in the house must be avoided.

7) Sleeping near the birds’ cages must be avoided.

8) The infected birds must not be moved from one place to another.

9) Hands must be washed with soap if they touch the fluid from the nose or salvia of the bird and the dirty hands must not touch the person’s eyes or face.

For chicken buyers, the provincial health department has directed that a healthy bird should be used for food, the meat should be rinsed with half boiled water mixed with vinegar, two to three times, members of the family suffering from influenza or cold should avoid cutting and cleansing the meat and the meat of the chicken must be well cooked or roasted.

Egypt: Two children contract H5N1 bird flu strain​

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498788108&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Two sisters, aged 6 and 1.5, contracted the H5N1 strain of avian flu in Egypt, Israel Radio reported.

In all, eight humans have contracted the virus in recent months. Two have died so far.

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<B><font size=+1 color=red><center>Four Human Cases Of Bird Flu H5N1 Infection In Egypt</font>

Main Category: Bird Flu/Avian Flu News
Article Date: 03 Apr 2006 - 15:00pm (UK)
<A href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/healthnews.php?newsid=40831">www.medicalnewstoday.com</a></center>
Authorities in Egypt have confirmed that a fourth human is infected with bird flu (H5N1). So far, two of them have died. </b>

A 30-year-old woman from the Qaliubiya governorate near Cairo has died. She developed bird flu like symptoms on March 12, was hospitalised on March 16 and died on March 27. The woman had been slaughtering chickens at home.

Another 30-year-old woman, also from Qaliubiya, died on March 17.

Tests were conducted at the Cairo-based US Naval Medical Research Unit 3 (NAMRU-3) and confirmed at laboratories in Kent, England.

A 32-year-old man became ill on March 16, but has since recovered. He worked on a farm where infected poultry had recently been culled.

A 17-year-old boy became ill on March18, he has since recovered. His father runs a poultry farm in the Gharbiya governorate in the Nile Delta.

An 18-year-old girl from the Kafr El-Sheikh governorate became ill and was hospitalised on March 25. She had been slaughtering sick chickens in her backyard.

Of the five cases diagnosed at the NAMRU-3 labs, four have been confirmed at the laboratories in England.

350 people who had had contacts with these patients have been screened - all tests have come back negative for H5N1 infection.

H5N1 outbreaks (in poultry) have been reported in 19 of Egypt's 26 governates. Over 25 million birds in Egypt have been destroyed since February 17, 2006.

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<B><center>04/03/2006

<font size=+1 color=brown>North Adams hospital prepares for avian flu</font>

<A href="http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO17167/">www3.whdh.com</a></center>
NORTH ADAMS (AP) -- Fears that strains of avian flu might eventually reach the United States prompt officials at North Adams Regional Hospital to take steps to get ready. </b>

The H5N1 influenza strain -- which primarily infects birds but which health officials fear may eventually mutate into a form that could affect humans -- has spread across Asia and has begun to appear in Europe.

Hospital official Kathy Arabia says North Adams Regional has been working with the state Department of Public Health and other health care providers in the area to make sure they can meet the threat. Arabia said there are 125 employees at the hospital who already are familiar with the federal National Incident Management System.

The hospital's infection control committee meets monthly, and administrators receive notices about important developments.

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<B><font size=+1 color=green><center>Pessimistic bird flu predictions coming true - chief doctor </font>

15:31 | 03/ 04/ 2006
<A href="http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060403/45121400.html">en.rian.ru/russia</a></center>
TYUMEN, April 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's chief doctor said Monday that pessimistic predictions regarding the spread of bird flu in the country had come true, particularly in the south, but that the worst may now have passed. </b>

"We can say the [bird flu] pandemic has been jugulated in these [southern] regions," Gennady Onishchenko said. "Previously introduced quarantine regulations have been lifted in many villages. We also prevented people from catching the virus, although we had more than enough reasons to worry."

Onishchenko said the H5N1 strain virus had been identified in seven southern regions: the republics of Daghestan, Kalmykia, Adygea, Chechnya, and Kabardino-Balkaria, and the Stavropol and Krasnodar territories.

The potentially lethal strain of avian influenza returned to southern Russia in February, and the Krasnodar Territory was one of the worst affected regions. Officials have said over a million birds have been slaughtered in the area since last month's outbreak, but a massive vaccination campaign launched at local poultry farms in March has made it possible to prevent an epidemic.

Onishchenko said Azerbaijan, which borders on Russia's Daghestan, had officially confirmed that five out of seven people in the country who contracted bird flu had died this year.

Bird flu has been gradually returning to Russia after spending winter in Africa and in the Middle East, particularly in Turkey, Onishchenko said, where the deadly virus strain killed at least four people.

He added that the most important thing to do was to prevent people in Russia from catching the disease and to isolate poultry farms from the virus.

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<B><center>April 3, 2006

<font size=+1 color=purple>Suburban survivalists prepare for pandemic </font>

By Jennifer Brooks
Gannett News Service
jabrooks@gns.gannett.com
<A href="http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060403/WDH04/604030345/1769/MNHlife">www.marshfieldnewsherald.com</a></center>
WASHINGTON -- The more stories about avian flu appeared on the news, the more canned goods and bottled water found their way into Melanie Mattson's apartment. </b>

Gradually, the 52-year-old writer from Falls Church, Va., gave over her spare bedroom to the growing emergency stockpile. If a pandemic arrives, Mattson hopes to have enough food, water and emergency supplies to see her and a few of her elderly neighbors through the catastrophe.


Avian flu is headed this way. U.S. health officials expect migratory birds to carry the lethal H5N1 flu strain to North America this year, endangering wild and domestic flocks. The threat to humans is less clear.


At the moment, the only way to catch bird flu is through very close contact with an infected bird. The disease does not spread easily from birds to humans, but when it does, the mortality rate tops 50 percent. Nearly 100 people have died of the disease, which bears an eerie resemblance to the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed millions worldwide.


The thought that H5N1 might someday mutate into a flu strain that could spread from human to human is terrifying enough to send health officials and ordinary citizens like Mattson into high alert.


A pandemic could drag on for weeks or months. Millions could die, tens of millions could fall ill and millions more would be unable or unwilling to leave their homes. Widespread absenteeism could endanger utilities and other basic services. State, federal and local emergency services would be strained to the limits.


"If you think about pandemic flu, think about 50 Katrinas," Mattson said. "The government's not going to be able to help us. We're going to be on our own."


State, federal and local governments and health officials are drawing up pandemic preparation plans. So are Mattson and thousands of other people who visit the online avian flu information network she co-founded, Flu Wiki.


As many as 15,000 people a day visit the online forum to swap news stories, debate avian flu theories and share tips about disaster preparedness. Founded less than a year ago, Flu Wiki has more than 1,200 pages of avian flu information, all of it contributed by members.


"Our motto is, don't panic -- prepare," Mattson said.


Preparations of another sort are under way at the Nitro-Pak Preparedness Center in Heber City, Utah. Last month, company owner Harry Weyandt decided to offer a line of avian flu survival gear. Sales are up 600 percent compared with March 2005, he said.


The avian flu supplies are the same sort of gear he sells to campers, boat owners looking to stock life rafts and people preparing for emergencies such as earthquakes, hurricanes or terrorist attacks.


First-aid kits. Freeze-dried food in bulk. Water purification equipment. Face masks -- the N95 versions recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- along with rubber gloves and hand sanitizer.


For $4,100, shoppers can buy enough freeze-dried food to supply one person for a year or a family of four for three months. For $7,999, Nitro-Pak will ship the Ultimate Family Survival Preparedness Pak, stocked with everything from food to gas masks to sanitation equipment.


The $1,699.99 two-person Emergency Reserve kit has been very popular, Weyandt said. Compact enough to store in the back of a closet or under a bed, the kit promises six weeks' worth of meals for two people, along with hospital masks, a 40-gallon water storage unit and a water purification system.


"Y2K really kind of took the steam out of the preparedness movement," said Weyandt, referring to fears that a computer glitch on the eve of the year 2000 would crash computers worldwide and lead to widespread panic and disorder. Any number of people found themselves sitting around on New Year's Day 2000 with a garage full of canned goods and toilet paper, for nothing.


Weyandt, who founded his company 20 years ago, said Hurricane Katrina kicked off a new nationwide interest in disaster preparedness that has shifted into worries about a possible influenza pandemic.


"We're seeing a lot more professionals ordering these days. We have doctors and lawyers placing orders," Weyandt said. "I had one guy who works for the CDC call. He said, 'Everybody here is stockpiling supplies.' And I said, 'Man, if the guys from the CDC are worried, maybe this is something more people should be worried about."'


Federal health officials have begun actively encouraging Americans to make pandemic preparations.


"The things you would do to prepare for a pandemic are the things you can do for any emergency," said Christine Pearson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "The difference being that a hurricane, tornado or blizzard generally hits in a limited area for a limited time."


With a pandemic, she said, "you would need to plan for something that lasts for months."


Planning for bird flu

There is no way of knowing if the H5N1 strain of avian flu will mutate into a disease capable of spreading to humans. But if it does, the U.S. government wants Americans to be prepared for a disaster that could cost millions of lives, drag on for months and disrupt supply chains, close businesses, stores and gas stations, and make it difficult to maintain even the most basic services like water and electricity.


Make plans now:



Ready a supply of food and water capable of sustaining everyone in your family for weeks or months. During a pandemic, you might not be able to get to a store, or stores might be out of supplies. This emergency supply also will come in handy for other emergencies.


Talk to family members about how they want to be cared for if they fall ill. Would they rather stay at home or seek out hospitals that might be overwhelmed with the sick and dying?


All states and most communities have made pandemic preparation plans. Get involved in local pandemic preparation efforts.


Start practicing common-sense precautions to prevent the spread of disease. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water. Cover your coughs and sneezes. Stay home if you get sick to avoid spreading disease to others. Teach children to do the same.

What to stockpile:



Ready-to-eat, nonperishable foods like canned meats, fruits, vegetables and soups. Protein or fruit bars. Dry cereal or granola. Powdered milk. Peanut butter, nuts and dried fruit.


A manual can opener.


Baby food, if needed.


Pet food for the animals in the family.


Plenty of bottled water, both for drinking and for sanitation.


Prescription medication for everyone in the home.


Nonprescription drugs like acetaminophen or ibuprofen, stomach remedies, anti-diarrhea medication, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes and vitamins.


A thermometer.


Soap or alcohol-based hand sanitizer.


Flashlights, portable radios and batteries.


Garbage bags, tissues, toilet paper, disposable diapers.

Where to go for more information:


www.pandemicflu.gov/planguide/checklist.html, the federal government's pandemic preparation site.


www.fluwikie.com, an online community dedicated to sharing information on avian flu, including preparation advice and tips on pandemic preparations


www.providentliving.org/channel/0,11677,1706-1,00.html, Mormon church site that offers tips on food storage and a calculator to help families gauge how much food would be necessary to survive from one month to three years.


Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and GNS research

WHO: Confirmed tally of human bird flu cases rises to 190, more than half fatal​

http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564711152274507318

April 3, 2006 12:53 PM
GENEVA (AP) - The U.N. health agency on Monday raised to 107 the confirmed number of people who have died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, adding two Egyptian women who died last month.

The World Health Organization said the total number of confirmed human infections since the current outbreak began in 2003 has reached 190. Virtually all the individuals were exposed to the disease in poultry.

WHO said four people previously announced by the Egyptian Health Ministry as H5N1 positive all were confirmed to have had bird flu at a WHO laboratory in Britain.

Two women in their 30s died; the other two patients have been discharged from hospital, WHO said. The agency said it is still awaiting results on samples from at least three more Egyptians who have tested positive for bird flu in local laboratories.

AP-WS-04-03-06 1551EDT

Kenya: Experts Still Probing the Death of Wild Birds At Lake​

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604031184.html

The Nation (Nairobi)

April 4, 2006
Posted to the web April 3, 2006

Nation Correspondent
Nairobi

Experts are still collecting samples from birds that have died from unknown causes on Lake Naivasha to establish if they were caused by avian flu.

The latest deaths were of sacred Ibis birds whose carcasses were found on the shores of the lake at the weekend.

Naivasha division veterinary officer J. Cheruiyot yesterday said a team of experts was carrying out tests to determine the cause of deaths.

"We plan to release the results of the tests once we complete investigations," Dr Cheruiyot said on telephone.

Lake Naivasha lies along the migratory route of birds which escape winter conditions in Europe from December.

A special multi-disciplinary team has been collecting samples of blood, droppings and throat swabs from migratory birds in different parts of the country. The samples are being tested for the flu at the veterinary laboratories in Kabete, Nairobi.

Experts yesterday urged poultry keepers to remain vigilant after outbreaks of the deadly strains in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Egypt.

Dr Nicholas Muraguri, the Health ministry's health promotion division boss, yesterday said: "Large-scale poultry keepers and those keeping domestic chickens should ensure they are caged at all times to ensure they do not mix with wild birds, especially in swamps and other water spots".

People should also report any mysterious deaths of birds or chickens on telephone numbers 0722 726 682, 020631639, 0202718292 or 0722 331 548.

Dr Muraguri urged people not to handle or eat any sickly-looking or dead chicken or bird.

Yesterday, the World Health Organisation confirmed that four Egyptians had contracted bird flu, including two who died from the virus.

Travel bans won't stop bird flu-study​

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N03329722.htm
The Nation (Nairobi)

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) - Travel restrictions and school closures will do little to stop a pandemic of bird flu from marching across the United States, but they may slow it enough to distribute drugs and vaccines, according to a new study published on Monday.

"It's probably not going to be practical to contain a potential pandemic by merely trying to limit contact between people such as by travel restrictions, quarantine or even closing schools," said Timothy Germann of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who worked on the report.

"But we find that these measures are useful in buying time to produce and distribute sufficient quantities of vaccine and antiviral drugs."

Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports the approach being pursued by the U.S. government and recommended by the World Health Organization for preparing for a possible influenza pandemic.

"Our model suggests that the rapid production and distribution of vaccines, even if poorly matched to circulating strains, could significantly slow disease spread and limit the number ill to less than 10 percent of the population, particularly if children are preferentially vaccinated," the team at the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Washington wrote.

Catherine Macken of Los Alamos said the computer model used in the study provided a surprising finding -- using a weak vaccine in many people would be better than trying to vaccinate a smaller number of people with a more effective dose.

"If you reduce somewhat the length of time that someone is infective ... you end up getting a significant impact," Macken said in a telephone interview.

"You might be better off vaccinating twice as many people, getting a lower level of protection, but still getting an improvement in susceptibility."

No flu vaccine is perfect and experts have been uncertain which approach would work better.

DRUGS CAN HELP TOO

Using several million doses of drugs like Roche AG's <ROG.VX> Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's <GSK.L> Relenza that can help prevent influenza infection could also help, the researchers said.

The H5N1 strain of avian influenza is spreading rapidly in birds around the world and experts believe it will soon be found everywhere. It rarely infects people, but has sickened 190 people and killed 107 of them, according to WHO.

If the virus mutates slightly and gains the ability to pass from person to person easily, it is likely to become much less fatal but could cause a pandemic.

Scientists are racing to make a vaccine against it and governments are trying to stockpile drugs that can prevent and treat the infection, but supplies are low.

In the meantime, health experts are trying to work out the best way to deal with a pandemic if it comes, and want to know if schools, businesses and transportation should be closed to try to slow the flu's spread.

The team at Los Alamos and the University of Washington ran a complex computer simulation of what the spread of bird flu might look like in the United States. They say their findings would hold for any highly mobile society.

"In the event that a pandemic influenza virus does reach the U.S., according to our results, the U.S. population could begin to experience a nation-wide pandemic within 1 month of the earliest introductions," the researchers wrote.

The model assumes that about a third of the population would become infected -- the rate seen in the past two pandemics, in 1957 and 1968.

They included several circumstances for people to meet and potentially pass the virus along, including households, neighborhoods, preschools, playgroups, schools, shops and work.

Link to tomorrows (4/4) Bird Flu thread: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=192209

Bird flu panic 'leading to destruction of nests'​

By Amy Iggulden
(Filed: 04/04/2006)

Migratory songbirds and waterfowl could be driven from their habitats or have their nests destroyed this spring because of ignorance about bird flu in Britain, it is feared.

Conservationists are talking of a possible backlash against returning birds after a series of attacks in Europe. One expert said that nests were already being removed.

Nests have been torn down in Spain, authorities in Russia are urging people to shoot down crows and white storks have been attacked in Greece.

As the nesting season begins in Britain, bird charities have been taking calls from people who want to board up birdboxes, pull down nests and fill in ponds that attract wildfowl.

Fears are even being expressed that house sparrows and starlings, which do not migrate, are spreading bird flu by setting up home under the eaves.

Ruth Cromie, of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, said: "Concerns are being expressed about the removal of nests, so that must mean some people are already doing it. They need to have a sense of perspective because the risks of catching bird flu are negligible."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&xml=/news/2006/04/04/nflu04.xml