Released Jan. 18, 2008

AUBURN UNIVERSITY, Ala. -- Just when we think the specter of avian flu has receded, incidents around the world remind us that the disease remains a threat not only to birds but also occasionally to humans.

Last week, British authorities confirmed three mute swans in Dorset in southern Britain were infected with an especially virulent strain of the H5N1 virus. The swan carcasses were found in the course of routine surveillance by officials with Britain’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Cause for panic? No, says one expert.

“As I look at it, I don’t see anything that is especially worrisome,” says Dr. Robert Norton, an Auburn University veterinary bacteriologist and poultry science professor who works closely with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System educating Alabamians about the risks associated with this disease.

Authorities have established a Wild Bird Control Area and Monitoring area around the Swannery, the area where the dead birds were found. Bird owners also are required to isolate their flocks from wild birds within the zone.

“It looks like a typical form of outbreak that is being handled by the government,” Norton says, adding that “it’s certainly not something we like having, but that happens.

“It’s something that we shouldn’t ignore but that we should also keep in the proper perspective.”

Also, last week, Chinese health authorities confirmed the latest human case of avian flu in the province of Jiangsu. The case involved a 52-year-old man who developed the condition through close contact with his infected 24-year-old son.

While human outbreaks always are a concern, Norton says authorities have determined this case is not the result of a viral mutation.

“This is one of those nebulous things in terms of whether it involves human-to-human transmission or is more of a mechanical transmission,” he says.

Chinese authorities have concluded that instead of aerosol transmission, the father likely was exposed to the virus through close contact with his son. Even so, authorities are still uncertain how the son became infected. Neither individual had any known contact with dead poultry, the primary source of the ailment among humans.

Local authorities have kept under close surveillance 83 people who had close contact with these infected individuals, though none have exhibited symptoms of the virus.

“It looks once again like a very isolated case,” Norton says, adding that “these things happen and often very mysteriously.”

Norton says this most recent death adds further support to an frequently expressed observation among health authorities that some people possess genetic traits that make them unusually susceptible to the disease.

“It’s like any newly introduced disease in a population,” Norton says. “You have some people with a genetic susceptibility to the disease while other peoples are equipped with natural resistance.

“It’s simply a matter of population genetics.”

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http://www.aces.edu/department/extcomm/npa/daily/archives/003502.php

Contact: Jim Langcuster, langcjc@auburn.edu