Bird Flu Spread By Fish Farms?

Bird flu may be spread by using chicken manure as food in fish farms, that's according to Birdlife International, the worlds leading bird conservation organization in 100 countries. Fertilizing fish farms with poop is a common practice in developing countries. It involves transferring waste from pigs, ducks, or chickens directly to fish farms. At the right dosage the nutrients in the manure give an enormous boost to the plankton growing in the ponds which are the main food for fish such as carp, and increasingly popular Talipia. But Birdlife says the practice may set up major resiviors of bird flu infection if the poultry prloviding the poop are infected themselves.

The suggestion has the echoes of the mad cow scare when cattle were infected by their food. And the practice puts a big question mark over a procedure that is firmly backed by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). BirdLife International is calling for an investigation into the possibility that 1000's of manure fed ponds across Asia, may be the means by which the new strain of potentially deadly bird flu is being spread. No mention has been made between the possible links between manure fed ponds and influenza, the issue has been raised before. A report two years ago by the FAO references a paper published in the journal Nature in 1988. Title "Fish farming and influenza pandemics" it said bringing together fish farms and livestock may well be the creation of a considerable human health hazard.

Don't forget to listen to Laine Welch's Fish Radio