Does Killing Birds Help Stop Spread of Bird Flu?

March 28, 2006 — -- The rapid worldwide spread of the deadly H5N1 virus -- more commonly known as bird flu -- has caused concern among scientists and emergency response experts all over the world.

"There is a real threat, and I think the situation we are facing today is quite alarming," said Albert Osterhaus, a veterinary scientist and virologist at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. "We really fear that this particular virus might be at the basis of the first pandemic outbreak of influenza in the 21st century."

Health officials in the United States suggest that bird flu is likely to arrive in North America this year; it will be carried by wild birds migrating thousands of miles to their summer breeding grounds, and flu bird experts have warned us to prepare for the worse.

To help quell the outbreak, health officials across the world have ordered the mandatory culling of domestic birds either infected or at risk of becoming infected. But some doubts have been raised about the effectiveness of this practice.

After an outbreak in birds earlier this year, European countries opted initially for the immediate culling of poultry in endangered areas. France and the Netherlands had tens of thousands of chickens and geese killed as they worked to keep the virus under control.

And Israel -- located at a crossroads of migrating flocks on their way to breeding grounds -- killed some 400,000 to 500,000 domestic birds after the first infected wild avians were found there.

But as the virus spreads, hope is fading that this strategy will work; authorities have been forced to rethink such strategies as culling and vaccinations, and other efforts to fight the disease.

"It's not either-or. It's not culling versus vaccination. It's not if culling does not work, we'll vaccinate the birds," Osterhaus said. "Both culling the birds and vaccinating the birds are legitimate tools to be used according to the individual local requirements. And one does not work without the other."

European Union officials have approved plans by France and the Netherlands, the EU's two largest poultry producers, to carry out preventive vaccination on millions of birds against the H5N1 strain of the bird-flu virus.

The vaccine is effective in birds, but a potential vaccine for humans is still being tested. The anti-viral medication, Tamiflu, is regarded as the best currently available treatment for bird flu in humans.