Almost Third of Migrating Birds in Slovakia Flu Positive in Spring – Expert

Excerpt from report by “dro”, headlined “Scientists: Toughening up recommended by Minister Zajac will not help people”, published by Slovak newspaper Sme on 15 October

Scientists claim that toughening up and vitamins, recommended by the minister o health [Rudolf Zajac] in connection with a possible avian flu infection, will not help people. “The mortality rate of avian flu is 60 per cent in people and this fact cannot be ignored,” said Tatiana Betakova from the Virology Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. [Passage omitted]

A team from the Military Veterinary Institute in Kosice, together with Tatiana Betakova, regularly monitors the presence of avian flu in birds migrating across the Slovak territory and wild birds.

According to Betakova, the presence of the avian flu virus was recorded in Slovakia in the fall in recent years. Approximately 2 per cent of birds migrating from the north to the south were infected with the H7 subtype of the avian flu virus. It is a less aggressive, low-pathogenic strain. During the testing period in the spring, when birds migrate from the south to the north, 30 per cent of birds caught tested positive for avian flu. The subtypes [of the virus] are currently being determined.

Scientists have thus refuted the theory of environmentalists that migration of birds does not affect the spreading of the flu virus. “However, the shooting of wild birds recommended by the Agriculture Ministry will certainly not prevent avian flu from spreading. The only solution is to prepare ourselves for it,” added Betakova.