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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I’m probably not the only person on
this list who has heard for calls to kill off all of the IL birds to avoid bird
flu. (People think of birds as an agricultural crop. <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>We just have to get rid of this year’s birds – next year’s
will be OK.) </span></i> Of course, these are not the people who
will read NY Times editorials or other articles with relevant details; however,
I thought you might like the facts.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Randi Doeker<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy'>Chicago</span></font></st1:place></st1:City><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>PS: Google +mao +sparrow
+"great leap forward" if you want to know one country’s
experience with a kill-all-the-birds policy.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
</span></font></div>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:.1in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.6gd'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:.1in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.6gd'><b><font
size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-weight:bold'>February
21, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:.1in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.6gd'><b><font
size=3 color="#666666" face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:#666666;font-weight:bold'><NYT_KICKER>Editorial<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
</NYT_KICKER>
<h1 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1in;
margin-left:0in;mso-margin-top-alt:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:
.6gd;mso-para-margin-left:0in'><NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0"><b><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Playing Chicken
With Bird Flu <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1in;
margin-left:0in;mso-margin-top-alt:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:
.6gd;mso-para-margin-left:0in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><NYT_BYLINE type=" " version="1.0"></NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT></NYT_HEADLINE>Bird
flu has spread to several new countries in recent days, but the most worrisome
by far is <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Nigeria</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
Health experts have dreaded the arrival of avian flu in <st1:place w:st="on">Africa</st1:place>,
a continent where the backyard chicken is everywhere and veterinary health
systems are nowhere. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1in;
margin-left:0in;mso-margin-top-alt:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:
.6gd;mso-para-margin-left:0in'><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Nigeria</span></font></st1:country-region></st1:place>
has reported avian flu in several states in the country's north. But the
outbreak began on Jan. 10 or earlier, and it took <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Nigeria</st1:country-region></st1:place> 20 days to send samples to
a lab that could test them. The government has announced quarantines on the
affected farms, but visiting reporters say that no quarantines exist and that
some of the farms have not even been visited by animal health officials. <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Nigeria</st1:country-region></st1:place>
is paying far too little for each chicken it kills; that approach ensures that
farmers will hide their flocks. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1in;
margin-left:0in;mso-margin-top-alt:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:
.6gd;mso-para-margin-left:0in'><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Avian flu can be controlled. </span></font></b>In
the past three years, bird flu broke out in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Malaysia</st1:country-region>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Korea</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region></st1:place>, and all three countries
eradicated it, thanks to early warning and quick action that eliminated the flu
by killing only a few thousand chickens. Those countries had systems in place
to test animals regularly and respond rapidly to reports of signs of danger.
But there is no effective veterinary surveillance in most poor countries. Since
each bird-to-human transmission gives the virus another opportunity to mutate
into a form that could cause a pandemic, the health of the whole world could
depend on constructing it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1in;
margin-left:0in;mso-margin-top-alt:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:
.6gd;mso-para-margin-left:0in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Humans are often plagued by zoonotic diseases, which
arise first in animals. In last few years we have had SARS and <st1:place
w:st="on">West Nile</st1:place> and mad cow diseases, to name a few. Avian flu
is now attracting the attention and money that could help nations build up
their veterinary services and control these threats. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1in;
margin-left:0in;mso-margin-top-alt:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:
.6gd;mso-para-margin-left:0in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>The World Organization for Animal Health faces
overwhelming challenges in improving veterinary services for these regions and
controlling bird flu outbreaks. The backyard chicken, kept by hundreds of
millions of people in poor countries, has more contact with wild birds and with
people than its industrial cousin. The families who keep chickens have not been
educated about the dangers, and barefoot children continue to play with sick
poultry. Agricultural officials vaccinating poultry can spread disease as they
travel from farm to farm, and chicken-killing teams may be poorly trained and
easily corrupted.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.1in;
margin-left:0in;mso-margin-top-alt:0in;mso-para-margin-right:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom:
.6gd;mso-para-margin-left:0in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>A conference in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Beijing</st1:City></st1:place>
in mid-January raised $1.9 billion in pledges to fight avian flu. Some of the
money will go toward veterinary services, but it will be slow in coming and
there are emergencies now. Rich countries should be sending platoons of
veterinary experts to help <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Nigeria</st1:country-region></st1:place>
and its neighbors. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:.1in;mso-para-margin-bottom:.6gd'><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</NYT_TEXT></div>
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