Iowans are wondering not only whether the bird flu of Asia will arrive here, but whether it’ll threaten people in Iowa, or poultry. Doctor Mary Gilchrist, head of the University Hygienic Lab in Coralville, says the people who’ve gotten sick so far are those who live closely with the animals they raise. Chickens, turkeys and geese in Europe now are turning up with the virus, and the public-health doctor says it’s likely been carried there in flights of wild birds. Gilchrist says if wild birds can migrate into Europe, they can also fly into the U.S., and those wild birds could be a source of infection for people exposed to them, and also to our poultry. Gilchrist says we don’t have the same kind of chicken farms they do in southeast Asia, and our poultry’s at less risk because almost all are raised in enclosed buildings. Even in Iowa, she says we’re already on alert to see if wild birds bring a bug that could infect chickens or people. She says we’re doing some studies on duck hunters and on poultry workers to see what’s going on, and to prepare for quick response if there’s a problem. Most often today germs are carried long distances by humans, with our high-tech transportation methods. She says there’s a risk from people taking airliners back from southeast Asia where they’ve been in the live bird markets and could bring back the disease. The good news so far is that the disease doesn’t seem to be transmissible from human-to-human. But it’ll be time to worry, and it’s what we’re preparing for, when the germ mutates so it can jump from one person to another…and with the amount of the virus in Asia, Gilchrist says it seems likely it’ll happen. To some extent she says it’s like predicting an earthquake — it could be tremors, a small or a big earthquake. “We’re preparing for the worst, although we hope for the best.”
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