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| Swine flu virus detected in poultry |
| Surinder Sud / New Delhi Aug 31, 2009, 00:23 IST |
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Detection of the H1N1 influenza virus in turkey birds in Chile has heightened the danger of poultry farms elsewhere also getting infected with this pandemic virus, which has already killed nearly 90 people in India and over 2,000 persons worldwide.
The current strain of the H1N1 influenza virus is a mixture of human, pig (swine) and bird genes. In its present form, it is a mild virus. But, it has the potential of becoming more virulent on combining with the H5N1 bird flu virus, which is far more deadly, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned in a statement issued from Rome.
“Even though the clinical infections in pigs and turkeys so far observed have been generally mild, it is important to bear in mind that the establishment of the pandemic H1N1 virus in pigs and poultry farms has the potential to bring about negative consequences, such as trade-related restrictions and misguided perceptions of the quality and safety of meat products,” the FAO has said.
In Chile, the presence of the H1N1 flu virus among birds was first confirmed on August 20, when turkeys in two farms near the seaport of Valparaiso tested positive for this virus. The flu strain was found to be identical to the H1N1 pandemic strain currently circulating among human populations in nearly 170 countries.
Turkey is the fourth country where the H1N1 virus has spilled over from farm workers to animals. In the other three countries – Canada, Argentina and Australia – swine had been infected with this largely human flu virus. Chile, so far, does not have the more deadly H5N1 virus of avian (bird) influenza.
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