Bird Flu - No Need to Panic

Contrary to recent reports in the local UAE press, there is no scientific reason to destroy pet birds.

The policy of Abu Dhabi Municipality to destroy pet birds is completely misguided and unnecessary. Pet birds such as parrots and budgies are not important in the epidemiology of H5N1 and present no special risk to their human owners.

There are two risks for humans:

1. Working closely with poultry in farms or bird markets where the disease exists. If you do not work in these areas you need not be especially worried. This situation exists in Asia and has resulted in deaths of humans, but is no reason for draconian measures beyond the directly affected zones.
2. IF the virus mutates and starts spreading between humans. This is what people are truly worried about BUT IT HAS NOT HAPPENED YET. If this does happen, the problem becomes one of human-to-human transmission and again, PET BIRDS PLAY NO ROLE. It would be a matter for human health organizations who should be stocking up on antiviral drugs and developing rapid response vaccine production capability as contingency measures. The risk for humans would be other humans, not the family's budgie.

In short:

• Conditions in the UAE (hot climate, relatively low numbers of widely spaced poultry units) make it unlikely that bird flu will become the economic problem it is in other areas of the world.
• The virus has not yet mutated to spread between humans. If it does, pet birds remain irrelevant in the transmission process.
• There is no reason to avoid chicken meat. You cannot catch bird flu from cooked chicken.
• There is no scientific justification for the slaughter of pet birds in the UAE in general or locally in Abu Dhabi.

These points were made very clear during a presentation by international virology experts held three weeks ago in Abu Dhabi.

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